The Spiritual and the Mundane

A couple of weeks ago I went through a short phase where I didn’t do any of my college work. I thought (at least I managed to convince myself) that I needed to devote more time to my spiritual life “and if I do have a vocation,” I thought “what’ll be the good of getting a degree?” Well that phase is mostly over now, thanks be to God!

I am reminded of something my old headmaster used say when we weren’t working as well as we should have been at school (rather optimistically, he supposed it was because we were praying too much). He used to say that in order to give glory to God, “you don’t have to go live in a cave; you just have to do your duty of state”.

I can see (at least, in theory) that God is more pleased by the small sacrifices I make every day in my ordinary, frustratingly human life. To not be able to aspire to do great things, even “in the service of God” as St. Ignatius says in a quote somewhere on this blog, is in itself a sacrifice, which gives glory to God. Doing great things only glorifies myself.

It is not the actual physical exertion that counts towards a man's progress, nor the nature of the task, but by the spirit of faith with which it is undertaken. – St. Francis Xavier