Helping the Soul of a Neigbor

St. Vincent Ferrer wrote a work called “On the Spiritual Life.”The conclusion of the excerpt reads: “Finally if you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask him simply to fill you with charity….”

This fits very well with an axiom I have come to hold close to my heart as part of my daily spiritual journey. In order to be filled with God’s charity, you have to first empty yourself of your own notions of what your neighbor needs in order to make the room for that which comes from God. Some days I have lots of trouble with that concept. I like to think I know best but not stopping to consider how God wants us to relate to others is like disabling the crossing guard at busy railroad crossing. You might make it safely across the tracks once or twice or maybe even a hundred times but eventually you are going to cause a heck of wreck