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The following was written by Father Angelus O'Shaughnessy of The Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers.
St. Francis used to say: “Brothers, let us begin; because up
until now we have done nothing.” I don’t think Americans like to hear that kind
of talk. They would rather translate it to something like this: “Brothers, you
may have done pretty well up until now; but there is not a single one of you
who could not do much, much better in the time that is left to you.” In the
spiritual life we never stay just the same. We either go ahead and progress or
we fall behind and regress.
Yes, we live in the present moment but with an eye to the future
as the poet expressed it: “I was regretting the past and fearing the future
when I heard the Lord’s voice: When you live in the past with its sins and
sorrows, I am not there. My name is not: ‘I was’. When you live in the
future with its fears and uncertainties, I am not there. My name is not ‘I will
be’. When you live in the present moment, I am there. My
name is ‘I am’!” The present moment is all that we have, an unrepeatable
gift; and it is always a present from our God. It is our treasure.
What we do is important. How we do it is more
important. Most important is why we do it. We can put a perfect
equal sign between ourselves and our motivation, our intentions, our reasons
for doing things; and on this do we realize and experience our reward. There is
nothing more “me” than my motivations. We may pride ourselves on our “know-what”
and our “know-how”; but the primary focus of our God is our “know-why.”
Nothing pleases our Lord more than the heart that is pure, seeking to please
Him, doing His Holy Will at all times.
Make your choices! Establish your priorities! Whatever
smacks of sin and temptation, blast out of your life. Whatever is dangerous or
a waste of time, eliminate! Use your time wisely and well. Make a promise: I
will not waste a moment of my time the rest of my life. Yes, we must relax and
recreate and sleep. We need diversion to stay healthy and mentally sound. But
do everything in your life with God in mind, conscious of His Presence,
recollected. Use those tiny aspirations like breathing to embrace Him: “Come
Holy Spirit, come”! He will always be there with His light and His strength.
This is what it means to love God with our whole mind, heart
and soul. This is impossible for us to achieve without the thought of Jesus
Crucified because so much of our life is saturated with suffering: our own and
that of others. We cannot make any sense out of our lives without the strength that
comes from the Cross of Jesus Christ. He will be with us not necessarily to
take the hurts away but to be with us in our suffering. Don’t trade what we
want most for what we want now. Jesus
Crucified is the only One worth living for and suffering for…and dying for. He
is our all. He can still make us saints! - - if we cooperate with
His grace.
Father Angelus M.
Shaughnessy, O.F. M. Capuchin
