It is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity. ~ Henry Melvill
The Prophet Job's struggles with his faith in God delivers to us lessons in resilience, born out of a grim determination not to surrender to our fear of failure. Endurance is the gift that daily enters our life engaging us with the Divine Mystery's call to do all that He asks of us on our life time's journey of self discovery.
Way, way back in my primary school days the curriculum included the A1 reader providing lessons drawn from ancient Greek, and Roman myths. My favourite mythos was Homer's, The Odyssey with Odysseus/Ulysses demonstrating his prowess to conquer his doubts, fears, and general depression learning from his daily experiences that he was growing into a wiser, more able pioneer of life's challenges better able to succeed when failure appeared to overwhelm his every effort.
‘Be sincere and steadfast, undisturbed in times of adversity.’ ` Sirach 2:2
Homer uses poetic imagery to illustrate the influence of the Divine Mystery on our choices. Odysseus follows the wisdom of Athena guiding him through his daily dilemmas, those threats that drive him to exhaustion. We know Athena as the Holy Spirit leading us through our life's story, when we choose to accept His counselling.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers
~ Psalms 1:1-3
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