Who among the saints inspire you to live a virtuous life? Pray to him or her to intercede for you - Daily Reflections August 26,2014

FOCUS ON THE VIRTUOUS LIFE

 

Following on from yesterday’s reflection, it is good to spend a few moments pondering on the virtuous life as it seems not too many people manage to live this way. Yes, we all have our moments of virtue, but what makes a saint stand out is how he is able to sustain his virtuous moments for long periods at a high level. It is easy to get it right once in a while, and even less frequently manage to string a few of these moments together for a longer period of time. However, a truly virtuous life is much more than this.

       When we study the lives of the saints, and we should spend some time doing so in order to be inspired by them, we are opening our hearts to the graces that made it possible for them to respond to God’s call. I wonder how much you know of the lives of saints that you are familiar with. Their lives are a gift to the Church and it would be our loss if we are familiar with only a few. Why limit ourselves unnecessarily when there is so much inspiration available to men and women who want to increase their faith? I am sure most of us have spent some time reading the books of John Maxwell or Stephen Covey. I hope that we will be more familiar with the lives of saints than these modern-day inspirers. The saints get one thing right that modern-day “self-help” gurus fail to do: that the key to success is surrender to the grace of God first and foremost. No amount of clever tricks and strategies will bring better success than opening our lives to the grace of the Holy Spirit.

       In our secular world today, we tend to think we can do it on our own. When it comes to living a virtuous life, it is only by the grace of God that we will grow in holiness and gain entry to eternal life. It is irrelevant how successful we are by earthly standards. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Who among the saints inspire you to live a virtuous life? Pray to him or her to intercede for you.

 

Holy Spirit, I want to surrender more of my life to You. Help me to open my heart and mind to Your grace so that I may draw strength from You when life gets too difficult.