God
Be forewarned: there will possibly be a flurry of continued Frank Sheed posts over the coming days and weeks as I resume studying his material. Don't say you weren't cautioned!
In the section I read last night, he explained that we have our natural lives, and our supernatural lives. Our natural lives are our base state, while our supernatural lives give us capabilities above and beyond.
For example, in Myers-Briggs terms I am a very pronounced INTJ. I have taken and retaken the test probably two dozen times over twenty years, and have always gotten the same result. Note the first letter: "I". "I" is for introvert. The opposite pole is "E" for extrovert. I universally test over ninety percent "I" when answering the questions open-mindedly and honestly.
Naturally then, I am very shy and need significant recharge time after social engagements. When God asked me to enter the diaconate formation, I had a bit of a wrestling match with the Lord: "I literally can't do this-- it is beyond me in terms of capability."
This is because I was only taking my natural life into account. A previous boss of mine liked to say, "God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called." And this is what happened: God's grace extended my capabilities via a supernatural life.
I have a very dear friend who was a NET minister. She said she didn't even know what town they were in, or what day of the week it was, or which church basement floor she was attempting to sleep on. Her natural self was one hundred percent spent physically, emotionally, and mentally. And yet, month after month she was able to pour herself out for the kids on the retreats. It felt like a miracle-- because it was. She told me, "It dawned on me one day that the strength was not coming from me; I had nothing left to give."
Think of Peter: he was a humble fisherman. How in the world could he have the incredible eloquence and ability to proclaim the Gospel message he demonstrated as the rock of the Church?
From a personal testimony side, during these TEC Retreats I have been participating in, I am going on four hours of sleep and am in a non-stop social setting for multiple consecutive days, yet am absolutely in my element; how? When I minister at funerals, I am surrounded by grieving family; when I was chairman of the Pastoral Council, I ran every meeting and made it a point to have 1-1 telephone check-ins with the members.
This was all made possible because God, through His sanctifying grace, was giving me supernatural capabilities to fulfill these functions. Imagine it like a bar chart: the bottom part is our natural life; the supplementary bar on top of that is our supernatural life.
Frank Sheed provides the metaphor of a jar containing cream. The cream is God's sanctifying grace. When Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the tree, the jar fell and got a crack in it. So, God needs to continually fill us with His grace due to the crack.
I mentioned this metaphor to my mother-in-law this morning, and it really worked for her. When I hear "Mike, you are broken" I take that as a logical statement: having a crack is a state of being broken-- so the language works for me. But for her, that language felt too personal: "Didn't God make me who I am? I'm not broken..."
The jar imagery gave her another way to look at it: "I get it now! And because of Original Sin, the crack will never disappear from me here on Earth-- but God's grace could at least potentially make the crack smaller over time as it operates on me. Then in heaven, the crack will be gone."
In the section I read last night, he explained that we have our natural lives, and our supernatural lives. Our natural lives are our base state, while our supernatural lives give us capabilities above and beyond.
For example, in Myers-Briggs terms I am a very pronounced INTJ. I have taken and retaken the test probably two dozen times over twenty years, and have always gotten the same result. Note the first letter: "I". "I" is for introvert. The opposite pole is "E" for extrovert. I universally test over ninety percent "I" when answering the questions open-mindedly and honestly.
Naturally then, I am very shy and need significant recharge time after social engagements. When God asked me to enter the diaconate formation, I had a bit of a wrestling match with the Lord: "I literally can't do this-- it is beyond me in terms of capability."
This is because I was only taking my natural life into account. A previous boss of mine liked to say, "God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called." And this is what happened: God's grace extended my capabilities via a supernatural life.
I have a very dear friend who was a NET minister. She said she didn't even know what town they were in, or what day of the week it was, or which church basement floor she was attempting to sleep on. Her natural self was one hundred percent spent physically, emotionally, and mentally. And yet, month after month she was able to pour herself out for the kids on the retreats. It felt like a miracle-- because it was. She told me, "It dawned on me one day that the strength was not coming from me; I had nothing left to give."
Think of Peter: he was a humble fisherman. How in the world could he have the incredible eloquence and ability to proclaim the Gospel message he demonstrated as the rock of the Church?
From a personal testimony side, during these TEC Retreats I have been participating in, I am going on four hours of sleep and am in a non-stop social setting for multiple consecutive days, yet am absolutely in my element; how? When I minister at funerals, I am surrounded by grieving family; when I was chairman of the Pastoral Council, I ran every meeting and made it a point to have 1-1 telephone check-ins with the members.
This was all made possible because God, through His sanctifying grace, was giving me supernatural capabilities to fulfill these functions. Imagine it like a bar chart: the bottom part is our natural life; the supplementary bar on top of that is our supernatural life.
Frank Sheed provides the metaphor of a jar containing cream. The cream is God's sanctifying grace. When Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the tree, the jar fell and got a crack in it. So, God needs to continually fill us with His grace due to the crack.
I mentioned this metaphor to my mother-in-law this morning, and it really worked for her. When I hear "Mike, you are broken" I take that as a logical statement: having a crack is a state of being broken-- so the language works for me. But for her, that language felt too personal: "Didn't God make me who I am? I'm not broken..."
The jar imagery gave her another way to look at it: "I get it now! And because of Original Sin, the crack will never disappear from me here on Earth-- but God's grace could at least potentially make the crack smaller over time as it operates on me. Then in heaven, the crack will be gone."