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| The Presentation of the Lord |
Patient Trust in Ourselves
and in the Slow Work of God
and in the Slow Work of God
by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
"Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are, quite naturally, impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We are, quite naturally, impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages,
We are impatient of being on the way
to something unknown, to something new.
We are impatient of being on the way
to something unknown, to something new.
"And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability...
And that it may take a very long time.
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability...
And that it may take a very long time.
"And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually,
let them grow,
let them shape themselves
without undue haste.
Your ideas mature gradually,
let them grow,
let them shape themselves
without undue haste.
"Don't try to force them on
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make you tomorrow.
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make you tomorrow.
"Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete."
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete."
