For your contribution I spontaneously remembered the following event:

grace

If a piece of raw iron still lying unused in the smithy could talk, it would say, "I'm cold, I'm hard!" This is completely true. But now lay this same piece of iron in the glowing coals, and wait only a little while, until the fire has proved its power in him.

Now it would have to say in amazement: "The cold, the hardness is gone! I am completely changed, now I am red and glowing instead of cold, now I am flexible instead of hard, now I have become useful for my purpose!"

Would the iron boast itself? No, it would boast of the fire by which it was so completely transformed. - So also man is naturally cold and hard.

But when the Lord touches him with his divine influences, when Jesus' blood purifies him, when he is filled with God's love, what he was by nature vanishes.

However, the honor of transformation does not come to man, but to the Lord.

All images and text published in this post are my original work.