It’s like a tiny child in daycare trying to climb a mountain by himself while his mother wants to carry him. But that’s us. We are not only proud, but also foolish—for to go it alone is to place ourselves into the hands of the enemy of mankind, who, though a fallen angel, still retains all the natural faculties of a superior spirit.
Newsroom, June 11, 2025, Gaudium Press – The key to the spiritual life ultimately lies in not resisting the work that God wants to do in us. God wants to “carry us.”
“If you let Him…” – these were words often said by Saint Maravillas of Jesus, repeating a line from a beloved folk song. Yet in the lips of this holy woman, the phrase took on greater depth and beauty: “If [the soul] surrenders completely, the Lord will carry out in this abyss of misery the work of His love.” That second line expands upon the first, though the original contains a concise and somewhat mysterious truth.
“If you let Him…” – What this says at its core is that the Holy Spirit wants to sanctify us, but we don’t let Him. We want to do our work, we want to act on our own, without God’s help…
Fools that we are.
It’s like a tiny child in daycare trying to climb a mountain by himself while his father wants to carry him. But that’s us.
In other words, we are not only proud, but also foolish—for to go it alone is to place ourselves into the hands of the enemy of mankind, who, though a fallen angel, still retains all the natural faculties of a superior spirit. As theology teaches, and as Fr. Royo Marín reminds us:
“His power is simply formidable. Let’s not forget that demons are angels—albeit evil ones. They retain their angelic nature entirely, along with all its immense power. If God were to grant them full freedom to do as much evil as they wish, life on earth would become impossible for man.” (1)
Msgr. João Clá Dias, EP, once said that to not pray, to not implore divine assistance, is as absurd as trying to face the devil’s raging fury on one’s own—something only possible with the help of the Holy Spirit. And not only does the Spirit want to protect us from the evil one, He also wants to carry us—but we don’t let Him.
Yet God, through the voice of Saint Maravillas and countless others, keeps insisting: “If you let Him…”
What we should do is precisely this: place ourselves in God’s arms like a child in the arms of a mother or father. That is the very essence of the little way of that great little saint, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. One might complete Saint Maravillas’ phrase like this:
“If you let Him, let Him carry you like a child in its mother’s arms…”
As Saint Thérèse confirms in Story of a Soul:
“The Lord is pleased to show me the only way which leads to that divine furnace of love, and that way is the abandonment of a little child who sleeps without fear in its Father’s arms.”
But the truth is, we’re rooted in the habit of not wanting to depend on God. We’ll turn to Him in moments of prayer, but for the rest of the day we say, “Let it be my own legs that carry me…” And yet—our legs are nothing!
We ought to say: “Lord, let us let You.”
May the Virgin conquer this silly shell of pride in us. May She inspire us to entrust ourselves fully, at every moment, into God’s hands.
May She teach us to listen and to be docile to the voice of God—until that day when we can say:
“Lord, thanks to You and to Your Mother, we have finally let You…”
By Carlos Castro.
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