Face The Way It Is!

I recently read a quote by Theresa Mancuso, an "urban hermit," living in Brooklyn, NY, who works in the New York City Department of Probation. She has a background as an educator and as a contemplative nun. She has a unique perspective and often writes about "courageously encountering difficulty." The initial quote I read was in Annie Dillard's book, For the Time Being. I really liked what Mancuso says about facing reality. Here is an expanded quote . . .

“The challenge of everyday faith is to clear away the illusions that bind us to our immaturities and false expectations, our little road maps and guide books of the way it ought to be. The thing we desperately need to face is the way it is. That’s what our faith does for us: it helps us focus on reality and teaches us to accept it the way it is. I with my crippledness, you with AIDS, some in poverty, others in riches; those who fail and those who succeed. The way it is for each of us is what faith enables us to endure. Not only to endure, but to triumph!”