‘Tis the season to catch a cold. Everyone seems to be getting sick lately and this past week it was my turn. Muttering to myself about what bad timing it was, and how something always seems to come up to prevent me from doing what I want to do, I sat down to look at the saints of the week. Today we have St. Martin de Porres, the Dominican brother best known for his profound humility and charity, and tomorrow we have St. Charles Borromeo, the archbishop of Milan who purged Europe with his great reforms. Though both great saints, neither of them jumped out at me as the perfect example of how to live the faith now. Feeling uninspired and wondering how the lives of a rigorously self-mortifying religious or a heavy-handed, high church official could be relevant to my spiritual growth, I stumbled across a quote by St. Charles that stopped my grumbling in its tracks:
“If we wish to make any progress in the service of God
we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness.”
New eagerness? Eagerness for what? The archbishop continues:
“We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible
and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honor.”
In other words, each morning upon rising, we should immediately place ourselves in the presence of God, eagerly awaiting our mission for the day. And even if given a specific objective, our top priority should be to bring glory to God with every thought, word, and action of that day.
Mea culpa. Eager is not the word that comes to mind when waking up. I think I can say pretty definitively that I do not start each day with “new eagerness,” do you? This reminds me of something one of my favorite priests once said in a homily. Talking about how he maintains his relationship with God, he shared how busy he is as a college chaplain. He admitted it can get discouraging at times, but that he keeps going because he sees the spiritual life as a grand adventure, and he’s always excited to see what God’s going to do next. As he was speaking, his eyes lit up and he related how each morning, he wakes up and says to the Lord, “What do you have planned for today, God? What are we going to do together today? What new thing are you going to show me today, Lord? ”
His childlike anticipation comes back to me now and strikes me as the same “new eagerness” that St. Charles invites us to. Can you imagine how drastically the world would change if our individual attitudes were transformed in this way? What if we each woke up every day excited for what the Lord might have in store? What if we each could carry that attitude with us during our daily tasks and obligations? This seems a lot easier said than done. So how do we do it?
To make this change, we have to first pinpoint why we don’t already possess this new eagerness. What attitude do we have first thing in the morning? What is our daily priority? Personally, I know that if I fall asleep thinking about what I have to do the next day, that’s usually the first thing I think of when I wake up. Taking into account that according to our state in life we each have our obligations, we must keep this as our number one goal: to daily anticipate a new and exciting encounter with God, whatever form that may take among our natural duties.
The key to maintaining this attitude of eagerness is to let our faith be like that of a child. After all, Jesus did say that we ought to change and become like children.[1] So what characteristics of little children will help us on our path to sanctity? Joy, trust, humility, acceptance, affection, and excitement. Think about how many adults you know who reflect the exact opposite of those six things; people who seem negative, suspicious, prideful, intolerant, indifferent, and passionless. We all know those kinds of people, and if you’re like me, you may even struggle with some (if not all) of those things at times. I’m convicted just looking at that list!
Our society tempts us to become hard, cold, untrusting people living as children of the night. We need to reclaim our status as children of the Father and live in the light! And above all, we must remember constantly that the faith we are living is good news! Our Holy Father reminds us of this:
The joy of the Gospel is such that it cannot be taken away from us by anyone
or anything. The evils of our world – and those of the Church – must not be
excuses for diminishing our commitment and our fervour. Let us look upon them
as challenges which can help us to grow. With the eyes of faith, we can see the light which the Holy Spirit always radiates in the midst of darkness, never forgetting that “where sin increased, grace has abounded all the more.”[2]
So what happens if we remain as the second group of people (ya know, that list of characteristics above we as adults are prone to)? What if we don’t strive daily to make this change of attitude? St. Charles doesn’t mince any words,
“Be sure that you first preach by the way you live.
If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but
live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter
and a derisive shake of the head.”
In other words, if we don’t wish to be hypocrites, but rather desire to “progress in the service of God” and be true witnesses of the good news of the Gospel, we have to cultivate a childlike faith. If we do this, our days will be filled with joy, we will find ourselves looking eagerly for all the new ways God is working, and charity will become far easier for us to practice.
How to be more childlike this week:
Joy: This is a gift that comes with practicing gratitude. Before you get out of bed in the mornings, try to find something about the day that you are already thankful for. During the days, look for more things to add to your list. Repeat in the evening before going to sleep. Write these things down if you’d like, then read them all at the end of the week.
Trust: During your daily tasks, when you find yourself in a situation or relationship that is making you feel stressed, try to actively surrender it to the Lord with the understanding that He has your best interest at heart and that He is in control — even if you feel out of control. A simple prayer like, “Jesus, I trust in you!” or “Jesus, I give this to you!” can be very helpful.
Humility: When you find yourself in a situation where you feel wronged in any way, try to be thankful for this trial and make yourself even littler by remembering how much humiliation Christ willingly suffered for you. Or, if you are honored in some way, remember to give glory to God, for without his grace, you could achieve nothing. Or you can just pray this prayer: Litany of Humility
Acceptance: When tempted to judge others this week, remember that you don’t know what it’s like to be them. You don’t know their complete family background, history, or circumstances. Instead, think of them as a little child would, as just another brother or sister of the Father, and be open to loving them in their imperfections.
Affection: This week, pick a few people and try to show them that you care. Ideas: Do something nice for them, get them a small gift, spend some time with them, affirm them in some way, or show some physical signs of affection.
Excitement: Another way of describing this is “zest for life.” Each day this week, find something, anything, to be excited about. And don’t keep it to yourself — share that excitement! If others aren’t very excited about what you share, ask them what excites them. This is contagious, so spread the enthusiasm!
“If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you,
do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out.
Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold.
In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can.
Stay quiet with God.”– St. Charles Borromeo
[1] Matthew 18: 3
[2] Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, pp. 84
