We are halfway through our collective efforts to grow in holiness through the Journey Toward Holiness campaign. “What’s that”, you query? It is a Divinely inspired initiative we have launched to help us form habits that lead to holiness. You can read more about it here and if you want to sign up, you are welcome to do that. It is never too late to grow in holiness.

This journey for me has been an intentional effort to be kinder, more patient, and to smile more. I know it is hard to see that behind my mask, but it is there. I have found it to be a good reminder of the power in these simple acts which can have huge repercussions. I daresay, if humanity would start right there with those simple things, we would change the face of the planet for good, and just in time for Christmas. (One can only hope). Part of our goal for JTH, (Journey Toward Holiness) is to encourage each other, finish what we started, attend the Advent Mission with Mark Hart Monday & Tuesday December 7^th and 8^th (6:30pm live and live streamed), and to develop good habits for prayer. It is working for me, and I pray, for you as well.

“Our lives change, when our habits change.” (M Kelly)

I have a quote that I re-read from time to time and I wanted to share it with you. It comes from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. It is packed full of meaning and reminders for us as we journey in this world and make decisions that impact the next.

“Faith means resisting the brute force that would otherwise pull us under.

Faith is a liberation of my I from its preoccupation with self.

Faith is a breaking out of the isolation that is the malady of my I.

Faith is a new Yes that becomes possible when we are touched by God.

Faith is the finding of a You who upholds me and gives me the promise of an indestructible love.

 Faith means fellowship with Him who has a power that draws us up, holds us fast, and carries us safely over the elements of death.

To become a Believer means to escape our own gravity.”

To become a Believer means to escape our own gravity.”

As I attempt to unpack some of my thoughts on this quote, I find myself also wondering what insight you have. I would love to hear your thoughts as well. Do not think that this is too lofty of a quote to mine for the gold nuggets it contains precisely for you. Rather, take it sentence by sentence and think about what God may be saying through Benedict to you.

When PBXVI speaks of “brute force,” many things come to my mind. It can mean from the forces of evil who are bent on our destruction. An on-going spiritual battle rages between evil and good, to deny that fact, is to not fully understand the purpose of this life or your soul in the next.

“Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.” (Eph 6:11-12)

Perhaps he is suggesting the maladies of human life, as the brute force that pulls us under. The drudgery, monotony, and illness that comes with being human.

What “brute force” pulls you under in your day to day? How do you overcome it?

I love the second sentence, “liberation of my I, from its preoccupation with self.”  Humanity seems to be distracted in this perpetual preoccupation with self. It is true and so easy to be exclusively concerned with what is only important to me. I will admit I am guilty at times. Faith liberates me from focusing solely on myself. It is bigger than me.  When we are self-focused it causes us to look inward rather than outward towards God and neighbor. We feel the “isolation” that comes from such navel-gazing when we are so concerned about ourselves. Faith broadens the plain of our view to consider the command to “love one another,” and in doing so we are “touched by God.” In giving we receive, the answer to the dilemma.  It is through our neighbor that we will meet the image of God. This is how God set it up. When I look beyond me, I begin to recognize how small I am, how miniscule my problems and through helping others I am raised out of my fixation of self.

Faith is not a building, an institution, or set of rules to follow; it is a person, the Person of Christ Jesus. He is the “You who upholds me,” giving me the hope of heaven and eternal “indestructible love.” God always, “draws us up, holds us fast carrying us safely, through death to new life in heaven with Him.

Let us make every effort to escape our own gravity, thus freeing ourselves in the service of God and others.