Dear Friends,
I am reading Joshua Gibbs new book about teaching the virtues to young people. In it, he reflects on his
own personal struggles and those of his students to live the good life. I appreciated one of his discussions
where he reflects on the common pattern of people to make promises of great change in the future to justify
their present vices and immaturity. He says that his students regularly tell him that they rarely read their bibles
and do not often pray, but they have sworn to themselves that they will do these important tasks once they are
older and out of school. Which is the pattern that many people choose – promising that they will be different at
some future stage of life…”when I am older, I will do…”
People behave as though the stage of life they are currently in is the hardest, the most complex and
demanding stage of life there is; the contradictions and demands of the present stage make it difficult to pursue
the good now. They somehow believe that the next stage in life will be far simpler, more peaceful, and being
a good person will be so much easier at the next stage. Being more mature will make prayer simpler. Being
older and having more money will make virtue attainable. Having children or a career or a house will make being
righteous more attainable.
Gibbs argues that just the opposite is true because what we practice now makes it more likely that we
will do the same in the future. If we do not read scripture now, that just means we will be very good at not
reading scripture in the future. If we lie to others now, we will be even better liars in the future. Those who delight
in their own amusement now will not suddenly care about other people at the height of their career or
when they enter into retirement. Spiritual maturity does not suddenly come on a person. It is the everyday
practice of the virtues, the everyday practice of what Jesus taught that will over time help a person become
mature in their faith.
Being a disciple of Jesus is not a future task, it is a present reality. We cannot wait until a later date to
begin to pray, to care for others, to proclaim the good news, to read scripture. If we wish to be a disciple, if we
wish to be ready to meet God face to face, then we need to begin to shape our lives following the teachings of
Jesus now. We probably cannot fix everything right away, but we can begin to take small steps that create
patterns. Those patterns will become easier and easier to live as we practice them.
To encourage you in this process, we will have parishioners talk about their own experience of living
discipleship at each of Sunday Masses during the upcoming weeks. As you hear their stories, we hope that it
helps you to begin to take small steps to live what Jesus taught us to do. Doing what Jesus taught is not difficult;
it is simply different from what we humans normally do. We have to act against our self-centered ways.
The result of living our discipleship is that our lives will be more peaceful, we will discover joy, and find a fullness
we have never known before. Most importantly, we will grow closer to the God who loves us.
Peace,
Fr. Damian