The journey is not always easy. The road is rough. And yet, through it all we are called to speak gracious words and act in a manner that honors Our Lord. Living a life of holiness and integrity is exactly what God asks of each of us. Our Lord desires everyone to labor to become Saints, like the holy men and women who have gone before us honoring God with their thoughts, words, and actions. We are each called in our own unique way to serve Him through our particular lives and callings.
Living authentically is quite a challenge as we are surrounded by a world filled with a variety of gifts and talents, as well as challenges and struggles. How do holy men and women surmise precisely how to live out their call? Following the example of the Saints, taking time to examine our sins will greatly benefit each of us. It is especially important that we pay close attention to those vices we seem to battle day in and day out, the sins we find we need to continually seek forgiveness from our Heavenly Father. We each tend to fall into a specific sin or sins repeatedly and pinpointing this area can offer us tremendous insight. By identifying the vice causing havoc in our lives, we can shift our focus to the virtue we each need to focus on living out to combat the pesky, nagging sin.
For example, I struggle with pride in almost all I do. I tend to wag my finger at others and notice the beam in their eyes much more easily than I can remove the splinter from my own. I am challenged to work to acknowledge my misunderstanding or lack of understanding on topics. Certainly, I see myself as correct and rarely wrong or at fault. Admitting fault is painful, yet extremely humbling and necessary, as I have come to realize. At the beginning of my journey, as I had just begun to become aware of my great sinfulness and battle with pride, a dear close friend suggested I start reading Humility of Heart written by Father Cajetan Mary da Bergamo. What an eye opener that was to the road to the virtue of humility that I must travel to truly battle my pride!
What a gift my friend shared with me that day. Honesty laced with love. I am blessed to have her supporting me on my journey. “Love everyone with strenuous love based on charity, but form friendships only with those who can share virtuous things with you. The greater the virtues you share and exchange with others, the more perfect your friendship will be.” St. Francis de Sales reminds us.
After that epiphany, I began to work on distinct areas of my life that I observed were a daily struggle with pride. I wrote them out and reviewed them each evening. Those specific areas have changed over time, so I have since modified the items. The idea is that by examining distinct areas each night I am made more aware of my daily battle with this sin. I also choose to combat my pride with an opposite action, often the reception of a sacrament, making a sacrifice, or improvement in my prayer routine, which I explicitly choose to encourage the virtue of humility. In addition, to strengthen humility, I select a brief quote from the Bible that I can easily memorize and recite to help me to keep my eyes focused on Jesus and virtue through the day. This verse is related to my unique struggle and the virtue Our Lord is calling me to embrace at that particular point on my journey.
Saint Paul encouraged the Philippians to persevere on their journey in their pursuit of holiness by writing,
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4: 8-9.
Call to Act: I encourage you to set aside some time in quite prayer this week to examine your life. Ask the Lord to reveal to you the area He would like you to strive to improve. Implore Him to pour out His grace in you and open your heart to the little nuggets He provides you each day to guide you, making visible the vice and allowing you opportunity to work on virtue. Ask your friends, have those honest conversations, support each other developing virtue and growing in holiness. And then, after you get honest with yourself and truly open your heart to the work of the Holy Spirit, sit down and write it out. Tuck your written review of your vices and plan of attack with virtue in a prayer book or under your pillow, tape it to your mirror, or allow it to live on your night side table to examine each night. Establish it a prominent home so it is not easily forgotten each evening. Above all, utilize it, sister, and tweak it as you grow. Remember, this is a journey.
Saint Paul reminds us in Romans 12:21, “Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.” Endeavor to grow in virtue sister. We are all a work in progress, with eyes fixed on heaven. My prayers are with you as we work to support each other in this growth. My dear wise friend, who suggested I work on my humility, and I constantly converse on the topics of virtue. We call each other out with love, lift each other up with words of affirmation, and encourage each other to grow in holiness. Holy friends enlighten each other to areas observed in each other that need attention, as well as, congratulate and rejoice in growth. I pray you discover and lean on these virtuous friends in your life as well.
Saints Benedict and Scholastica pray for us that we can support each other in our spiritual growth. Ask our Lord to open our hearts to be able to truly see the good in each other as well as the vice that assails us. Plead that Our Lord will fill us with love and virtue as we examine the areas in which Our Heavenly Father is asking us to grow. Let us look to your example of support and holy honestly, allotting time and consideration to virtue the Lord uniquely calls us to foster. We ask this in the name of our Heavenly Father. Amen.
Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica
Saint Benedict of Nursia and Saint Scholastica were twins. They were born to a wealthy family in Italy and called to the religious life, serving our Lord by establishing religious communities near each other. They were known to visit each other once each year, discussing spiritual ideas and concerns as they visited. Near the end of Scholastica’s life the siblings were together for their yearly visit, when Scholastica sensed the end of her life was near. She asked Benedict to stay until morning. He refused, as it was not permitted to be away from the monastery for the night. Scholastica then begged our Lord to get him to stay. A thunderstorm broke out, preventing Benedict from leaving. They spent the night conversing and praying. Three days later Scholastica died. Benedict had her body buried nearby.
Read more about her here: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-scholastica/
So insightful! I absolutely love reading your entries! Thx for sharing!