Beloved sons and daughters of the Father, how wonderful it is to continue this week seeking the Lord with excitement, spirit, courage, boldness, and holiness, for whoever seeks loves; whoever loves knows; and whoever knows does not give up, does not allow themselves to be disheartened or to be distanced from the presence of God for anything or anyone. Whoever is convinced of this truth can affirm with Saint Paul:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter (Ps 43:23). But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:35-39)

It is because of Jesus! It is because of Him! It is because of Him that the gates of heaven are opened, that blessing, grace, and holiness are poured out upon the Earth, upon the good and upon the bad, so that all of us may have the chance to know Him, to return to Him, to advance towards Him, to grow in His presence. All glory and majesty to Him forever!

If you are convinced of this truth, sing, glorify, and praise the Lord with us with the song "Glória e majestade" by the band Arkanjos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSbamFUux28

Today we will delve into a very important topic for all who walk with God: spiritual lethargy! It is important for those who have been walking with Christ for a long time, for those who have been for a short time, for those who are just beginning, and for those who are yet to begin...

What is spiritual lethargy? What does it have to do with the tag 'grow'? Why does it hinder our dreams in God, sap the vigor of faith, discourage the most fervent souls, lead to counter-witness, and cause some people to distance themselves from the Lord's presence? How can we overcome it? Let's read and find out!

You, who are a person who doesn't miss a beat, is alert and pays attention to details, must have already realized that this lethargy business must have something to do with slowness, otherwise, why would there be a turtle with a child on top, in the photo above?! That's exactly it! For us on this blog, this photo faithfully and perfectly represents what spiritual lethargy is and what it does to us.

If you search the internet, the first definition (from Wikipedia) you will find is the following: the word lethargia, derived from Latin, where lethe means forgetfulness, and argia means inaction; it is the temporary and complete loss of sensitivity and movement due to a physiological cause, not yet identified, leading the individual to a morbid state in which vital functions are so attenuated that they appear suspended, giving the body the appearance of death.

Now just translate it to the spiritual world to see how true this lethargy business is and how present it is in the Church and outside the Church.

How many have lost spiritual sensitivity, due to natural or supernatural causes!? How many of us have a downcast spirit and no movements in the soul, that is, no love!? How many of us have this morbid appearance and live in a terrible lukewarmness!? How many of us are weak in faith, worn out in prayer, in spirituality, and worst of all, how many are not dead in spiritual life!? THIS IS VERY SERIOUS!

So we begin this post on this wonderful Thursday by crying out against sin, against the world, and against the devil: LET US WAKE UP AND AROUSE FROM ALL SPIRITUAL LETHARGY, LET US RISE UP, LET US REGAIN OUR SPIRIT, LET US RENEW OUR FAITH, LET US TAKE STEPS TOWARDS OUR SAVIOR, AND LET US ALLOW HIM TO FREE US FROM ALL OPPRESSION THAT PREVENTS US FROM GROWING AND POUR OUT UPON US A SPIRIT OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT.

Whoever wants this, whoever longs for this grace, whoever takes possession of all this, say aloud HALLELUJAH! And let us place ourselves in prayer, inspired by Psalm 69, which King David composed to the Lord:

"To the choirmaster. Of David. For a memorial. Be pleased, O God, to deliver me; make haste, O Lord, to help me. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned backward and put to confusion that desire my hurt. Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha. Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified. But I am poor and needy; make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying." (Ps 69:1-6)

Do you believe that many Christians who know Jesus Christ of Nazareth (the Savior consecrated by anointing and despised; meaning of our God's names) are like the image above?

Many are crawling (the way the devil likes it, for it was in this position that this ancient serpent was condemned and cursed to walk in Gen 3:14), humiliated and prostrate on the ground because of their unruly life of revelry, drunkenness, late nights and parties after parties, novelties after novelties. Unfortunately, this is the reality for many!

Now, brothers and sisters, we have wonderful news for all who are like this: JESUS IS GOD WHO HUMBLED HIMSELF FROM HEAVEN, INCARNATED IN HUMAN HISTORY ASSUMING OUR NATURE (cf. Jn 1:14); HE HUMBLED HIMSELF EVEN MORE, BECOMING A SLAVE, OBEDIENT EVEN TO DEATH ON THE CROSS (cf. Phil 2:8); AND DESCENDED TO HELL, THE LOWEST LEVEL ANYONE CAN REACH...

He gave us the roadmap to follow, certainly in another way (in other posts we will deepen this roadmap of Christ) but He also preceded us to show us that we no longer need to go there. He died so that we might live, He suffered so that we might be healed, He was wounded and martyred so that we might be cured (cf. 1 Pet 2:24), He was nailed to the cross so that we might be free from all curse and all sin, for all condemnation was nailed to the cross (cf. Col 2:14).

