As a teenager, I was straggling with God. I didn’t know who God was. I was baptized, made my first Holy Communion, took my religion classes and received confirmation. I continuously went to church every single Sunday morning feeling lost. But I still didn’t know who God was or why I needed Him. I was told to believe what the priest preached was always right, pray seven memorized prayers and to be a good person. But I felt something inside of me was missing; my heart felt, and at the time I felt far away from God. When I prayed, I didn’t know who I was praying to. After I finished praying, it just left me with this hollow, numb and displaced feeling that seemed like it could never be filled. I constantly questioned myself: Why am I a Christian? What makes me a Christian? My whole life centered around God, that turned out to be religion without real faith.
Well that all changed in my senior year of high school, when my English teacher introduced me to a prolific and groundbreaking writer, named Flannery O’Connor. Sometimes a story or a quote can change you in a way you never felt before, which is what O’Connor did to me. Here are eleven of the most inspirational words from Flannery O’Connor that became the simplest remedy for my soul.
1) Be Open Minded
“The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience.”
You learn a lot, from stepping outside of your comfort zone. There is a reason for everything, even for the experiences you don’t want to experience.
2) Look In The Mirror
“You are continually turning inward toward God and away from your own egocentricity...you have to see this selfish side of yourself in order to turn away from it.”
No one likes to admit something bad about themselves. But if you want to change, you need to look in the mirror first.
3) Turn The Other Cheek
“I don't deserve any credit for turning the other cheek as my tongue is always in it.”
Yes, turn the other cheek but don’t forget to stick up for yourself too.
4) Keep It Real
“ What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.”
Just because you go to church every Sunday doesn’t mean you are a Christian. Religion and faith are entirely two different things
5) Don’t Be Judgmental – Be Humble
“Smugness is the Great Catholic Sin.”
A true Christian is never self-righteous because a Christian would know we are all sinners, who are all in the same boat. No one is better than anyone else.
6) Be A Spiritual Fruit, Not A Religious Nut
“It began to drizzle rain and he turned on the windshield wipers; they made a great clatter like two idiots clapping in church.”
Enough was said in the quote.
7) Grace In The Grotesque
“She would have been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”
When the most tragic events of our life take place, that is when we know what we truly really stand for. Flannery O'Connor's portrayed God's grace as a strange process, by using grotesque characters and situations to help aid in the character’s journey to salvation.
8)Don’t Be The Crowd That Jesus Condemned – A.K.A. The Pharisees
“They were marching behind the others with great dignity, accountable as they had always been for good order and common sense and respectable behavior. ... Yet she could see by their shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were being burned away.”
Jesus called the Pharisees: “whited sepulchers:”a person who outwardly professes and shows to be virtuous, but inwardly are the exact opposite, while perceiving themselves as better than others.
9) You Can’t Save People
“I love a lot of people, understand none of them.”
Don't Criticize What You Can't Understand. You Can’t Save People. All You Can Do Is Love Them.
10) Compassion Is The Key Seal of Being a Christian
“Conviction without experience makes for harshness.”
I learned that Christians who have struggled with their demons are able to show compassion towards others. “Always remember that charity is beyond reason, and God can be known through charity.” Empathy. That's something worth getting passionate over.
11) Life Is Short, So Die Laughing
"Only if we are secure in our beliefs can we see the comical side of the universe."
Life is like a vapor. Life vanishes before our very eyes. There is no reason to be afraid in the Christian faith because we know death is not the end. Flannery O'Connor, although had serious messages for the readers she had a witty spark of humor that showed there is a light side to every situation in life. To kindle your soul, you should put down that worldly rubbish when you can read a Flannery O'Connor novel instead.