The Life of Virtue

This morning, I had the unbelievable pleasure of taking my six-week-old son to Mass. Although he cannot even begin to grasp what is taking place before him on the altar, I believe that blessings will come to him simply by being in that setting. And, I hope that he might have a "head start" on becoming a saint! On the other hand, I am capable of tuning in to God's sacred presence in the church. (Whether I do it all the time is a separate issue.) Such a thing happened again this morning. Somtime between the priest's homily and the Eucharistic prayer, my son and I locked eyes with each other and engaged in a loving, familial stare. As that happened, God spoke to me. He reminded me that He looks upon me the same way I look upon my son. God also reminded me that I should become locked into that loving, familial gaze with Him more often. Indeed, a parent's love for his/her child can teach us so much about God's eternal love for us, His children.

St. Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth-century mystic and Carmelite reformer , wrote many poignant passages on prayer, all of which still resound through modernity. One passage, however, stands out in this author's mind. While writing the exposition on the fourth Mansions of prayer in Interior Castle , her mind, heart, and pen crafted a few sentences that readily and completely define what God wants from His children: "The soul must just leave itself in the hands of God, and do what He wills it to do, completely disregarding its own advantage and resigning itself as much as it possibly can to the will of God. ...the most important and pleasing thing in God's eyes is our remembering His honour and glory and forgetting ourselves and our own profit and ease and pleasure." Nothing could be closer to the centrality of our Christian life. Our primary goal should ALWAYS be to resign ourselves to God's will in EVERY situation. We must forget about our plans and our desires...

A wonderful way to deepen one's prayer life is to meditate for a short while on a sentence or a brief paragraph. Such meditation will almost certainly reveal areas of that person's life that need improvement, and it could lead to deeper contemplation of the Mysteries of God. So, this post intends to provide two pieces of (relatively unrelated) material on which readers might like to meditate. Of course, there is a near-infinite amount of other material that anyone could find. It is my hope that anyone who reads this will begin to pray by using some of that other material. In a statement on evangelization, and how it affects a person's holiness, Pope Paul VI said: "Our evangelizing zeal must spring from true holiness of life. In addition, as the Second Vatican Council suggests, preaching must in its turn make the preacher grow in holiness, which is nourished by prayer and by love for the Eucharist." Fr. Thomas Dubay, renown spiritual director and authority on c...

Just a few moments ago, I sat in my parish's chapel and prayerfully read Interior Castle , St. Teresa of Avila's great treatise on prayer. Suddenly, my eyes fell upon a passage that elicited a beautiful image. I thus felt compelled to share with whomever may be interested. "...this Lord of ours is so anxious that we should desire Him and strive after His companionship that He calls us ceaselessly, time after time, to approach Him...." God desires our companionship! He desires it so much that He gives us a plethora of opportunities to connect with Him. How, then, do we answer His call? How many of those opportunities do we take? This image can be likened to a young high school sophomore who is in love for the first time in his life. His whole existence revolves around spending unforgettable moments with his new beloved. He constantly desires to be close to her. Can you picture God like that? It's true: He is wildly in love with us; He desires to be close to...