Pope St. Gregory the Great wrote a great exhortation to the clergy; however, I believe his message can be applied to all because of its poignant invitation to a deeper life of prayer and spiritual sensitivity. He reminded us that the more we are wrapped up in worldly concerns and devote ourselves to external things, the more insensitive we become in spirit. If we are too absorbed in all the secondary, busy, and tedious things, we will fail to have time for God. Hence, without time for prayer, reflection, and spiritual rest, we will have nothing to offer to this world.
People abandon God because they think that He does not do anything for them, and they are too focused on lesser things. We, too, will become forgetful of Him when we are too busy with daily life matters and stresses. Our words bear no substance when we do not practice the evangelical virtues, keep the commandments, and allow the truth to set us free. When we only care about ourselves, we, in turn, become very myopic and locked up in our own little pitiful world, but fail to help others. When we only care about ourselves, we have subconsciously abandoned God. Thus, how can we help those who are lost and are living in sin when we ourselves are so busy and lost trying to chase the things of this world?
I believe the most miserable thing happens when we choose to abandon our faith for the world and its goods. Even though we might speak a lot and become vocal in all things, we have become spiritually silent and partake in the culture of death since we really have nothing to offer to others. We forget that we are workers and collaborators in the Lord‘s vineyards when we would rather spend a lot of time trying to pursue and build our kingdom. How we spend our day and what we do with our time really do matter! If we are not attentive to what really gives us life, we will end up being focused on the things that only make us worried, easily agitated, and stressed out because they never seem to be enough, and we do not always have what we like.
Therefore, let us not become too focused on the things of this world where we become so sensitive to every little political, social, and humanistic thing but become insensitive, out of touch, and lost in our very own life of prayer. Fr. Pedro Arupe, SJ, a former Superior General of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), once said:
“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”
Our faith is not dependent on what God has to do for us, nor is our happiness based on what we want or desire for ourselves. The Lord has come to show us who we truly are and invites us into a deeper communion with Him and with one another. Our true joy is not self-centered but grounded in the real, personal, and intimate faith, hope, and love for the Savior who had given Himself up for us. It is not just about what we can get out of the relationship, but in obedience to His words and by imitating His own sacrificial examples of love for the greater good of all. We are to become like Him by the dying of ourselves to love, trust, and believe beyond the materialistic or quantifiable goods, especially through our own personal gifts of service to others.
The true Christian faith is not an individual nor a benefit-based one. Just as we have received the Good News of salvation and redemption through the Church, we have to understand that we are not alone, nor ever meant to be alone. We are not saved and redeemed as isolated individuals, but have been incorporated into a communion of persons that participates in the Trinitarian communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our relationship and blessing are, then, grounded on the love of Christ as we continually grow and interiorly renew our love for Him through the sacraments. Hence, the relationship is understood not just in terms of the quantity of goods but in the concreteness of our love for Him through the service of one another, especially the poor, abandoned, and weakest.
The life of discipleship consists of a delicate balance between passion and commitment, eros and agape in both of their basic, substantial, and fundamental understanding. There will be times when we need to let our passion ignite and motivate us to feel His loving presence in a real and personal way. Nonetheless, there will also be times when we have to personally choose to will to love even though it makes no sentimental, emotional, humanistic, or seem-to-be natural sense. The act of the will and our passion interplay and help us to find different ways to love God in a personal way, as we are able!
There will be sunny as well as stormy days. There will be good weather as well as rough moments. There will be times of elation as well as times of little to nothing to offer. There will be mountains as well as valleys. Nonetheless, life changes, and it has its own different seasons. Nonetheless, to have true faith, hope, and love requires us to truly be focused on the Lord, longing for Him, seeking His presence, and continuing to abide with him when it gets hard.
That is why the spiritual life is hard. All we have to do is read the saints’ writings, autobiographies, and testimonies of their own spiritual journeys, and we will definitely see the struggles they had to endure. None of them were perfect or lived without their own struggles and challenges! Nevertheless, they all struggled to LOVE God and to choose Him above all else. They all had their moments of doubts, weaknesses, and failures, but they stayed. For us, too, we just have to remember that it is important to choose to love and keep on willing to love even when it gets hard. Truly, love is not just an emotion, feeling, or passing thought; it is a personal, intimate, and hard decision to make at times, too. Therefore, do not be afraid to love and remain in love!