Ave Maria Meditations
Try to grasp the fact, a very hard thing to do, that in the spiritual life “feelings” count for nothing! They are no indication of our real state. Generally speaking, they point to just the opposite. When I feel I am making no progress and not pleasing our Lord, the absence of deliberate sin being supposed, the opposite is nearly always the case.
Hammer this into your head, try and convince yourself of it: Our blessed Lord loves me, with all my faults and feelings, and has marked me out for the special graces which will make me a saint, a big one if I like. Any other thought, for example: it is useless or presumption trying to be a saint…is a dangerous temptation to be driven away. You are bound to go through a good deal of weirdness, dryness, doubt, despair even of ever doing anything towards this end…Try and remember that sanctification means daily, hard work and this unflinchingly when weariness comes.
The servant of God Fr. Willie Doyle
