St. Theresia of Avila once said,

‘No one can come near to God unless he has prepared a bed for you. A thousand souls hear his call every second, but most everyone then looks into their life’s mirror and says, “I am not worthy to leave this sadness.”’

This saint said this because she knew that each one of us is actually destined, not for sadness, but for Joy – our hearts are meant to become joy! But the journey to joy is not like climbing a ladder, where every rung is the same, where progress comes through pulling ourselves up. No. Our journey to His Joy is always a looking into our life’s mirror and letting go of some unworthiness; an intimate and unsettling decision to allow a unique sadness that we have come to identify ourselves with, perhaps even come to cherish, to fall away. We are called to let go of the sadness of our desperate loneliness, the sadness of our constant self-criticism beating ourselves down, or most of all, to let go of the sadness that our life isn’t the way we think it should be. We must die to all of these to be born anew in joy.

Dear friends, as a striving Community of Christians, may we all keep learning to die to our used-up sufferings that keep us locked into old selves, for there is no god that can do this for us. And then, the courage to receive Gods joy-filled-grace at every moment, makes us worthy.

This contemplation by Rev. Evans was inspired by John 3 and St. Theresia of Avila.