THAT gospel
parable about a king who gave a wedding feast for his son (cfr. Mt 22,1-14)
reminds us that we should be ready when God calls us to himself. In that
parable, the king was frustrated because all those whom he invited refused to
come. And so, he ordered his servants to call whoever they would meet in the
highways and byways. Still, he expected that those who would come would at
least be properly dressed.
This means that
we should truly be prepared for the eventual call and invitation that God would
give us so we can be with him as he wants us to be. In this regard, we have to
know how to “govern” our life such that at any time we would be ready for this eventuality.
Yes, some art of
good governance over our life should be learned. We just cannot be at the mercy
of chance and fortune. We need to know and be constantly aware of the real and
constant purpose of our life, and arrange our life in such a way that that purpose
is always pursued.
Just like in any
serious business enterprise, there has to be goals set, short-term and
long-term plans made, regular reviews, auditing and pertinent modifications
made. We should have the sensation that there is progress in the pursuit of the
real purpose of our life. Of course, when we notice that the “balance sheet” at
any given moment of our life shows a red rather than a black, we should
immediately do something to correct it.
Knowing that the
real progress in our life is ultimately measured in our love for God and for
others, we should somehow try to echo some lyrics of an old Spiral Staircase
song which goes this way: “I love you more today than yesterday, but not as
much as tomorrow!”
We should have a
clear vision of our ultimate and definitive eternal destination and able to
relate everything in our life to that goal. For this purpose, we should develop
the practice of making daily examinations of conscience.
In our spiritual
life, it is important that we settle accounts with God regularly. In fact,
saints and the Church herself have recommended that we make a daily examination
of conscience just before going to bed.
This practice
can only mean that we understand that our life is not just a natural, material,
individual or social affair. Or that it is simply our own life. It would show
that we know that our life is a life with God and with others, pursued and
developed in the spiritual and moral spheres more than anything else.
We need to do
some accounting of it not only for our own interest, but also and more
importantly for the sake of God and of the others. It would show that we
understand that our human acts—those that we do knowingly and freely and thus
we are responsible for them—either lead us to our proper end or not. Thus, we
understand that our human acts have a moral dimension and therefore need to be
assessed by us.
It would also
make us aware of our most basic duty as children of God to pursue our own
personal sanctification and to cooperate in the continuing work of God’s
redemption of mankind through personal apostolate.
This way, we can
somehow feel secure that at any given moment we would be eternity-ready,
prepared to see God for judgment when he would finally call us to himself.
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