Sanctity is about living proper balance … in
everything. There are, however, in you and me, balancing acts that are more
of-the-essence than others. It may well be considered important, for example, to
reach the proper equilibrium between speaking and listening, or between fasting
and healthy eating, however certainly the balance that matters most is that
which makes me who I am as a person—my free will.
Virtue has been defined as the mean between two
extremes, the middle point balancing two negatives. For example, the temperate
eater consumes what is necessary, not more, not less. It would seem at first
glance that my freedom should seek some sort of similar balance, but let’s see
how.
When I began taking piano lessons, at first I had to
train my baby fingers with scales, chords and lots of repetitions. Early on I
wasn’t making music beautiful to the ear; it was almost painful to listen to.
Every week my teacher would correct my body position, praise what little
progress I had made, and pile on new exercises and chord patterns to be drilled
into my little fingers with time and toil.
Today I would claim that I am “freer” to play the
piano than anyone who never took lessons. And what my grown-up fingers now play
is pleasing to the ear. I am free because I have taken on, and made my own, the
musical rules of pressing the black and white keys in the right way.
No analogy is perfect. This simple image, however,
can help us understand how God works in our souls. He invented the path of
sanctity; he defines what is good and what is wrong; he alone is perfectly
good. And yet, we are left free to practice, and thus to make our own, the
principles he offers us.
What I do like about this analogy, is that the best
piano player does not really seek balance between his own efforts and the
guidance of the teacher, rather, both
are needed fully; like the two wings of a bird.
The person who denies his own freedom, who expects
God to “change him” without making an effort, is just as much at fault as the
individual who goes-it-alone, trying to become a saint by sheer willpower.
In the nitty-gritty of life this is done by setting
concrete goals with concrete actions that help me grow. For example:
Goal: Be there for my family members
Actions: 1 - A daily act of affection per person (hug, kiss, kind word) 2 - A moment
when I ask each individual sincerely how they are doing.
Prayer: And this little plan is then brought up in my daily prayer: “Jesus,
help me to love like you. Give me the grace to be there for those who need me.”
The one who makes progress in the spiritual life is
thus the individual who makes the most of God’s guiding help and his own free
daily efforts to forge himself in virtue … and this is the kind of music which
is most beautiful in God’s ears.
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