Jun 26 Thu
To be holy, should I perform deeds of love every day?
St. Josemaría: “Does your soul not burn with the desire to make your Father God happy when He has to judge you?" We yearn for it so much that we want to use the days our Lord gives us for pleasing God alone.
However, we cannot rest content with good intentions. Jesus rewards us for love shown in deeds, not for ineffectual good intentions. We must correspond to God’s Love by performing very specific deeds, small ones perhaps, but deeds done out of love.
Every day, we must strive to perform deeds of love, because every day we can and should come closer to our Lord. “Since our first conscious decision really to follow the teaching of Christ, we have no doubt made good progress along the way of faithfulness to his word. And yet, isn't it true that there is still much to be done? Isn't it true, particularly, that there is still so much pride in us? We need, most probably, to change again, to be more loyal and humble, so that we become less selfish and let Christ grow in us, for he must become more and more, I must become less and less."
“We cannot stay still. We must keep going ahead toward the goal St Paul marks out: ‘It is not I who live, it is Christ that lives in me.’ This is a high and very noble ambition, this identification with Christ, this holiness. But there is no other way if we are to be consistent with the divine life God has sown in our souls in baptism. To advance, we must progress in holiness. Shying away from holiness implies refusing our Christian life its natural growth. The fire of God's love needs to be fed. It must grow each day, gathering strength in our soul, and a fire is maintained by burning more things. If we don't feed it, it may die."
Remember what St Augustine said: “If you say ‘enough’, you are lost. Go further, keep going. Don't stay in the same place, don't go back, don't go off the road."
Our struggle to be worthy of the Lord's blessing must not be vague and indeterminate. We have to examine our conscience daily to increase the love of God in our deeds.
“We all need to be aware of our lack of objectivity whenever we judge our own conduct. You too." In our examination of conscience, we discover faults and omissions in fulfilling our commitment of love. We see that we are still not humble enough, that our heart is attached to created things, that our apostolic zeal is still imperfect. Why is this so? What is the reason for so much carelessness?
“We cannot regard this time as just another day which has simply happened to come around again. Every day is a unique time: a divine aid which we should accept. Jesus is passing by and He hopes that we will take a great step forward - today, now."
Pic: St. Josemaria during the first years of Opus Dei.