Guardian Angel II 11
Our girl is afraid to let her Guardian Angel kill the attachments that are hurting her. When she closes herself off, her Guardian Angel turns to Mary for help, who smiles down at him gently, patiently and lovingly. We will always have a mother interceding for us in our mother Mary. "Mary has by grace been exalted above all angels and
men to a place second only to her Son" (Vatican Council II, p. 421). As the Queen of Heaven, she is also the tender Queen of the Angels.
Getting rid of our attachments can be very difficult for us. . . they always seem more attractive and desirable than they actually are, and it seems that getting rid of them - or the process of getting rid of them - will take everything worthwhile from us and leaving only the boring things. It is a lie. But it is hard to see the truth of the situation with our disordered nature and attachments. Our girl believes that her Guardian Angel will ask too much of her in order to help her get rid of the attachment to vanity. For example, she doesn't want to stop wearing makeup... she thinks everyone will think she is ugly and wonder what happened to her and stop wanting to spend time with her. And if she should begin to act more openly Catholic, she is sure she will push away all her friends. But as St. Teresa of Avila put it:
"Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things,
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.
There are two very powerful things we can do to strengthen our ability to break our disordered attachments. The first is frequent reception of the sacraments (i.e. Confession & the Eucharist), and the second is a disciplined prayer life.
Getting rid of our attachments can be very difficult for us. . . they always seem more attractive and desirable than they actually are, and it seems that getting rid of them - or the process of getting rid of them - will take everything worthwhile from us and leaving only the boring things. It is a lie. But it is hard to see the truth of the situation with our disordered nature and attachments. Our girl believes that her Guardian Angel will ask too much of her in order to help her get rid of the attachment to vanity. For example, she doesn't want to stop wearing makeup... she thinks everyone will think she is ugly and wonder what happened to her and stop wanting to spend time with her. And if she should begin to act more openly Catholic, she is sure she will push away all her friends. But as St. Teresa of Avila put it:
"Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things,
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.
There are two very powerful things we can do to strengthen our ability to break our disordered attachments. The first is frequent reception of the sacraments (i.e. Confession & the Eucharist), and the second is a disciplined prayer life.
- Meg
She isn't happy as she is, but she is at a crossroads where she is presented with the option of choosing Christ or choosing mammon. You cannot serve both. She is too attached to her vanity, to the world, and to what people think of her to consider making a fool of herself for Christ. She doesn't want to appear as an idiot, she doesn't want to repulse people, and she is concerned about what people will think. Besides that, Christ does not appear to her to be an attractive option. . . All she can think of are those "crazy Jesus people" who go around carrying Bibles and acting nice and everyone makes fun of them, and that seems to be all there is to them. The choice for her seems to be between two images of herself - one attractive and one repulsive - not a choice between herself and Christ himself.
She cannot bring herself to do what she knows is right, and so despairs - but Mary has taken her under her mantle since baptism, and will gently bring her to her Son.
She isn't happy as she is, but she is at a crossroads where she is presented with the option of choosing Christ or choosing mammon. You cannot serve both. She is too attached to her vanity, to the world, and to what people think of her to consider making a fool of herself for Christ. She doesn't want to appear as an idiot, she doesn't want to repulse people, and she is concerned about what people will think. Besides that, Christ does not appear to her to be an attractive option. . . All she can think of are those "crazy Jesus people" who go around carrying Bibles and acting nice and everyone makes fun of them, and that seems to be all there is to them. The choice for her seems to be between two images of herself - one attractive and one repulsive - not a choice between herself and Christ himself.
She cannot bring herself to do what she knows is right, and so despairs - but Mary has taken her under her mantle since baptism, and will gently bring her to her Son.
