The need to be in control can be such a slippery slope on the spiritual journey: When do we take charge and act? When do we hold back and trust? So many of us live delusional lives and think we’re in charge not only of our lives but also of our holiness and soul training. And that is the very reason why frustration reigns supreme: We resist letting go and trusting in the fingers of the potter. We refuse to surrender. And yet, training the soul to become God’s instrument occurs only in the radical act of trust. The risen Christ rightly reminded Peter, “Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go…Follow me” (John 21:18–19). Instruments are fashioned when we hand over control to the Lord and Divine Master and follow his lead to a place we know not where. Soul training is steeped in the gratuity of grace that is never exhausted and never expires.
—from the book Soul Training with the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis
by Albert Haase, OFM