God does not want anyone to drag themselves and walk this way. It's impossible! This is not life, much less the abundant life that Jesus Christ came to bring us (cf. Jn 10:10)! We cannot live this way: we need to be lifted up by the hand, by the almighty arm of the Lord!

The prophet Isaiah has an entire chapter for all those who are in this situation, which, how can we not say, is the fruit of spiritual lethargy? Let's take it. It is our main passage:

"No, the Lord's hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, a viper is hatched. Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; violence and destruction mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along them will know peace. So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for a bright day, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind, we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead. We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for salvation, but it is far away. For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, inciting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, and he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him." (Is 59:1-16)

Without a shadow of a doubt, we can affirm without fear of error: SIN IS THE MAIN REASON, THE NUMBER ONE CAUSE, THE CAPITAL DISASTER THAT GENERATES, FEEDS, AND MAKES ALL SPIRITUAL LETHARGY GROW IN US! WE NEED TO BREAK WITH SIN, IN EVERY AND ANY WAY, BROTHERS!

In addition to all this, death, in addition to misfortunes, the fact that sin tends to reproduce and strengthen itself (cf. CCC 1865), generating in us iniquity, the tendency to continue in sin, and like a snowball, completely destroying our lives, destroying families, marriages, love among brothers, communities, causing this layer of spiritual cooling throughout the world and being able to lead us to hell if we die with it, it makes us live at a spiritually lethargic pace.

Notice how sad and increasingly common it is in today's language when we hear that someone has distanced themselves from God and caused a scandal in a community. Jesus spoke about this to the apostles and today speaks to us, the apostles of the 21st century:

"Jesus also said to his disciples: It is impossible that scandals should not come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him. And the apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’" (Lk 17:1-5)

If those who were there seeing and hearing Jesus asked that their faith be increased in the face of this, to help their brothers, to forgive, and not to cause scandals, how much more so should we, who like the disciples of Emmaus (Cleopas and his wife Mary) are walking with our God, in the Church, two thousand years after our Savior trod this earth.

Still on the same subject, the prophet Ezekiel brings us, with his experience, this lesson that all the baptized must embrace:

"After these seven days, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth and give them warning from Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul." (Ez 3:16-19)

There is a complacency today where many forget, especially in the Catholic Church which treats this with great seriousness and by the solid expression of its firm and unshakeable doctrine, and also in evangelical Churches, that we are one Body, of which Christ is the head (cf. 1 Cor 12:20).

Notice what a beautiful thing it is that besides helping each other mutually, encouraging one another to persevere in a life of grace and to flee and renounce sin, we are loving each other, for in Christ we all become brothers, members of one body (in other posts we will delve deeper into this theme).

"And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually." (1 Cor 12:26-27)

Therefore, this wretched mentality of those who say out there in soap operas, movies, advertisements, and songs, 'If I drink, it's my problem... Nobody has anything to do with it, I'll mind my own business, leave me alone... If I want to smoke, I smoke, if I want to drink, I drink... Each to their own...etc...' are works that come directly from hell!

This individualism goes too far in this sense. We cannot remain silent and content with life, saying that it is just how it is, that there is no way, that there is no more salvation. How many prophecies of curse and misfortune we utter! We need to stop this and start truly helping each other, no matter how. Saint James warned us:

"Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (Jas 4:17)

This idea that we cannot speak or do anything is an excuse that greatly pleases Satan. Furthermore: it is human respect, which is not respecting the person as all of us should be respected, but it is failing to speak the truths that can save, the truths that can help someone to come out of sin, the truth that is Jesus who can change any situation, no matter how deep the pit one has fallen into.

How is it that we are so quick for our own interests and want speed and everything in the shortest possible time when it comes to something for our benefit, and yet we do not care in the same way and do not care whether it is fast or not for things that are to help our neighbor, to extend a hand to help someone get up, to rescue someone who cries out and begs for mercy, to save someone's life?

IT IS THE FAULT OF THE SIN THAT DWELLS IN US AND THAT WE DO NOT FIGHT, WHICH MAKES US THINK ONLY OF OURSELVES! IT IS THE CURSED EGOISM OF CHRISTIANS THAT INCREASES EVERY DAY (which we reflected on in the post "Christian Egoism")! IT IS THE INDIFFERENCE THAT KILLS SO MUCH OF OUR FAITH AND DESTROYS SOCIETY (which we will reflect on in other posts).

We need to convert and take a concrete stand regarding the other members of the same body to which we belong; for this indifference can often also be treated as a lack of self-love. We also need to love ourselves, because Jesus told us that we should love others as we love ourselves (cf. Mk 12:31).

