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Spiritual Planning 101
Homily Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, Emmett
The man in today’s Gospel passage (Lk 12:12-31) had made a fantastic business plan. And I’m sure all of you are skilled, surely far more than I, in designing business plans. Today there are courses, seminars, books, degrees having to do with project management. But even without the special courses, anyone who sells anything needs to plan. What is my goal this summer, this month, this decade, this year? What is my retirement goal? How am I going to get there? What is the market like? Am I in a business in which I can survive? What are the difficulties? What are my savings like for the future? Anyone who is even remotely on top of his game will confront himself with these questions. The man in Luke 12 did so; and the results were marvelous. He had heaped up for himself a pile of treasures, and he was an amazing success. And then he died the next day. Hence, the reading from the book from Ecclesiastes: Vanity of vanities, says Qoholeth, and all things are vanity! (Eccl 1:2) So the question is, do we plan similarly for that which is not vanity? Do we plan for riches which do not pass? Do we plan for amassing treasures in heaven? Today I wish to encourage all of us to set goals for our spiritual life, to plan our spiritual progress, and to fill up the granaries of our lives not with grain, but with supernatural grace, a treasure which will not pass away, but which we will take with us in heaven. What is a spiritual plan? Like everything in life, we have to start with the end in mind. A soccer player plans on scoring goals; the batter plans on a base or on a home run; the salesman plans on earning a good profit; the teacher hopes to get their student to learn; and so everyone wishes for success in whatever it is which they set out to do. Similarly in the spiritual life. And so you need to start with a goal in mind. Yet many Catholics don’t do this. They float around on the sea of life, wondering where fate will lead them that day. These poor souls do not have a spiritual plan. They have no goal in their spiritual lives. Then, once they set a goal, they need to establish means to achieve the goal. Some people have goals, but they don’t have means. Some have means, but they are insufficient means, because they are too few or too small. Others set means which lead them to different goals than they want, as the man who wanted to overcome laziness, and so decided to donate more money to a local convent. Donating arrests greed, not laziness. Others establish means which are way beyond their power, such as the man who was too attached to sweets, and then decided he would loose sixty pounds in two weeks. Others fail to establish means; they do this by saying what they are NOT going to do, instead of what they are going to do, as the lady who wants to overcome temptations to impatience, and says, “I will not get impatient any more.” Other people see they need to progress in many virtues at the same time, and they get mixed up with piles and piles of goals and resolutions, and then accomplish nothing. Your means need to be positive things, which you will do, not negative things, which you won’t do. They also need to be realistic, within the reach of what you can actually accomplish. They need to be challenging, or else you simply won’t do them. And you need to work on one thing at a time, so that you don’t disperse your energy, doing lots and achieving nothing. You can set as a goal anything which is good and a virtue. Then every year, or on some other reasonable interval, review your spiritual goal, either to renew it or work on something different. Here are some goals which may attract you: patience; kindness in speech; know my faith better; generosity in my possessions; greater prayer life; closer intimacy with the Blessed Virgin Mary our Mother; purity and chastity; better use of my time; diligence which arrests laziness; a more joyful demeanor; charity, joy, peace, patience, continence, perseverance, courage, prudence, honesty, and other things like these. And if you wish to achieve purity, find hobbies that will get you away from the television set, and use the internet only in a public place. If you wish to overcome gossip, then practice the opposite good, namely, speaking well of others, and say something both true and good about someone else at least once a day. If you need to overcome pride, put others in the center of your universe instead of that usual high place you occupy. If you need more faith, begin by prayer, namely, saying a rosary once a day. If you need more hope, ready and study about your faith more, and you will understand better what great things God has in store for you, and how worthy he is of your trust. This is the type of work which the man in the Gospel of Luke almost did. He succeeded in those things which pass, but he failed in those goods which are spiritual and eternal. I encourage all of you today, before you leave the Church, to at least focus on one goal, if you do not yet have one, for your spiritual life. In this way you will begin a road of great transformation into Christ, for the glory of God the Father, with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, with the great edification of your neighbor, and the promise of eternal life besides. Amen. |