2015 The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle.68 Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:
He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.69
–Catechism of the Catholic Church
There are two competing lifestyles today, one is the ‘party’ lifestyle which encompasses getting all that we want, when we want it and claims that ‘happiness’ is the highest goal. The other is the ‘sacrificial’ life style, which states that sometimes we must go against our own will in order to achieve a greater good that goes beyond temporary happiness.
We are all constantly bombarded with temptations to follow the first, and we are told that the latter is not really worth it…or that our ‘reward’ will be in heaven…as in, after we die. We are not often told that our reward is indeed from heaven, but that heaven has its beginnings in the here and now and that the graces that flow from it, are truly worth it all.
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. – Matthew 13:45-46
What are we ‘selling’? What do we possess that is worth trading for this great pearl, which is the Kingdom of God itself? It is our free will. It is our capacity to renounce ourselves to become one with God. Luckily it is not as harsh as it sounds because we were created for this. Going against it is what is harsh and truly painful.
In Uniformity with God’s Will , Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri says “The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to God’s will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love.” This ‘pain to self-love’ is what true sacrifice is, we don’t need to go our searching for it. When we live our lives fully and well, they are filled with such perfecting opportunities.