It is interesting that many are even at this level, acting with haste for themselves and for their brothers. How many works and foundations of charity, of welcoming the poor, of helping in the recovery of drug addicts, houses for the restoration of family life, etc., and it is very good that they exist. We must pray for more. But it doesn't stop there...

Many do charity for their neighbor and spend their lives in this way, helping and striving to bring dignity to the human person, with a social doctrine, as exists in the Catholic Church, but very few have this same agility to seek God, to increase faith, to make love for the Lord grow, to give themselves, to spend themselves and wear themselves out for love of Jesus Christ, to adore, to make reparation, to live and make life an arrow that points to God, to take everyone with them to heaven. This is love (as we reflected on in the post "To Love is to Lead to Heaven").

Saint Augustine told us that this life we have is the only time we have to make our love for the Lord grow, to progress in His grace, to love Him and learn to consume ourselves with love with our whole being. We have almost no one or very few people who give us this example, who show us this path and this direction, given the number of people, the number of Christians and people who believe in God in this world.

HOW LITTLE WE SEE IN THE CHURCH PEOPLE WHO ARE CRAZY TO RUN TO MEET THE LORD TO RETURN TO HAVE COMMUNION WITH HIM, TO GROW IN INTIMACY, TO ENTER AND LIVE IN THE COURTS OF HIS HEART, TO BE NOBLE AND USEFUL INSTRUMENTS; DESPERATE FOR GOD!

In this crazy century of technical, scientific, technological advances, a generation of people desperate for the Lord needs to rise up with spiritual advancement, experienced in the path of the science of divine knowledge, masters of experiences and holiness... Saints need to rise up urgently!

You who are reading now are being called to make reparation (access the posts on reparation) for all this spiritual lethargy that you have lived or are living, and also to make reparation for your brothers, collaborating so that the good and love of God may spread and diffuse more and more in the world. But perhaps you might say: 'I don't know how to do anything, I don't have much knowledge, I don't know what to do!'

No problem at all! The talent that you have, that I have, and that each and every one of us has, which was given by God, will never be taken away because it is irrevocable (cf. Rom 11:29) and all that remains for us is to put it at the service of the Lord to make it bear fruit, so that we may not be sent to hell for burying our gifts/talents or not making them bear fruit (cf. Mt 25:14-30).

All spiritual lethargy makes us remain static in faith, prevents us from producing the deeds and good works that were prepared for us before the foundation of the world, for we are destined to be holy and blameless (cf. Eph 1:4), it makes us lose the graces that were to be assumed at the opportune moment, the blessings that in God's plan would make us grow, but we lose them.

That is why Saint Paul warns us, for today is the favorable time, and then continues by giving us the remedy of how to act and live holily, with the awareness that we are one body:

"We then, as workers together with Him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” (Is 49:8). Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." (2 Cor 6:1-10)

We cannot receive the grace of God in vain, nor can we lose it, for often it is unique. God knows and understands our weaknesses, limitations, and knows us better than we know ourselves, but this is not a reason or an excuse, for He also knows that we are capable of receiving His grace. It is not possible that we do not even have the strength to receive grace.

Saint Augustine said something that is the front door that opens the Catechism of the Catholic Church: CAPAX DEI! That is: man is capable of God! We have within us this impulse to know Him, this will for the infinite, this desire that nothing and no one will satisfy because only He can satisfy (as we reflected on in the post "To Be Free"), for only God satisfies, as Saint Thomas Aquinas said.

It is this spiritual lethargy that the author of the letter to the Hebrews portrays, drawing our attention, exhorting with much charity and firmness for us to abandon every kind of lethargy, this sad countenance that we so often assume for our spiritual life. Pay close attention! He spoke about the humility, obedience, and uprightness of Christ's life:

"Of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become DULL OF HEARING... For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." (Heb 5:11-14)

It is not because we on this blog are writing that we are exempt from this. No! We are human and all are on the same level; but what counts in this sense is experience and feeding on solid food to grow!

In the other posts with the same tag GROW, we have already said that solid food is commitment to God, consecration, the responsibility of being an authentic Christian. So, only those who do not make a true commitment to the Lord, who do not always seek to improve, who do not care about growing or not growing in love for Jesus, fail to grow, much influenced by spiritual lethargy!

See what Saint Augustine teaches in his doctrine, which will certainly impact our hearts: 'It is easier to simulate virtues than to live them. That is why there are many impostors in the world.' He also said: 'There is no more disloyal lesson than to speak well and live badly.'

Stop and think for a moment now: have you been slow to understand the things of God? Have you been on God's path for a long time and haven't even read the entire Bible yet? Have you been in the Church for so many years and don't know what the Church teaches? Have you gone through countless moments of prayer, experiences with God, mystical moments, and you realize that you haven't progressed at all; and besides not progressing, you have regressed?

