From the pastor's desk for Nov. 17, 2024

The Lord be with you!

Last week we discussed how we sin and how sins adversely affect us. As we noted, God loves us so much that He is always calling us to move away from sin back to goodness. Once we have repented, however, how do we stop sinning? Better yet, how do we grow in virtue?

If everyone could change in the same ways at the same rate, life would be far simpler. As any teacher quickly learns, every student learns differently. Likewise, every sinner repents from their sins at different rates and at different rates. If we are going to improve, we have to be ready that it might take a long time and much effort. Conversely, we should never grow proud that we conquered bad habits more quickly than our peers.

With that humble mindset in view, let us turn to some practical points. First, we need God’s assistance so we will need to ask for it. How many times have we asked God for a particular material blessing? I lost count of how many times I prayed Hail Mary’s asking for a Hail Mary pass to be completed at Notre Dame. If we have prayed more for the Browns’ success than our patience at their failures, we have not been asking God for the most important changes. Don’t misunderstand: we should pray for our teams’ victories but in the right proportion to our victories over sin.

Second, having asked God to help, we need to be as specific as we can in what we are changing. The more particular in what we are trying to change, the easier it is to recognize the opportunities for change. For example, let us say that we are going to be kinder in our speech. That is a great goal, but it will not help us identify times to change. Instead, we could make the goal, “I am going to compliment people at least twice a day.” Whether you made the kind remarks or not, you will be able to judge it a success and make corrections, which leads us to our third principle: adjustments.

Third, with a concrete goal in mind and God’s grace, we must try and fail… a lot. Usually, what we aim to change will turn out to be very demanding so we should expect failures. If it was an easy act to master, we likely would have bettered ourselves long ago. We must never allow failure to depress us but inform us. Eventually, we will learn what makes change easier for us and what motivates us.

The more we learn to love, the easier it is to be loved by God. We are called to change not merely to avoid damnation but to be open to God dwelling within our hearts. May we desire to change as God would have us so we can be His eternally.

In His Sacred Heart,

Fr. John

PS #WeGiveCatholic is coming! Please give and pray as much as you can :)