Daily Meditation: Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Committing yourself to the spiritual life requires efforts …

03/24/2009

Committing yourself to the spiritual life requires efforts you may have no wish to make, that’s understood… But, all the same, try at least to understand intellectually the advantages of living this life. Once you have understood, you will find it easier to make the effort to commit yourself to it. Let’s take an example: you have to have your teeth seen to, and that annoys you, which is normal: you’re afraid it will hurt, but you decide to do it all the same; your intellect has understood it’s for the best, and you accept you have to go. Well then, why not do the same thing in the spiritual domain? Tell yourself, ‘Of course, I’ll suffer, but it’s for the best, and I’ll manage to solve so many problems as a result!’ And that’s it, you go to the ‘dentist’! So you must first understand the advantages of the spiritual life, then you should try to mix with people who live this life and, finally, do the spiritual exercises as though you’ve already acquired a taste for them. Tell yourself, ‘I don’t like it that much, but all the same I’m going to make the effort to pray, meditate and do the exercises; I’ll go to see the sunrise.’ And if you sincerely set to work, some time later you’ll find yourself needing and getting a taste for the spiritual life.