HOW important it is to develop this
virtue of
perseverance. What we have started, we should finish all the way, in
the same tenor that St. Paul told us once: “God, who began the good
work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished
on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Phil 1,6)
The Pauline words somehow tell us that the secret of
perseverance is our strong faith in God, in his omnipotent and
merciful providence that can always make do with whatever situation we
may find ourselves in any given moment.
We have to see to it that we keep that faith alive and
burning. And to make that faith vibrant, we need to keep ourselves
always in love. It’s love that keeps our faith going. It should be a
love that goes beyond good intentions, sweet words and nice feelings.
It has to be expressed in deeds.
One clear manifestation of an operative love that
nourishes our faith that in turn enables us to persevere and to be
faithful to the end is the practice of a daily examination of
conscience.
The examination of conscience is a very helpful tool in
our effort to be faithful and persevering in our earthly pilgrimage
toward our eternal goal. There we make a proper closure to our day as
we enter our daily rest at night.
The examination of conscience is a wonderful moment of
ending everything with God everyday. After all, God is everything to
us, and we should realize that we need to be with him at the end of
the day, no matter how we were during the day.
It’s a practice that we have to deliberately cultivate,
since it is often not felt and perceived by the senses, or by the body
in general, but rather by the spirit, by our mind and heart
enlightened by faith. It’s a practice that is often ignored and even
rejected by many worldly concerns, trends, fashions, ideologies and
political systems.
It’s there in the examination of conscience where we
review our performance of the day in the moral sense. It’s in the
examination of conscience where we sort out things, trying to identify
the motives of our thoughts, desires, words and actions, and seeing if
these motives are good or bad. This is not an easy task at all. But
with regular examination, somehow we can get a good picture and devise
the appropriate strategies.
It’s in the examination of conscience where we would have
a running account of the state of our soul. If we truly recognize the
objective value of our soul, then it would be most logical for us to
do everything to keep it healthy, strong and fruitful.
Obviously, some effort has to be exerted, and sometimes,
heroic effort, since we have to contend with our usual weaknesses of
laziness, mental and physical, and complacency, lukewarmness, shallow
thinking, and all kinds of distractions.
This is one concrete way we can expect ourselves to
persevere all the way to the end.
perseverance. What we have started, we should finish all the way, in
the same tenor that St. Paul told us once: “God, who began the good
work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished
on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Phil 1,6)
The Pauline words somehow tell us that the secret of
perseverance is our strong faith in God, in his omnipotent and
merciful providence that can always make do with whatever situation we
may find ourselves in any given moment.
We have to see to it that we keep that faith alive and
burning. And to make that faith vibrant, we need to keep ourselves
always in love. It’s love that keeps our faith going. It should be a
love that goes beyond good intentions, sweet words and nice feelings.
It has to be expressed in deeds.
One clear manifestation of an operative love that
nourishes our faith that in turn enables us to persevere and to be
faithful to the end is the practice of a daily examination of
conscience.
The examination of conscience is a very helpful tool in
our effort to be faithful and persevering in our earthly pilgrimage
toward our eternal goal. There we make a proper closure to our day as
we enter our daily rest at night.
The examination of conscience is a wonderful moment of
ending everything with God everyday. After all, God is everything to
us, and we should realize that we need to be with him at the end of
the day, no matter how we were during the day.
It’s a practice that we have to deliberately cultivate,
since it is often not felt and perceived by the senses, or by the body
in general, but rather by the spirit, by our mind and heart
enlightened by faith. It’s a practice that is often ignored and even
rejected by many worldly concerns, trends, fashions, ideologies and
political systems.
It’s there in the examination of conscience where we
review our performance of the day in the moral sense. It’s in the
examination of conscience where we sort out things, trying to identify
the motives of our thoughts, desires, words and actions, and seeing if
these motives are good or bad. This is not an easy task at all. But
with regular examination, somehow we can get a good picture and devise
the appropriate strategies.
It’s in the examination of conscience where we would have
a running account of the state of our soul. If we truly recognize the
objective value of our soul, then it would be most logical for us to
do everything to keep it healthy, strong and fruitful.
Obviously, some effort has to be exerted, and sometimes,
heroic effort, since we have to contend with our usual weaknesses of
laziness, mental and physical, and complacency, lukewarmness, shallow
thinking, and all kinds of distractions.
This is one concrete way we can expect ourselves to
persevere all the way to the end.
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