"The right path is not, and never will be, an easy one. And as I mentioned, it is so easy to be taken morally hostage by family members. But we cannot allow ourselves the contemporary canard of divorcing love from the moral law. Rather, we must follow Christ: "If you love me, do as I command." How can we help others if our love, and their lives, are separated from moral truth? The spiritual and pastoral art is communicating this to others (particularly hard as it is in the case of loved ones) in a gentle and yet effective manner."
"It isn't easy, Father. You know, now, I have a hole in my heart that moral truth does not fill."
"Daughter, Our Lord will fill it."
"How?"
"In His own way. Remember that He said, 'He who gives up home, family...for My sake will receive a hundredfold'."
"Yes, but like Job's new family, how does it make up for the lost ones? They are irreplacable."
"Daughter, what you have done is to show him the narrow path- whether he sees it now, or later- this is up to him. You know the Lord never takes our free will from us. You have done a small thing, small in the Lord's eyes, to show him that his way is not good. And your very suffering will be further evidence to him. He knows you say this, and do it, at great cost. And never forget that He loves him, much more than you ever could. Remember the lost sheep?"
"Oh yes. To see him upon the Lord's shoulders would be -"
"-wonderful. Take courage, Daughter. We live most of our lives in faith, in the dark-"
"-like the cloud of unknowing?"
"Yes, yes. We find the Lord in this life within the seeking. We find Him in obedience, even when we don't fully understand His commands, and even when, perhaps, it is very costly. I am thinking of him and of you when I say this."
"That is why, isn't it, Father, that we can only truly live righteous lives with joy when we have our heart set on knowing the Lord in heaven-as we are known. Otherwise, it becomes pharisaic judgement."
"Love changes everything- but as Edith Stein said, 'Accept nothing as love which denies truth, and accept nothing as truth which has not love.'"
"My heart is not so empty- or perhaps the wound makes sense."
"It is the sense of true sacrifice- only when offered in love, like Our Lord's crucifixion does sacrifice find its meaning."
"Still, Father, I am afraid. Afraid of him staying on the wrong way-"
"Perfect love casts out fear. It is a gift you must ask of the Lord. Like the courage you need, the sense of love tied to truth, the highest standard of love, that we are all called to, now in the face of loss: even those who we love the most. Leave him with God."
