Preparation for Total Consecration

WEEK 2:
SELF-KNOWLEDGE

All of us have strengths and weaknesses on the emotional, psychological and physical levels. They interact. The more we have some understanding of what is happening, the better for ourselves and those among whom we live. It is helpful to consider this in the light of the ideal of Jesus.

Fifth Day: Lk. 14: 28-30

COUNT THE COST

Parable.Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish'.

Reflection.The Gospel itself and everyday Christian experience world-wide prove that following Christ is no soft option. We cannot drift into genuine Gospel living. Escapism is not the mark of a saint.

What reserves do I have? What will it cost me to try to live as the Gospel asks? How much am I prepared to give myself to my Lord Jesus?

Ultimately, I shall only answer these and similar questions when I make my own the wonder that our Lord Jesus, after living a vulnerable life on earth ending in crucifixion, rose from a grave to be with me now, and invites me to a wonderful future. The life of Christ is the key to reality.

In counting the cost as the parable suggests, a Christian life may mean that I am at odds with so much of my contemporary world as I try to be one with my Lord. But in the presence of my risen Lord, once I have made an act of faith in him, I know that the fewer the reserves I have, the more will he supply. It is in that I find the courage to be a Christian.

Prayer.Lord Jesus, you urge me to take time to consider what it means to live for you. It is prudent to budget and practical to consider the cost of any undertaking to which I am committing myself. Your Gospel deceives no one, and calls for whole-hearted giving. I ask for the vision to give myself to you.

May your Mother, at one with you on the Cross on Calvary, encourage me to give myself to you.

Montfort.'Send us, O Lord, this wisdom which sits by your throne to strengthen our weakness, to enlighten our minds, to inflame our hearts, to speak and to act, to work and suffer in union with you' (SR 11).