Saint Josemaria Escriva popularized the concept of the heroic minute.
In “The Way” he states concerning it, “Conquer yourself each day from the very first moment, getting up on the dot, at a set time, without granting a single minute to laziness. If, with the help of God, you conquer yourself in that moment, you’ll have accomplished a great deal for the rest of the day. It’s so discouraging to find yourself beaten in the first skirmish!”
In the heroic minute one wakes up instantly when the alarm goes off and commonly will say “serviam!” which is Latin for “I will serve!” The heroic minute is a form of mortification which starts the day in service to God. There are many things which we live in service to. In the hierarchy of goods, so often God and prayer is that which gets pushed off to the side. Upon waking our day can begin through an endless scrolling of social media or can begin with a prayer orienting our day in service to God.
As the Morning Offering states, “O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month. Amen.”
This prayer sums up what our day should be about. Instead of reaching for such goals we enter into a endless mindlessness where we enter into the passions as service to self. We forget the outward relation that we are to enter into with God which extends to how we treat those who are around us. As we treat those around us without love and as we get caught up in an endless pursuit of something we are getting further and further away from entering into relation with God and living in service to Him. In such manner we end up falling into the trap that Saint Paul warned against in our Epistle, the lusts of the flesh.
In our Gospel we were instructed, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” These words should cause us to reflect upon who or what we live our life in service to. Is it is service to God or the lusts of the flesh? Each of us have different hobbies and interests, but these hobbies and interests cannot take the place of God in our life. We do not entrust ourself to them as if they are the ultimate end. There is only one whom we can serve and that one should be God.
As we are sent forth from this Mass let us do all things in service to Him. From the very first moment of the day we must decide that God will be the one whom we live in service to. If we understand this, the rest of our day in all of it’s undertakings, will flow from this understanding of service. Let us make this conscious decision to live in service to God and all of His holy commands.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.