Never say enough

WE are, of course, aware of our limitations and many times

we have to say enough. And that’s good to do. It shows we are humble

and realistic enough to acknowledge them.

  

            But there’s one area in our life where we should never say

enough. And that’s in our spiritual life, in our duty to love God and

others as Christ himself has loved us, that is, all the way to death

on the cross.

  

            And with Christ, our death is not an end, but what leads

us to our resurrection to eternal life. As St. Paul would put it, “If

we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly

be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rom 6,5)

  

            The duty itself of loving knows no bounds. As St. Francis

de Sales said, “The measure of love is to love without measure.” And

we might ask, is this possible, is this doable?

  

            The answer, of course, is yes. In the first place, there

is in us a spiritual capacity that would lead us to the world of the

spiritual and supernatural, the world of the infinite.

  

            And what is possible in us because of our spiritual

faculty is made actual because God himself gives us his grace, that

free gift that would enable us to actually enter into the very life of

God. We are reassured that this grace is given to us in abundance.

Even if sin abounds, God’s grace will still abound even more, St. Paul

tells us.

  

            With his grace, we can manage to have a supernatural life

with God, the kind of life meant for us since we are God’s image and

likeness, children of his. Our very human nature is meant to have a

supernatural life in God. It not meant to a merely natural human life,

much less, an animal life ruled mainly by instincts and emotions

alone.

  

            With his grace, what is impossible for us to achieve by

relying only on our spiritual powers is made possible, for nothing is

impossible with God. (cfr Lk 1,37) St. Paul verified that when he

said: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4,13)

Yes, we can do all things with Christ in spite of our limitations.

   

            In view of all these truths of our faith, we should try to

have a go-getter and can-do attitude toward life in general. We should

reflect the spirit behind Christ’s words when he said, “For their

sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the

truth.” (Jn 17,19) Yes, we can do more and be more than how we are at

the moment.

  

            Again, St. Paul echoes the same sentiment when he said:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets

the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Cor 9,24) That’s

the attitude to have, the “carpe diem” attitude!

  

            We should avoid falling into the state of complacency and

mediocrity in whatever we are doing. We have to aim always higher, not

so much in terms of the physical output of our work as of the

intensity of the love we put into our work. In loving, there is no

limit. Its very law is to give it without measure.

  

            That way, even our ordinary, prosaic things in life can

acquire a purifying, sanctifying, redemptive and eternal value. And

when we come face to face with our weakness and are tempted to say

enough, all we have to do is to pray and beg God to help us to go on.