Salesian Literature

Chapter 8  :  A universal way of serving God in everything we do

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Whatever you are about, in word and action alike, invoke always the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 3:17); in eating, in drinking, in all that you do, do everything for God’s glory (1 Cor. 10:31).  Those are St. Paul’s words; as St. Thomas[1], explaining them, says that they are sufficiently verified if we possess habitual charity.  This means that, though we may not have an explicit, actual intention of doing each thing for God, union and fellowship with him implicitly contains this intention, devoting to him ourselves and any good actions we may perform.

 

No declaration is needed from a child in its father’s house to the effect that legally anything it may acquire is acquired by the father; the child is the father’s property, and so are all the child’s belongings.  Love, therefore, has only to make us God’s children, for all our actions to redound to his glory.

 

Try, then, to make charity the motive and mainspring of the virtues which you practise, so that they can be genuinely traced back to it.  When a master-draughts-man guides his pupil’s hand, it is chiefly to the master that the skilfulness of each stroke is due, though the pupil deserves praise for lending himself so completely to the control of the practised hand.  Excellent, the virtues controlled by charity – done, that is to say, from the motive of love!  But this happens in various ways…

 

The motive of the love of God has a particularly perfecting influence on the various actions of people consecrated to his service.  Bishops and priests, for example: their sacramental consecration, the indelible spiritual character which they receive, brands and vows them to God’s perpetual service.  Religious too; their vows, solemn or simple, offer them to God as living, rational sacrifices (cf. Rom. 12:1).  Similarly those who join sodalities devote themselves for ever to the glory of God; those too who definitely decide to make God’s will their rule of life, who spend some days in retreat practising certain spiritual exercises with a view to turning over a completely new leaf – a method common among the early Christians, but afterwards almost entirely neglected until that great servant of God, Ignatius of Loyola (1492-1556), re-introduced it a generation ago.

 

I am aware that some people do not hold that this general offering of self has any influence on subsequent actions, unless the motive of love is deliberately called into play, consecrating each action individually to the glory of God. Yet everyone admits the truth of St. Bonaventure’s teaching – some even quote it approvingly – that once I have made up my mind to give away a certain sum of money for God’s sake, even though my mind is occupied with other things when I come to make the actual distribution, it is still an act of charity; what I am doing is dictated by my original intention inspired by the love of God.

 

After all, Theotimus, I ask you, what difference is there between the man who offers his money to God and the man who offers his actions?  None at all, surely; except that one offers cons, the other deeds.  Perhaps you can tell me, then, why the same principle cannot hold in both cases.  If one man can give away money; if he can still enjoy the influence of his original intention, though he does not think of it – why cannot another man experience similar profit when he gives away actions?  The man who plainly pledges himself to the service of God has, by that very act, dedicated all his actions to God.

 

On the truth of this last statement, each one should make a good retreat at least once in his life, to cleanse his soul of sin and finally from a personal, unshakable resolve to live his life utterly for God – following the instructions I have given in Part One of my Introduction to Devotion.  Then, at least once a year, he should take a good look at his conscience and renew his original resolve – as I have indicated in Part Five of the book I have just mentioned, to which I refer you.

 

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[1]  Summa Theologica, 1.2.q.88.a.1, ad 2.

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