On Living with Greater Intention (edited)

by Randy Hain I October 26, 2017

"Will-power. A very important quality. Don't despise little things.for by the continual practice of denying yourself again and again in such things - which are never futile or trivial - with God's grace you will add strength and resilience to your character. In that way you will.first become master of yourself..." (St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way 19).

Do you ever catch yourself in a moment of candid realization that you have developed bad habits, neglected your faith and created distance between yourself and Christ? This happens to me all too frequently and after realizing I was off course during a recent visit to Eucharistic Adoration, I decided to do something about it. What I needed was to toughen my resistance and develop new "muscles" to fight my patterns of spiritual failure. I committed to introduce more intention into my life and show stronger willpower.

In essence, I committed to break my sinful habits by immediately introducing good or "virtuous" habits after I caught myself going down the wrong path. It has been a struggle at times, but I have slowly been able to see improved patterns of behavior, more focus on authentically living out my Catholic faith and a vast improvement in my relationship with Christ. A very helpful tool in this endeavor has been the Daily Examen ...

The Examen invites us to stop throughout the day to reflect on what is happening in our lives, offer up a brief prayer and make adjustments. Here is what I have been able to experience and capture for this post over the last few weeks:

• On several occasions, I found myself very busy with more work to complete than I could possibly tackle ... so I prayed a Rosary and sought out the help of the Blessed Mother.

• Accumulated venial sins had been acting like a weight around my neck since my last visit to the Confessional ... so I went to Reconciliation and freed myself of this burden.

• On a few occasions when I found myself overwhelmed by the challenges of fatherhood, my career and the daily stresses of life in the modem age ... l sought out the intercession of St. Joseph to show me the way ...

• When faced with more than a few particularly stressful business and family issues ... I asked God for patience, wisdom and discernment so I could understand and accept the lessons He had in store for me ...

• Instead of delaying (and perhaps forgetting) to pray for others, upon hearing the problems of those I encountered this past week ... I prayed for them immediately.

• Rather than getting sucked into the depressing and toxic secular culture through TV and radio ... I returned to my Lenten practice of turning TV and radio time into prayer, reading and reflection time.

• Rather than allowing the busyness of my typical day to impact my ability to share my gratitude for what others have done for me ... l have looked for opportunities immediately after the kind acts of others to offer ... my sincere thanks.

Finally, I am returning to an old habit my father taught me many years ago that has fallen into neglect in light of the hectic pace I keep: doing random acts of kindness with greater intention ...

Friends, I am no saint. But, I hope to convey in this brief post the need to be more self-aware about the bad habits and venial sins that weigh us down and pull us off the right path and the power of a little more intentional behavior around the practice of good habits. This new mindset and a lot of prayer will help us stay focused on Christ and our Heavenly home. I know it has already helped me in numerous ways. As I said, I am no saint, but I know you and I are called to pursue sainthood and lead lives of holiness. With our eyes fixed firmly on Heaven, let's try to introduce a little more intention into our lives today.

" .. make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love." (2 Peter 1:5-7)

Questions for discussion:

1. What are some things you do to help you to combat sin and be a better husband, father, and Catholic man? Is there anything else that might help you?

2. Do you take time each day or sometime during the week to examine your actions? Where have you seen improvement? Where have you struggled?

3. What role does Christ's love and forgiveness play in helping you win this spiritual battle? Do you believe in His love for you even when you fall?