Being Led to God - Part Three

Many factors contribute to one’s idea of loyalty, but its virtuous meaning has to do with a bond that is unbreakable, so much so that one becomes responsible for the other. This idea of virtue has nothing to do with telling the other who they should be, but rather giving them the freedom to be who they truly are. It’s about supporting them to become who they are meant to be, accepting them again and again. Loyalty of this kind is very difficult. To remain true in spite of loss and danger, to stand firm and fight day after day is not for the faithless.
 
Initially we are influenced by our parents, teachers, coaches, peers, and the Church. But down deep most of us realize there is something bigger than what we have known and loved. Faith in God can be at times profound and at other times it feels as if it completely disappears. Currently, in our Church, the weakness of humanity is very present and it can turn our belief system upside down. Faith is always much easier when all seems right with the world and choices being made fit our level of reasoning. Candidly, in times of darkness and apparent silence of God, faith becomes even more indispensable.
 
Faith implies a promise of loyalty. Faith is meant to endure through periods of confusion, lack of leadership, and God’s silence. Loyalty is to outlast time. Sacred Scripture reveals how God enters into a covenant with us. Everything rests entirely upon God’s endless loyalty. We, as Christians, need look no further than at the life of Jesus for one entire expression of loyalty. You and I can only be loyal because God is loyal. God has willed you and I into being and you and I are made in God’s image to be loyal also.
 
One of the great challenges is we are ruled by interests and motives. We typically have many interests and consider our life on track when we keep attaining. In the attainment, we feel we measure up. We look to impress others, to gain advantage over another, and to get ahead. We can compliment others only in order to ultimately be praised ourselves. How much do we do only in order to gain something in return? Tragically, too often we don’t really see others as a person, but rather as a means to attain something. When interests and ulterior motives determine our attitude, everything becomes false and insincere.
 
The essential element of life is our relations with others. If that is to be true for our life then interests must give way to seeing the other. Jesus said: For whatever your treasure is, there also will be your heart – Mt 6:21. In other words, you must know what you prize in order to orient your life toward that goal. One of the most profound paradoxes of life (which seems lost on many); we become more fully ourselves the less we think about ourselves.  St. Teresa of Avila wrote about stripping away enough of yourself that you find the truth of who you are. You see the false self is always focused on me, on honor, on prosperity, on dominating. The true self is focused on becoming a saint. A saint is really someone who, with God’s grace, has conquered the false self. Then and only then does one no longer live in fear. For God’s will bind’s one thing to another, brings one person into relation with another, and brings all humanity into relation with the whole.