We can look at nature to help us understand God working in our lives.

Saint Catherine of Siena pictured the spiritual life as a large tree:
The trunk of the tree is love.
The core of the tree is patience.
The roots of the tree are self-knowledge.
The many branches are discernment.

In other words, said Catherine, love does not happen without patience, self-knowledge, and discernment.

Today we have little encouragement toward honest self-knowledge or training in spiritual discernment from our churches.

We prefer the seeming clarity of black-and-white laws.

By nature, most of us are not very patient.

All of which means that love is not going to be very common.

We need Saint Catherine’s tree again. 

[Yes, and …: Daily Meditations” by Richard Rohr]

May God Be Praised!