detachment

The priest spoke about failure.
He learned in seminary
that life is primarily failure
if you ever want success.

It's a hard lesson
for a society that wants results.
Hard for me 
who is more consequentialist
than I usually care to admit.

But there it is
and it makes sense.

Patience and endurance
obtain all things,
said Theresa of ...
Calcutta? Lisieux? Which Theresa?
...So many Theresas.

Avila. That Theresa.

I guess, in short, you don't want to be
too afraid of failure.
It does take detachment.
And detachment 
is a good for fighting the demon problem.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

call me johnny

Image
Call me Mr. Johnny. I'm a johnny on the spot. I buy some cookies, daily, and give them to the poor. Some people save their lives while I just give them cookies. I don't see why not. The poor don't seem to mind. I also have a demon. I call him Mr. Bitter. I used to call him Superman. But now, I just ignore him, at least, the best I can. It's bad inside his fantasy, and I'm no demonologist. I'm way too simple for that, and so, I just buy cookies. Am I very friendly? Not exactly, no. I don't stay and chat. I just hand out cookies. I guess I have a purpose. It's true it often changes. Sometimes it's five dollars, but, for now, it's cookies. I even have some cigarettes, if cookies aren't your thing. Some homeless ask for both.
Read more

God's mercy

Image
What an attack it was, the attack that happened yesterday. This morning, it soon resumed, before I had my coffee. That's pretty freaking early. I tried an approach which helped. Demons are messengers; angel means 'messenger.' If the angel is good, it only reports the truth, and then it goes away. If the angel is bad, it stays and stays and stays, feeding you half-truths and lies. My approach: tell on the messenger. The demon would speak it's message, and I would relay it to Mary. I have a Marian shrine with magnets on my fridge. So I would 'speak' to the fridge. Any word from the demon was reported straight to Mary no matter how sick it was. Get that venom out! Don't hold that poison inside. No matter how evil the message, I transferred the burden to her. It works. I told on the demon, and Mary heard it all. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Undeterred, they continued while I attended the Mass. It's cheap - you try to stay open to receive the grace of God ...
Read more

justice

Image
There can be an awful karma to demon justifications, all their rationalizations for why the do what they do (to you). But karma isn't true - it isn't really justice according to a priest. Justice is a virtue, and virtues build you up, and make you happy, healthy. They don't tear you down. That's what demons do, whenever they're around (which is all too often). Yes, yes, we speak of justice as like a bloody sword. To some extent that's true. But justice is a virtue, and virtues aren't destroyers. I was glad to hear the priest. He taught me something new. Justice is a virtue. It's not what demons do to you.
Read more