miserable – Annunciation Catholic Church

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but from time to time, people do stupid things. Ahhhh, you have noticed. We scratch our heads and wonder: Why would anybody do something so stupid? Don’t they know that’s going make them miserable?

The answers are simple and surprising. No, they don’t know it’s going to make them miserable. People don’t wake up in the morning and think to themselves: “I wonder how I can make myself really miserable today?” Quite the opposite, in fact. People do stupid things because they mistakenly believe those stupid things will make them happy.

And of course, sometimes, you and I, are those people. So, what stupid thing are you thinking about doing? What stupid thing are you already doing hoping it will make you happy?

You are on a quest for happiness. We often pretend we don’t know what will make us happy, but it’s not true either/ the truth is, you know exactly what will make you happy.

Let’s take a look at the things you know will make you happy (in Part Two of this Series).”

“Thus sin renders the soul miserable, weak and torpid, inconstant in doing good, cowardly in resisting temptation, slothful in the observance of God’s commandments. It deprives her of true liberty and of that sovereignty which she should never resign; it makes her a slave to the world, the flesh, and the devil; it subjects her to a harder and more wretched servitude than that of the unhappy Israelites in Egypt or Babylon. Sin so dulls and stupefies the spiritual senses of man that he is deaf to God’s voice and inspirations; blind to the dreadful calamities which threaten him; insensible to the sweet odor of virtue and the example of the saints; incapable of tasting how sweet the Lord is, or feeling the touch of His benign hand in the benefits which should be a constant incitement to his greater love. Moreover, sin destroys the peace and joy of a good conscience, takes away the soul’s fervor, and leaves her an object abominable in the eyes of God and His saints. The grace of justification delivers us from all these miseries. For God, in His infinite mercy, is not content with effacing our sins and restoring us to His favor; He delivers us from the evils sin has brought upon us, and renews the interior man in his former strength and beauty. Thus He heals our wounds, breaks our bonds, moderates the violence of our passions, restores with true liberty the supernatural beauty of the soul, reestablishes us in the peace and joy of a good conscience, reanimates our interior senses, inspires us with ardor for good and a salutary hatred of sin, makes us strong and constant in resisting evil, and thus enriches us with an abundance of good works. In fine, He so perfectly renews the inner man with all his faculties that the Apostle calls those who are thus justified new men and new creatures.”— Venerable Louis Of Grenada, p. 46

//The Catholic Company//

Tag: miserable

60 Second Wisdom: Why Do People Do Stupid Things?

Meditation of the Day – Sin Renders the Soul Miserable