A Life of Fervour
1. " To pray is to love," wrote St. Augustine. The man who loves God
prays continually and with fervour, whereas the man who has little love
for his Creator prays rarely and apathetically. Prayer does not consist
primarily in verbal expression, but in the elevation of the mind to God
in adoration, thanksgiving, propitiation, and supplication. Love should
be the inspiration of our communication with God, for where there is no love there can be no prayer.
Jesus tells us that we “must always pray and not lose heart.” (Luke
18:1) We may be working, walking, talking, eating or sleeping, but
whatever we are doing, the love of God can transform it into a prayer.
This is so if we are engaged in our work, but have offered it to God in
advance. If we are in trouble, our sufferings will be pleasing to God.
If we are walking about, everything will speak to us of God and cause us
to make acts of gratitude and of love. We shall have dealings with men
of the world, but they will perceive and appreciate that we are
spiritually united to God. We shall sleep because sleep is necessary,
but what appear to be hours of fruitless inactivity will be dedicated to
our Creator. Fervour in prayer and in action should be the constant
ideal of the good Christian, because it makes his entire life pleasing
to God.
2. God is our Creator and absolute Master, Whom the
Angels adore and irrational creatures obey. His greatness demands that
we should offer all our activity to Him in a spirit of fervent and
loving dedication. Since we have received everything from Him, we have
many reasons for loving Him. By the work of redemption God became our
friend and brother, and the victim of expiation for our sins. How could
we remain indifferent and ungrateful when we remember the favours which
we have received? Love desires love in return, and God loved us so much
that He became man and shed His blood for us. Moreover, He immolates
Himself continually on our behalf in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist.
Finally, our fervour should be increased by the reflection that God has
reserved for us as an everlasting reward His own Beatific Vision.
All these considerations should help to increase the fervour of our
love. Then our actions will form a ladder of ascent to God by means of
which we shall become intimately united to Him.
3. The fervent
Christian will never miss an opportunity of advancing in perfection.
When he feels that he is growing negligent, he combats the signs of
spiritual retrogression and makes a new beginning by telling God that he
wishes to belong entirely to Him. It is his motto that no day must ever
pass without a further step towards perfection. To decide to stand
still is fatal, for it leads inevitably to a decline. It is true that
the constant effort to advance costs great sacrifices, but sanctity
cannot be achieved without sacrifice and everlasting happiness cannot be
gained without perseverance in virtue. Moreover, difficult though the
ascent towards perfection may be, it eases the heaviness of our hearts
and brings us that fundamental peace which God alone can give.
No comments:
Post a Comment