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I’m
not certain I could live up to the standards of living you have mentioned.
I’m wondering if you have to be born inherently good in order to live
that righteously. (That feels like too strong a word, but the only one that
comes to mind.)
 n order to live righteously, all
we have to do is keep before ourselves at all times the
desire to learn to live righteously. God does
not ask us to be perfect; He just wants us to dedicate ourselves to learning
how to live a holy life.
If you make this simple decision
to learn from everything, you will not have to be afraid
of making mistakes, and you will find that in
due time you will want to do anything it takes to live in holiness.
Make your best effort, then God will guide you.
Do your best
and let God do the rest.
Saints are Made,
not Born
Keep in mind that Christ chose
tax collectors, zealots, and unsophisticated fishermen for his Apostles to
prove to us that even the most wretched of sinners
can become saints.
Saint Paul, before he became
a saint, was a murderer. He committed murder and still he became a saint,
one of the greatest of all saints.
This points to the great mystery
of God’s love for us: in spite of what we deserve, God does not condemn
us to what we really deserve. A murderer like Saul, a tax collector like
Matthew, and a proud, sluttish vamp like Mary
Magdalene all became saints to prove that no one has to be perfect to
enter into God’s love. Such is the awesome mystery of God’s
love—and mercy.
Saints, therefore, are not born
holy. Moreover, sinners are not born evil. Our social experiences in the
womb, in infancy, and in childhood—and even throughout life—shape
our “temperaments” and
personalities.
Wounded by Family
Dysfunction
Sadly, many persons have been
so wounded as children by family dysfunction
that they have come to believe they are
garbage and deserve nothing but condemnation;
however much they might intellectually want growth and
healing, deep in their hearts they
fear any change and resist it. Moreover, behind this
resistance to change is, in their hearts, a secret
resentment at their parents for having treated them with a lack of real
love, and this resentment works unconsciously to obstruct any spiritual
growth.
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Remember, anyone
can do anything for the love of God; the question, therefore, is not whether
you can do it, but whether you want to do it. When you’re
angry at God, you won’t want to do anything. And why would you
be angry at God? Well, you’re angry at your
parents for being hypocrites, and you’re
angry at God because He didn’t stop your parents from being
hypocrites.[1]
So, when your
parents are hypocrites, you will hold secret grudges against them, and any
disobedience you show them will be your
revenge on them for their parental failures. Similarly,
a lack of spiritual growth is a form of revenge on God. Essentially, your
continued psychological dysfunction and your lack of spiritual progress is
your secret revenge at them all. |
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The Spark of
Hope and Love
Still, in spite of this unconscious
fear and resentment, a small spark of hope and love can always be found in
every soul. Do whatever you can now, according to your present capacity for
love. Any attempts you make will allow some
healing water to nourish your soul. Be
patient, and don’t try to do everything
at once.
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The ancient Greek
philosopher Aristotle taught that if you want to acquire a certain
quality, then begin by acting like others who have that quality, and
eventually you will develop that
quality.[2]
In the same way,
if you want to climb out of your mental and spiritual stagnation and live
a holy life, then start by doing the things that constitute a holy life.
All that holds you back is your unconscious pride
and spiritual blindness: your continued satisfaction
of defending your own self-interests at the
expense of others. In this pathetic state, you won’t even know what
faith is.
But you don’t
have to wait until you
feel faith before you can follow the spiritual counsels.
Just do them anyway; sow their seeds
within your soul and soon you will be surprised to see some awesome new growth
filling in the bare spots left by your pride. As the growth continues and
strengthens, pride itself will wither and be overgrown by
holiness. |
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Now, the
spiritual counsels on this website aren’t
really things you have to do, they are things that any soul in love
with God would desperately want to do. Why? Because
self-restraint helps to lift the psychological
defenses that prevent God’s graces from
sinking into us; with those defenses stripped away, the living waters of
salvation can finally reach our thirsty souls. So it’s simple: the more
you restrain your desire for self-satisfaction
and complacency, the more your soul grows in holiness.
For example, if you can’t
keep all of the Liturgy of the Hours, then say just
the Evening Prayer when you get home from work, instead of having a glass
of wine and watching TV to calm your nerves. If you can’t throw away
your TV completely, then cut away one hour of viewing each day and pray the
Rosary during that time. If you can’t eat simple
vegetarian foods for every meal, then at least avoid meat on Wednesdays and
Fridays, traditional fasting days. If you can’t do without make-up every
day, then do without it at least on Sundays. And so on. Just do what you
can; as your ability to love begins to grow, your ability to do things for
the sake of love will also grow.
With Trials as
a Teacher
You might wonder why some persons
grow to such great spiritual heights and why others make so little progress.
Well, Saint John of the Cross explains it.
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 And here it ought to be pointed
out why so few reach this high state of perfect union with God. It should
be known that the reason is not that God wishes only a few of these spirits
to be so elevated; he would rather want all to be perfect, but he finds few
vessels that will endure so lofty and sublime a work. . . .
There are many who desire to advance and persistently beseech God to bring
them to this state of perfection. Yet when God wills to conduct them through
the initial trials and mortifications, as is necessary, they are unwilling
to suffer them and they shun them, flee from the narrow road of life [Mt.
7:14] and seek the broad road of their own consolation, which is that of
their own perdition [Mt. 7:13]; thus they do not allow God to begin to grant
their petition. They are like useless containers, for although they desire
to reach the state of the perfect they do not want to be guided by the path
of trials that leads to it. They hardly even begin to walk along this road
by submitting to what is least, that is, to ordinary
sufferings.” |
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—Saint John
of the Cross
The Living
Flame of Love,
Stanza 2.27 |
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___________
1. Hearing it said that God will give us what
we ask for, children tend to believe that, if they pray for it, God will
control the behavior of other persons. Because they do not understand that
a literal answer to their prayers would be a violation of the
free will of others, the children get angry
at God when He doesn’t make others change their behavior.
2. Nicomachean Ethics, II:1.
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advertising—no sponsor—just the simple truth . . .
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If this website has helped
you, then