Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Matthew's avatar

Based bishops.

May God bless them for their courage and faithfulness.

Expand full comment
Bridget's avatar

The witness of St John Fisher reminds us not to allow bits of the faith to be chiseled away (we might ask him to pray for bishops everywhere). But also, the enemy does not give up his attack on a soul, and, if he cannot convince us to defend only *part* of the faith, he will attempt to gradually destroy charity in our hearts so that we are defending a *dead* faith.

The fruits of the Spirit according to tradition are "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity". It is easy to observe in another person whether these are outwardly present. It is not as easy to see in ourselves - we have to be looking, and we have to ask for light; and it is also not enough to compare ourselves with another person, like "hoo boy, at least I'm doing better than that". God will sometimes allow us to be tempted beyond our natural strength, and he has good reasons for doing this, and if we do not ask Him for help in the moment, we will fall (and get up again, and try to form a habit of begging forgiveness, for which we will need grace and humility, and also a habit of forgiving whatever perceived offense we were reacting to, ably begging mercy from the One who judges as though we are the offender's renowned and expensive defense attorney.) But if we ask for help then He will enable us to relentlessly model patience, gentleness, charity, etc., to the world in a way that reveals Him. People will notice this in you and they will wonder: why are you this way? Sometimes they will even literally ask (you do not need to have an answer ready and can just let God decide whether to give you anything to say about it.)

These virtues often seem feminine to us today (because we think of them as weak and we think of women as weak, probably, both of which are wrong) and so those of us who are women ought to strive doubly to exhibit them because it is twice as much a stumbling block if we do not.

Expand full comment
1 more comment...
Latest

No posts