At the time the Basilians were founded, there was a very particular tension between older members set in their diocesan ways and younger members more attracted to the dynamism of the Jesuits.\u00a0 One young man, after giving us a go, even left and joined the Jesuits.\u00a0 A few months later he was back with us.\u00a0 The biographers do not tell us what happened, but I have to believe at some level he experienced disappointment \u2013 he did not have what it took to be a Jesuit.\u00a0 This time, he stayed with us, eventually becoming our community\u2019s first historian, Father Julien Tracol.<\/p>\n
I have to believe that disappointment is one the most difficult experiences we face in our spiritual journey.\u00a0 It occurs at so many times in our life and in so many ways.\u00a0 But perhaps the most difficult experience is when we are disappointed with ourselves, when we do not live up to our own ideals, our own dreams as did Father Tracol.\u00a0 What was he thinking upon his return? That he was settling for second best, the Basilians?\u00a0 That he had failed? Or that he had struck upon what was to be his path in life, his vocation where the Lord was actually leading him?<\/p>\n
I think of Lent also as a season for confronting our own dreams and ideals in the light of what the Lord has in mind for us.\u00a0 It may even be a season for thinking of a specific disappointment.\u00a0 The disciplines of Lent guide us to recover a deeper intimacy with God in prayer and fasting and greater charity towards others in almsgiving and so discover God\u2019s ways.\u00a0 In this our own ways get challenged, as well as our thoughts and dreams.\u00a0 As one of the readings of the Easter Vigil reminds us: \u201cMy ways are not your ways\u201d.\u00a0 Oh, that Lent may be an occasion to discover these ourselves even at the cost of disappointment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the time the Basilians were founded, there was a very particular tension between older members set in their diocesan ways and younger members more attracted to the dynamism of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282,"featured_media":11055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,96],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n