20 Oct 2017
The Scriptures today issue a call to integrity; a call to be
whole, to have our insides and outsides integrated into one—to be a person
whose heart, mind, and actions are all on the same page. It’s basically the idea of being honest and
true; to be a person of integrity. And
this can certainly be a challenge.
On the one hand, we have our interior life. We have our own personal desires, wants, and
needs. We have our own opinions and
understandings of things. We each have
our own personalities, our own values, our own relationships with God, and so
on.
But, on the other hand, we have our exterior life. We have the commandments of God, the
teachings of Christ and his Church, and other guidelines. We have the influence of the culture around
us; the influence of others’ values and desires. We have all the prayers we learned along the
way: the Our Father, the Rosary, the responses at Mass, and so on.
The challenge, it so often seems, is how to balance these two:
the interior life and the exterior life.
And which one is takes priority?
Is my interior life supposed to be guided by my exterior life? Or is my exterior life supposed to be guided
and shaped by my interior life? The
answer, it seems, is: Both.
Sometimes we have to listen to our interior conscience; that
becomes a priority. Sometimes we need to
follow more the voice of the Church, and let that voice shape our
conscience. Sometimes—most of the time,
we have to be true to our personality, and to the person God has made us to
be. Other times—sometimes, however, we
have to let our personality be shaped by the needs of living with other people:
whether that’s marriage, or friendship, or at work.
And the “key” to balancing this is humility, and turning to
God for help. Even if we make poor
choices in life, and we’re not quite living a life of integrity, as long as
we’re honestly, humbly trying, all will be well. And that’s because at the root of who we are
is a people who humbly, honestly, and faithfully rely on the help of God.
A life of integrity begins and ends with our reliance on
God. If we can rely on him, everything
else will fall into place; we’ll be living a life of integrity.
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