We must take a vaccine against all this cursed spiritual disease called lethargy that leads so many to abandon the faith due to the poor spiritual life of the majority: a violent prayer! For those who think this is the work of a fanatic, open and read in your Bible what Jesus Christ himself said:

"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force." (Mt 11:12)

So many are violent with people, with their brothers and sisters, with their own family... They are capable of beating women, the elderly, children, etc. But we must have the courage to be violent as Christians too and channel all this power within us: let us launch ourselves into a prayer of surrender, of awareness, of total abandonment into the hands of the Father.

"Beloved and glorious Father, before You now I want to surrender. I want to renounce all sin, all evil, all complacency, all indifference, all spiritual lethargy. I no longer want to be slow in the things of the Lord and put them in second place or do things for the Lord or for my brother if there is time left or if it happens: I want to give priority! Help me, Lord, for I have become accustomed to wrong, accustomed to evil, to selfishness, but believing that You can do all things, I prostrate myself before Your presence to implore mercy.

Come to my aid and rescue me with Your strong arm, Lord. Neither I, nor my family, nor my brothers are worthy, but by Your marvelous grace, by Your own justice, by the power of the name of Jesus Christ, I want to ask at this moment: Help me, my God!

Come, dear Jesus, touch the areas of my heart, my soul, my spirit, my body too, that make me remain in this slow rhythm, in this slow march towards Your presence, towards Your love. Pour out Your love upon me, Jesus! By the blood You sweated in agony, by the blood that flowed from Your body in the flagellation, by the blood that ran from Your head in the crowning with thorns, by the blood and the wounds of Your shoulder carrying the cross, by the blood that flowed from Your five wounds on the cross, by Your open heart I ask: transform me, Lord! By the power of Your most holy blood, renew in me love, faith, hope. Fill me with the charism and the impulse of holiness, the same that led You to give Yourself completely on the cross for me and for my brothers.

Holy Spirit, come burn and make my whole being boil now. I want to let myself be set on fire by Your power and Your glory. Come to my aid at this moment and console my heart. Come blow upon me a wind that takes me to the deep waters of experience. Come give me at this moment a strong, supernatural, mystical experience with the Lord. I have had many impacts in sin and my life is marked by these negative experiences. What I need at this moment, dear Spirit of God, is an impact with Your presence in such a way as to lift me off the ground, to take me out of sin, because I cannot do it by myself. I need a shock, Lord! Many times I may have gotten drunk with alcohol and lost control of my senses; but at this moment I want to receive a drunkenness of Your anointing. Pour out upon me this oil to anoint my whole being, powerful Holy Spirit.

Most Holy Trinity, come give me the grace to immerse myself in You. I want to let myself be taken by Your Shekinah, by Your manifestation of love in my life, by Your power and by Your presence. Just one touch from You and everything in me will be transformed. I want it! I need this! Come, Lord!

Holy Mother of God, teach me to open myself to the impact of God in my history. I want, like you, to be positively marked by the grace and blessing of the Lord. Teach me to persevere and resist to run with the Lord in this direction that I propose to follow. Dear Saint Michael, help me to be a warrior. My sweet guardian angel, touch my senses and remove all scales, all wax of insensitivity that has been formed in me by sin. Brothers and sisters of heaven, through the communion of saints, intercede to God for me.

I adore You with affection, Lord! Thank You very much for Your grace! Glories to Your name, glories to Your goodness, glories to Your mercy. I glorify You for all Your virtues, because You are holy, because You welcome my prayer, my life, my history and commit Yourself with me to be an authentic Christian. Praised be You, beloved Jesus, for so much love and so much grace that pierces my life at this moment. I exalt You and magnify You, Holy Spirit. Thank You, holy Mother, angels and saints of God. All praise and all gratitude to You forever! Blessed be God! Amen!"

Having touched Jesus by faith, let each of us assume with the wonderful Mariani what happened in us by proclaiming "Minha cura" (My healing): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOatc8fNgig

If we are to make the most of "Time," let's make the most of it with the Missionário Shalom ministry, in this wonderful medley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zynYC_sx9w

Let's learn with the funny Banda Conexa to "Amar pra valer" (Love for real): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CwsbfAHr0M

"As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others: if anyone speaks, let it be as one who utters oracles of God; if anyone serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever! Amen." (1 Pet 4:10-11)

May we, running to meet the Lord, in this wonderful direction today, to repair our lethargy and that of those who are part of the same body, take advantage of this opportune time of grace that is our life, the greatest gift God has given us to bear fruit in this world and yield good fruits of penance, conversion, and holiness, to show all who do not believe that there is a God whom we love and serve.

May God bless us and give us the grace to live far from all spiritual lethargy.