The human soul is like a fine wine that needs to ferment in various barrels as it ages and mellows.
The wisdom for this is written everywhere, in nature, in scripture, in spiritual traditions, and in what is best in human science. And that wisdom is generally learned in the cru-cible of struggle. Growing up and maturing is precisely a process of fermentation. It does not happen easily
without effort and without breakdown. But it happens almost despite us, because such is the effect of a conspiracy between God and nature to mellow the soul.
So we need to be patient with one another and with ourselves. Maturation is a lifelong journey with different phases, human and spiritual. And it has many set-backs.
Take, for example, Jesus’ parable of the talents: in essence, that parable warns that if we do not use our natural talents to achieve something and accomplish something in this world, we will be punished, and punished to the exact extent of what we have wasted or left unused.
That warning clearly applies to us more during the first half of our lives, when we are more fragile in terms of our self- worth, are still struggling for an identity, and are still at a stage in life where success and achievement can help establish a healthy sense of self- worth, than during our later years when the human and the spiritual task is much more to let go, especially of the sense of self- worth we get through success and achievement. Success has little to teach us during the second half of life. It continues to feel good, but now it is often more an obstacle to maturity than a positive stimulus toward it.
Citation: Fr. Ron
