Holding on to what?

I like this short lesson from Abbess Maria-Michael Newe, OSB, of St. Walburga’s Abbey of Benedictines, in Colorado. She doesn’t harangue, but she gives food for thought to the roustabout internets, so lively with opinion:

Sometimes the things you hang on to the tightest are the very things you should get rid of first; because they’re the very things that tie your heart down. They keep you from seeking God because you spend so much time protecting those things or identifying with them instead of identifying with the Cross.

I think one of the most precious things we have is our opinion. Sometimes we even have to give that to God and let Him dispose of it. We need to be able to give everything to God. Take notice of the things that ruffle you a little. Notice the things that your heart is entwined around. If it’s not the Cross it’s not of God. If we purify our heart we won’t be rooted in the earth, we’ll be rooted in Heaven.

This sort of ties in with the question of whether we make idols of our ideologies, or what is behind our holding on to resentments that are best released, lest we poison ourselves with them.

I like the idea of handing off my opinion to God and letting him dispose of it. Or, sometimes, to carry it for me, until I can see for myself how unnecessary it is for me to jaw on and on about it. Then I can toss it.

Advent is coming. A good time to look inward and see where we’re in the wilderness and in need of a straight path.

The good sisters take requests.