It’s a known fact that big corporations all over the world hold retreats or company camps regularly for their employees in order to galvanize and motivate them to be good at their jobs. At these retreats, one of the things that are emphasized and stressed is the company’s mission. The reason for this is that it aligns (or re-aligns) the various departments’ individual goals with that of the company’s overarching goal and mission. If there are departments within the company that have ethos and goals not in line with the company’s mission, re-alignment will be required, resulting in greater harmony and productivity for the entire structure. There is, in many cases, a general tendency for employees or even sub-departments to forget why they are doing what they are doing. When this happens, motivation and drive naturally slacken.
Every canonized saint of the Church has shown steadfastness in living out his or her soul’s mission statement, which is to have heaven as his or her ultimate aim and goal. This same steadfastness and resolve to ensure that our lives are lived in such a way as to keep us aligned toward that divine end that we have as baptized sons and daughters of God is so necessary, especially when it is the intention of the evil one to have us not reach that goal.
I have, as a counselor and guide for souls, become keenly aware of how easily one can fall into sin or give up wanting to live a holy life, when that heavenly goal for the soul is unclear or not intentional. Without a strong desire to love God and to want to enter into God’s eternal embrace after we die, it is easy to merely exist and ‘get by’ each day, when we should be striving for excellence in giving God the glory of our lives and the effort that we put in when we ensure that we put love where love is lacking. Without an eye constantly kept on heaven’s goal, we tend to keep our bar of life set relatively low. But when we are in great awareness of what our baptism gives us in terms of a divine dignity, we raise the bar much higher.
It’s a well-known adage that in all our endeavours, we should always begin with the end in mind. Without an idea or a target that we can set our minds and eyes on, we are inclined to settle. Heaven isn’t settling. Heaven is a highest standard that we can ever shoot for in life, and anything less that than is a compromise. The saints knew this, and their lives and their steely determination to attain that end is for us to emulate.
The foundation of such a firm belief is from our baptism in Christ. That is the base from which all other teachings and doctrines that the Church imparts to us are built on. If that foundation isn’t strong, the teachings and doctrines that are taught to us will not have much to stand on. They will fall off our hearts easily just as a fried egg falls off easily from a non-stick frying pan. The stronger one sets one’s heart and eyes on their heavenly goal, the truth of the church’s doctrines not only will make sense, but their essence will begin to be steeped into our hearts.
In the gospels, Jesus is always seen as setting his eyes resolutely on Jerusalem. Jerusalem is more than just a city. It is a metaphor of his raison d’etre to fulfill the Father’s will, because of his intense love of the Father. As much as Jerusalem is the city where his crucifixion takes place, it is also where he rose from the dead because he was faithful and lived his life with fidelity to the Father. In Jesus we have the model to follow and be just as resolute to set our eyes on the heavenly Jerusalem. It will most likely take us to places which will see us undergo forms of suffering and afflictions, but when our goal for locked on heaven, it will make valid anything that we are asked to go through.
If this is true vis-a-vis companies and corporations that are profit-driven, it is also true in an analogical way for the human heart and soul vis-à-vis a person’s spiritual life.
Every canonized saint of the Church has shown steadfastness in living out his or her soul’s mission statement, which is to have heaven as his or her ultimate aim and goal. This same steadfastness and resolve to ensure that our lives are lived in such a way as to keep us aligned toward that divine end that we have as baptized sons and daughters of God is so necessary, especially when it is the intention of the evil one to have us not reach that goal.
I have, as a counselor and guide for souls, become keenly aware of how easily one can fall into sin or give up wanting to live a holy life, when that heavenly goal for the soul is unclear or not intentional. Without a strong desire to love God and to want to enter into God’s eternal embrace after we die, it is easy to merely exist and ‘get by’ each day, when we should be striving for excellence in giving God the glory of our lives and the effort that we put in when we ensure that we put love where love is lacking. Without an eye constantly kept on heaven’s goal, we tend to keep our bar of life set relatively low. But when we are in great awareness of what our baptism gives us in terms of a divine dignity, we raise the bar much higher.
It’s a well-known adage that in all our endeavours, we should always begin with the end in mind. Without an idea or a target that we can set our minds and eyes on, we are inclined to settle. Heaven isn’t settling. Heaven is a highest standard that we can ever shoot for in life, and anything less that than is a compromise. The saints knew this, and their lives and their steely determination to attain that end is for us to emulate.
The foundation of such a firm belief is from our baptism in Christ. That is the base from which all other teachings and doctrines that the Church imparts to us are built on. If that foundation isn’t strong, the teachings and doctrines that are taught to us will not have much to stand on. They will fall off our hearts easily just as a fried egg falls off easily from a non-stick frying pan. The stronger one sets one’s heart and eyes on their heavenly goal, the truth of the church’s doctrines not only will make sense, but their essence will begin to be steeped into our hearts.
In the gospels, Jesus is always seen as setting his eyes resolutely on Jerusalem. Jerusalem is more than just a city. It is a metaphor of his raison d’etre to fulfill the Father’s will, because of his intense love of the Father. As much as Jerusalem is the city where his crucifixion takes place, it is also where he rose from the dead because he was faithful and lived his life with fidelity to the Father. In Jesus we have the model to follow and be just as resolute to set our eyes on the heavenly Jerusalem. It will most likely take us to places which will see us undergo forms of suffering and afflictions, but when our goal for locked on heaven, it will make valid anything that we are asked to go through.
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