Live 4 The LORD

Day 16

The Path of Life

Where can you turn to find answers that satisfy, answers that will last? The opposite of deception is truth — the person who tells the truth, the person who is the truth. Yes, the opposite of deception is Jesus Christ, who tells us: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He reveals the truth of God. But he is also man. He shares in our humanity and came into the world to teach us about ourselves, to help us discover ourselves.

— St. John Paul II, Address to Young People, September 12, 1987

When an apple tree is mature, when its roots are firmly, deeply grounded in good soil with plenty of water, when its trunk is strong and healthy and protected by sturdy bark, when its branches are smooth and supple and covered with wide green leaves that drink in the sunlight, it blossoms and bears fruit. Its potential is being realized. It has grown in accordance with its nature and is glorifying God, reflecting a small ray of God’s own goodness and beauty by being all that it was created to be. The innate powers of the tree are flourishing together harmoniously.

All the innate powers of the human person are enlisted by the Lord in his command to love God with “all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). When each of these powers is harmoniously integrated into the ongoing pursuit of greater union with God, which is the purpose of our existence, our potential is being realized, we are glorifying God, and the fruits of the Spirit are blossoming, ripening, and enriching our lives and the lives of those around us: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). Those fruits of the Spirit have no limits. The more we are united to God, the more intense and abundant they become, as Jesus pointed out, and as we have previously noted: “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Growing in Virtue

Forming these powers so that they are directed in a healthy way, toward the truth and goodness that are in accordance with our nature and our calling, is what the Christian spiritual tradition calls growing in virtue. The virtuous person, from this long-standing perspective, is the one who is most alive, the one whose soul is most mature. Growing in virtue sets the human person free to be all that we were created to be, just as the healthy apple tree, when all its powers reach maturity, is free to fulfill its inherent potential. 

Growing in virtue, then, is the same thing as growing in happiness. Just as an apple tree remains frustrated (ontologically, not consciously) if the soil or other conditions inhibit its roots and branches and leaves from growing to maturity, so human beings remain frustrated and unhappy when their hearts haven’t discovered and desired to pursue their proper goal, when their intellects aren’t being nourished on the eternal truths, when their wills aren’t engaged in authentically meaningful and creative activity, and when their passions aren’t enjoying docility to the spirit.

Only when we are on the path of learning to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength — only when we are on the path of growing in virtue — do we experience the vitality, the hopefulness, the keen satisfaction that enables mature Christians to say such shocking things as St. Paul did:

[But] whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:7–8)

As we move forward along the path of deeper union with God, the path of growing in virtue, our experience of the fulfillment that only God can give increases and intensifies, gradually obliterating all idols. 

A Progressive Journey

Here on earth, we never reach the limit of that experience. Rather, God continues to present us with situations in which, if we so desire, our virtue can continue to grow and expand, thereby continuing to intensify our experience of keen inner vitality and clarity. We remain pilgrims, moving along through time and space toward our final destination in heaven, as long as we remain residents of earth. As Christian pilgrims in the world, we are “aliens and sojourners” (1 Peter 2:11), because “ . . . here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Yet every step of love that leads us closer to the eternal city also increases our union with God, matures our virtue, and enhances our vitality. No one is more alive than a saint.

So even as the circumstances in which we live continue to be marked by the pain, sorrow, and brokenness of this fallen world, our interior experience as we navigate those circumstances takes on more and more the flavor of holiness. We begin to understand, better and better, the peace that Jesus bequeathed to us during the Last Supper — an inner, overflowing peace that differs from any satisfaction available from the goods of this passing world: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27). As we grow in virtue, we begin to understand how St. Paul, who was never trite or superficial or overly optimistic, was able to command Christians to rejoice at all times:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4–7)

The Operative Question

This is the path of life that God has called us to. And to follow this path is what we long for. We now know that loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength means engaging all the powers of our human nature in the great adventure of seeking first the kingdom of God. But what does it look like to actually do that? How do we go from our immature state of loving to a mature state of loving? We love God already with our heart, soul, mind, and strength — otherwise we wouldn’t have read this far. But what activities can we engage in to continue feeding the growth in virtue that will lead us to full maturity, to loving God with all our all? That is what the remainder of this book will look into.

Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion

What idea in this reflection struck you most and why?

When you think of “holiness” and “virtue,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Does that accurately reflect the vitality and abundance that those terms are meant to evoke?

How would you define “happiness”? How does that definition compare with the vision of fulfillment we get from God’s revelation in Jesus?

Today’s world — so focused on consumerism — wants us to forget the truth that we can never have perfect happiness until we get to heaven. But when we forget that truth, we will begin to expect perfect happiness on earth. That’s a false expectation that fills us with a constant underlying frustration. 

What will you do today to remind yourself that you are only a pilgrim in this world?

• I will unite some small suffering to Christ’s suffering on the cross through a prayer of self-offering.
• I will try to laugh instead of to cry over spilled milk (i.e., the little, frustrating foibles of daily life).
• (Write your own resolution) I will

Concluding Prayer

Oh! how I love you, Jesus! My soul aspires to you
And yet for one day only my simple prayer I pray!
Come reign within my heart, smile tenderly on me,
Today, dear Lord, today.

But if I dare take thought of what the morrow brings,
That fills my fickle heart with dreary, dull dismay;
I crave, indeed, my God, trials and sufferings,
But only for today!

O sweetest Star of heaven! O Virgin, spotless, blest,
Shining with Jesus’ light, guiding to Him my way!
O Mother! ‘neath your veil let my tired spirit rest,
For this brief passing day!

Soon shall I fly afar among the holy choirs,
Then shall be mine the joy that never knows decay;
And then my lips shall sing, to heaven’s angelic lyres,
The eternal, glad Today! 

— St. Thérèse of Lisieux