Q. Last week's post addresses more of helping other guys grow in virtue. But how do I grow in virtue?
A. Well aside from what we've already mentioned about good family and good friends, there is also plenty that can be done personally and has sometimes been packaged in what is called a "game plan".
The idea is essentially that the struggle for virtue can be looked at as a war or as a sporting contest (St Paul himself made these analogies) where we are striving for victory.
Now what is the most important thing in any war or match? To know that you ARE at war or at a contest. Ignorance in this regard necessarily breeds indifference and God himself cannot stand the indifferent or the lukewarm: "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth."
What's the 2nd most important thing in a war or in a match? To know and accept that "one's own mind is a bad adviser, a poor pilot to steer the soul through the storms and tempests and among the reefs of the interior life". Doctors don't medicate themselves in matters of the body; we shouldn't direct ourselves in matters of the soul.
All great sportsmen and women have had a coach: Usain Bolt, Messi, Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, Julius Yego... And the reason they became so great is because they humbly entrusted their entire sporting ambition to that one person. Something identical is required in the spiritual realm: we all need a spiritual coach or spiritual director to whom we entrust our entire spiritual ambition. Someone on the outside who can make objective assessments and demand from us week after week till victory is ours.
Once you have a spiritual coach, the rest of the journey is simplified to heeding your coach's instructions and suggestions.
30th August 2015