Again, About That Greatest Tool

We've established that our greatest tool in working our way through this C-Virus world mess will be our spiritual life, specifically our Interior Life. The firm foundation of that life: love of God. In our recent discussion, we've sought to answer 3 questions:

• If I believe that I love God, on what do I base that belief?  
  
• How much do I love God? 
• How much do I want to love God?
  

Having answered the 1st, we began to answer #2 by identifying the importance of intention. Using the example of working with intention as we start our work day, we left off with this:

Whether at the end of the day, or any other time, I can refer to this intention to gauge and/or grade my efforts. Were my actions consistent with my intention? 

Of course, I have practical metrics I track to see how the business is doing. These include tracking revenue and expenses each week, summarizing this each month, annually reviewing the numbers and the individual clients we serve annually. But without fulfilling - or attempting to fulfill - my intention expressed in that prayer, my work really wouldn't be worth a dime, no matter what the financial reports tell me.

The same thing applies to our spiritual life.

When it comes to our spiritual life, it's no matter whether or how much we feel we love God. Any of us - from raw beginner to seasoned veteran - can have the intention to love. It's critical that we understand this. Why "critical"?

Too often, we gauge our love of God by how we feel. But just as we cannot gauge the progress of our spiritual life by how we feel, so too we cannot gauge how much we love God by how we feel. In fact, when it comes to love of any sort, t's a common mistake. So many of us use feelings as a general gauge of love - for our spouse, our children, our parents, friends, etc. Feelings may serve as way to map and measure our emotional life. But they musn't substitute - as they so often do these days - for rational thought. For example, just listen to or read how often people say things like "I feel this is x" when it comes to decisions about what's true or false, right or wrong. We don't have time to get into that now, but rest assured feelings don't necessarily effectively determine the rightness, goodness, or beauty of words, thoughts, or actions. For that we must turn to our intellect.

And it is our intellect which must inform us of the reality of and degree of our love of God. But if you think we've all got to get a PhD in psychology, theology or philosophy to intellectually discern our love of God, think again. Any of us can do this and do it right this very moment. For love of God is found in the will.

We must will our love of God. Another way to say it: We must desire to love God.

Particularly when it comes to our spiritual life, our intellect and our will must become the masters of our emotions and our imagination. While our emotions remain an essential part of our human personality, they cannot be relied upon to distinguish between what's true and false, to determine right and wrong, to decipher what is beautiful vs. the mediocre or the ugly. Only an intellect - ideally one that has been formed by a solid education can do this. (Unfortunately, most of our modern educational system belies this proper formation.)

While our feelings may play a role in our relationship with God, they cannot be relied upon to foster a love of God. Only our will can do this. And this will may consist in nothing more than stating - in words or thought: "I love You. I want to love You."

Sounds simple. In one way it is. Just think - or say it. But, of course, you have to mean it.

When I pray my intention for the day's work (as discussed last time), I mean it. When I say "I love You" to God, I mean it. 

In my work, I can step back from time to time and evaluate whether my intention carries through and into my work: Do I put forth my best efforts in everything I attempt? Do I prepare for all my meetings with clients? Am I thorough, with strict attention to detail when tackling administrative tasks? Those are just a few of the questions that help me evaluate whether my intention was just a collection of words or had some bite to it. When it's the former, the work is less successful; when the latter, it was a good day at the office.

In the same way, we can step back from time to time and evaluate whether our intention to love God carries through and into our lives. Indeed, this can be a fairly simple process. Think: Ten Commandments. Think the " two great commandments": Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God - and thy neighbor as thyself. True love of God manifests itself in obeying His Will - and that means His law. If you can do so out of love for Him, rather than merely out of a sense of obligation, all the better.

On a more immediate and intimate level, how are you treating others? Anger and impatience spring to mind here; speaking uncharitably about someone too. What about your thoughts? Even if not expressed externally, remember our thoughts can be sinful at times. All of this is easily within our grasp if we simply make up our minds to pay attention. An examination of conscience at the end of the day certainly helps. But throughout the day we can check in from time to time to gauge how we're doing. And if we're off track, a simple Act of Contrition will tell God we love Him.

It's time to circle back to that recommendation from The Soul of the Apostolate we previously mentioned. Remember that? (We've traced a rather wide circle since we last posted it!) It's presented as a way to assure our building our Interior Life, even in the midst of a busy life. Here it is again:

1. I will always take more time than is necessary to do everything. This is the way to avoid being in a hurry and getting excited.

2. Since I will invariably have more things to do than time in which to do them, and this prospect preoccupies me and gets me all worked up, I will cease to think about all I have to do, and only consider the time I have at my disposal. I will make use of that time, without losing a moment of it, beginning with the most important duties; and as regards those that may or may not get done, I shall not worry about them.

While we don't have time today to dig deeper, we'll do so next time. Until then, maybe you can simply read and consider this advice. I have and it's helped both my spiritual life and my work life tremendously.