Mother Siluana on the pain that helps us grow
Let us receive the signal of pain as a bell that calls us to the liturgy of a life in Christ, the Savior of the world.
Excerpts from the book “Offering Ourselves, We Enter Into His Joy” by Mother Siluana Vlad (available on Amazon as paperback and ebook):
Do you think pain helps the brain form new synapses, and these newly formed ones are better than the old ones?
How can we distinguish between a good pain that helps us grow and a pain that melts our soul?
We have learned to give our pain to the Lord, and we indeed receive quick help from Him. Still, we can also say that we learn from the past, from the mistakes of others, if only we want to…maybe that is why you avoid giving advice. Perhaps others, like me, who wanted their questions to be answered quickly at the beginning of their journey, don’t have the capacity and the inner strength to distinguish between good and evil yet. And maybe that is why we wouldn’t be able to “ruminate” on the “pearls” (the precious advice).
Maybe, if we searched more carefully inside ourselves, we could prepare the oven and our daily bread, which could be baked more easily.
Sometimes I surprise myself with my audacity of asking for advice without cleaning up the chamber of my heart!
Please forgive us and wait for us, if you still have patience with us…
With love and longing,
A.M.
No, no, my child, pain doesn’t help the brain; it helps the heart! One day, no matter how hardened it is, the heart can’t bear it anymore. It cracks from pain, and through that crack, we can see God’s mercy, Who is always ready to help us if we call on Him in the true meaning of the word! That is to say, if we call on Him to give us what He can provide: His strength that allows us to live in joy, no matter what happens to us, and not a quick fulfillment, the way we want it, of our egotistical desires.
We form new synapses through our acceptance of pain as the place where we will meet God’s will, Who wants to lead us out of our pain in a way that leads to our birth and growth for and into the true Life, and not to a pleasant survival in the biological lair of our existence!
We form new synapses when we accept to be the way God made us: creators, creative! Let us receive the signal of pain as a bell that calls us to the liturgy of a life in Christ, the Savior of the world, and let us see that He gives us His Holy Spirit Who makes everything new! This is not idle talk; these are words that lead us to Life!
Courage!
Yes, my dear child, for me, good is all that we do and live in God’s presence, doing His will and seeking His mercy (even if this means we stay unmarried or we fall ill, for example!), while evil is all that is without God, against His will, or far from His will!
Thank you very much for allowing me to clarify this now!
Only the blessing, joy, wonder, and gratitude we bring to God form new synapses! They tear down the blinders we had set on our eyes because we feared the unknown.
Otherwise, our pain will take the same old path!
Pain can transform a heart of stone into a warm heart, but it can also wound and break it! It is necessary for the mind to refuse to despair and to help the heart bless and believe in the Lord’s promises!
We need a warm heart and a lucid mind! Lived like this, pain is birth. Otherwise, it is death.
I embrace you with love and gratitude,
M. Siluana