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| Powers Catholic Soccer Team after winning the State Championship |
Many of you will probably remember that, about 2 or 3 years ago (the time flies by so quickly), I broke my thumb while practicing soccer with our Powers JV soccer team. We were doing 3 v 2 drills, and I had tripped a little, and was on the ground, but I didn’t want a sophomore or freshman to beat me, so I hyper-extended my thumb pushing myself up, and got a little chip fracture. As George Strait sings in his 2008 hit song, “Troubadour,” “I still feel 25 / most of the time…” But that day was a good reminder that there’s a big difference between being a teenager soccer player and a 30-something priest.
When it comes to our spiritual life, sometimes we’re as much deceiving ourselves as I was thinking that I could still hang with even a JV soccer team. We think that spiritual progress–deepening our prayer life, combating certain sins, growing in virtue–is something that we have to muscle through by ourselves. It’s the theory of holiness that we simply pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. This mentality of doing it ourselves is ingrained in us from a young age. It is, as we might say, a quintessentially American trait. That American spirit to do it ourselves led us to declare our independence 244 years ago; it led us blaze pioneer trails across the Appalachian mountains; it pushed Lewis and Clark to find passage from St. Louis to Oregon; it rocketed us to the moon in the 1960s. So when it comes to building and growing a nation, it’s not a bad thing, but when it comes to building our spiritual life, it’s not the way the spiritual order works.
Our readings talk to us of humility, and that virtue is nothing more than the recognition of the truth. It’s not pretending that we’re not as good as we are, but it’s also not puffing ourselves up on our own, either. Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah by entering Jerusalem on a donkey. He does so, not to say that He’s not a king, but to demonstrate that His kingdom isn’t one of force, but that His kingdom is established in peace.
Jesus also said today that the wisdom of the spiritual life has been hidden from the wise and learned, but has been revealed to the little ones. The wise and the learned don’t get it, because they are used to doing things on their terms, to working with the mindset of the world where a person has to do it all by him or herself. But the little ones realize how little they can do on their own, and always turn to their parents to help them achieve their goals.
Jesus also invites all who labor and are burdened to come to Him, because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Again, this is a clear demonstration that the spiritual life is not meant to be pursued on one’s own, but is to be striven for in partnership with the Lord. A yoke is not meant for one ox, but for a team of oxen. So the yoke that the Lord offers us, an easy and light burden, is meant for us to carry with Jesus, not apart from Him.
So when we want to deepen our prayer life, look to Jesus to guide your prayer. It could be a formal prayer (the Church certainly has a treasury of beautiful prayers that have been prayed over the centuries), or it could simply be talking with Jesus as one talks with a friend. Maybe ask Jesus to help you add an extra 5 minutes to your daily prayer routine. Or maybe try adoration from 7-7:45 a.m. on Fridays.
When we’re trying to root out a sin from our life, whether it’s big or it’s small sins, a lot of times we think that if we only tried harder, then we’d get better results. But often times sins can be so deeply ingrained in our lives that we don’t know how to get them out on our own. It may be sin like gossip; it may be a sin like pornography; or maybe it’s a different sin altogether. But the Lord doesn’t want us to try to rid the sin from our lives on our own. His grace is effective at casting sin out of our life, just as light casts out darkness. It may not happen all at once, but with the Lord’s help, we can find the freedom from the slavery that sin brings. Invite Jesus to help you get rid of whatever sin is enslaving you right now.
When we’re trying to grow in virtue, it’s much easier with the Lord. A virtue is a stable disposition to act in the right way. It comes through habitual actions of doing the right thing. So we have to cooperate. But the Lord’s grace can make it easier for us to do the right thing when we have the opportunity to do the wrong thing. I know that patience has often been a difficult virtue for me, especially when traveling. It seems like my plane is always delayed, or having mechanical problems, or the flight is cancelled due to bad weather. And for years I would get so worked up and frustrated when my travel plans wouldn’t go as I had prepared or wanted. Last November my vacation to Australia was delayed by a day because of weather; and then in January my trip to Dayton was delayed due to weather as I missed my connecting flight by mere minutes; and even my most recent trip to Nashville was delayed by a day due to weather. But, in all those circumstances, I could see the Lord’s grace at work, supporting and sustaining my own efforts, to keep me calm and entrust myself to the Lord’s will. I’m not perfectly patient, but I can see progress working with the Lord, rather than by myself.
We’re often tempted to do things by ourselves, for a variety of reasons. But to think that we can be fully successful by ourselves in the spiritual life, is about as realistic as thinking that I can keep up with high schoolers in soccer. Don’t strive for holiness on your own. Work with Jesus to be a saint; you won’t be disappointed.
