Christian Perfection: The Work of God and the Human Person
My God … I have said I will perform this or that act of virtue or good work, and then done nothing. Now, however, I place myself in your hands, my God. By myself I can do nothing; with you I can do anything. (OOCC, X, p. 122; STA, 178)
A Christian’s spiritual journey towards perfection is a long and arduous one. If a person attempts the journey by himself, he may find it hard-going and demanding. This was also the experience of St. Vincent Pallotti. Whenever he evaluated his spiritual life, he found that he failed to perform the good works he had planned to do. He often greatly desired to do many good deeds and meticulously prepared plans to accomplish them. But often he was not able to turn his desires into commitments and plans into activities. Hence, St. Vincent knew that left to himself he would not be able to succeed in any of his spiritual endeavors. Therefore, he realized that it is significant to take God into his confidence if he wanted to succeed in all his efforts. He often used to say that by himself he could do nothing, but with God he could do anything. With this confidence, St. Vincent did what was within his power to plan and accomplish what he wished to do in his spiritual life. Once he had done what was expected of him, he handed it over to God allowing him to do what was best for him. Hence, St. Vincent’s journey of Christian perfection was the combined work of God and that of himself, a mutual interplay of divine-human encounter, based on a mutual bond of love between God and himself.
Do I make my spiritual journey all alone? Do I take God into confidence in living the demands of my spiritual life? Do I do my part before I seek the help of God in my spiritual journey? Do I accept the fact that Christian perfection is a combined work of God and the human person based on a bond of mutual love between them?
We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine … But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. (Eph. 4:14 – 15)