Self-improvement for Catholic men
There are lots of "techniques" out there aimed at helping us "improve." They range from spiritual techniques to all sorts of books and seminars about self-improvement or self-development. Companies sponsor seminars to help pump up their employees to perform better. Then there's all the stuff out there about your health. It's endless. Billions of dollars and countless hours are spent on this stuff.
But I wonder whether there's danger in some of it.
To the extent we rely on ourselves, how can we make serious progress toward God. Aren't we supposed to rely on Him? If somehow these techniques and practices can teach us to rely on God rather than on ourselves, that would be helpful. But most of them don't.
Can the desire to improve health through lifestyle changes such as diet and physical exercise, to the extent we rely on these for happiness and peace in our lives, turn us away from God? Can self-reliance turn our hearts and minds away from the Will of God and toward relying on our own efforts? Can self-reliance lead to self-will. Can “taking charge of your life” lead to ignoring or even pushing God away?
Of course, we Catholic men, when we strive at our work and somehow succeed, shouldn't shy away from that success. Improving the bottom line isn't going to turn our hearts from God to mammon unless we let it. Making more money isn't going to send us to hell unless we replace God and make money our new god.
It's just that reading a lot of the secular stuff out there that's aimed at us improving ourselves puts to much emphasis on - well, ourselves.
But maybe the point here isn't to avoid all the secular stuff and only read "religious" stuff. I don't think just reading secular stuff is the problem Maybe the real issue is the "interior life." It's something you don't hear about so much these days (although we talk about it here from time to time). But it used to be pretty common in Catholic spiritual reading and guidance.
If you're not sure what the interior life is all about, you need to learn more. If you do know what it's about, you need to improve it, build it up, strengthen it.
We Catholic men at work need a strong interior life at work, at home, all the time. If you don't want to take my word for it, take a tip from the late great John Paul II.
JPII, commenting about Jesus statement that "without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5) said that this "constantly reminds us of the primacy of Christ, and, in union with Him, the primacy of the interior life and of holiness."
All the great saints understood and worked hard to strengthen their interior lives. To take a few obvious examples, St Athanasius, St Dominic or St Francis - great reformers all - would not have been effective had they themselves not been personally holy.
Sure it can be hard to think of ourselves as saints - to put ourselves anywhere near these great saints. But the plain fact is that we're all called to be saints, and to be a saint requires a strong interior life.
Besides, that growing interior life will, more than anything else, sanctify our work during even the busiest days.
Improve yourself gents. Build your interior life.
But I wonder whether there's danger in some of it.
To the extent we rely on ourselves, how can we make serious progress toward God. Aren't we supposed to rely on Him? If somehow these techniques and practices can teach us to rely on God rather than on ourselves, that would be helpful. But most of them don't.
Can the desire to improve health through lifestyle changes such as diet and physical exercise, to the extent we rely on these for happiness and peace in our lives, turn us away from God? Can self-reliance turn our hearts and minds away from the Will of God and toward relying on our own efforts? Can self-reliance lead to self-will. Can “taking charge of your life” lead to ignoring or even pushing God away?
Of course, we Catholic men, when we strive at our work and somehow succeed, shouldn't shy away from that success. Improving the bottom line isn't going to turn our hearts from God to mammon unless we let it. Making more money isn't going to send us to hell unless we replace God and make money our new god.
It's just that reading a lot of the secular stuff out there that's aimed at us improving ourselves puts to much emphasis on - well, ourselves.
But maybe the point here isn't to avoid all the secular stuff and only read "religious" stuff. I don't think just reading secular stuff is the problem Maybe the real issue is the "interior life." It's something you don't hear about so much these days (although we talk about it here from time to time). But it used to be pretty common in Catholic spiritual reading and guidance.
If you're not sure what the interior life is all about, you need to learn more. If you do know what it's about, you need to improve it, build it up, strengthen it.
We Catholic men at work need a strong interior life at work, at home, all the time. If you don't want to take my word for it, take a tip from the late great John Paul II.
JPII, commenting about Jesus statement that "without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5) said that this "constantly reminds us of the primacy of Christ, and, in union with Him, the primacy of the interior life and of holiness."
All the great saints understood and worked hard to strengthen their interior lives. To take a few obvious examples, St Athanasius, St Dominic or St Francis - great reformers all - would not have been effective had they themselves not been personally holy.
Sure it can be hard to think of ourselves as saints - to put ourselves anywhere near these great saints. But the plain fact is that we're all called to be saints, and to be a saint requires a strong interior life.
Besides, that growing interior life will, more than anything else, sanctify our work during even the busiest days.
Improve yourself gents. Build your interior life.
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