Jan 31 Sat
Should I avoid serving two masters?
As Christians, God has placed in our souls a longing for sanctity, an intense, burning desire to become saints, even though we are aware of our many failings.
Thus, He has kindled in our hearts a divine flame which is incompatible with lukewarmness. Lukewarmness is the first step towards coldness and indifference in our dealings with God; it can slowly but surely extinguish the fire which God has lit within us. “The fire of love for God, the reality of our commitment, needs fuel; if it doesn't increase, it will go out."
We shouldn't confuse lukewarmness with spiritual dryness or the disappearance of fervor. Nor is it the same as repeated falls caused by weakness, so long as these are fought against and deeply detested. Lukewarmness arises when the soul, attracted by two opposite goals, tries to satisfy both of them and thus serve two masters. A lukewarm person makes the effort to avoid serious falls, but also wants to enjoy the comforts of an easy life. This situation gives rise to infidelities and carelessness, those little foxes that spoil the vineyards. If not remedied, they end up devastating the soul.
A lukewarm attitude leads a person to say to God: "In this point and in that one – just only in these very few points - I'd prefer not to give what you're asking of me." This is the first sign that the soul is ill, that it already has within itself the seeds of death. It seems not to amount to very much; the wounds are small, and looked at individually, they don't seem important. But when the number of them greatly increases, they put an end to Christian life, and are as lethal as a serious open wound to the chest.
The symptoms of lukewarmness are unmistakable. “You are lukewarm if you carry out lazily and reluctantly the things that have to do with our Lord, if deliberately or shrewdly you look for some way of cutting down your duties, if you think only of yourself and your comfort, if your conversations are idle and vain, if you do not abhor venial sin, if you act from human motives."
We must be vigilant against lukewarmness; it is a formidable enemy of the interior life.
We must constantly renew the enthusiasm we had when we began to take our Christian life seriously. “Jesus isn't satisfied with 'going halves': He wants the lot!" We cannot bargain with him. We cannot resent having to offer Him anything, no matter how insignificant it might seem. We want to keep on loving God with the same generosity and joy with which we began serving Him, with an ever deeper, firmer, and more faithful love.
“Like a good artist and a faithful lover, we are never satisfied with what we have achieved in the spiritual life, by God's grace. Our spiritual quest, since it is Love, must be a yearning for the Infinite: taste and see that the Lord is good."