Personal Effort: Means to Perfection
Seek God and you will find him. Seek him in everything and you will find him in everything. Seek him always and you will find him always. (OCL, II, 382, p. 126)
St. Vincent Pallotti believed that unless he took his life of perfection seriously and put in a lot of effort to grow in sanctity, he would never be able to achieve holiness. Hence, he acknowledged the importance of personal effort as a means to perfection. He believed that if he sought God he would find him, if he sought God in everything he did he would find him in everything, and if he sought God always he would find him always, for Jesus said: “Seek and you will find.” Therefore, seeking God in order to find him and become perfect like God were the main concerns of St. Vincent’s life. For this reason he resolved to act always with greater perfection; he felt the urgency to seek perfection immediately, for he did not know if he would live tomorrow. He wished to do great things for God while he was still alive; he desired to act as if he were raised to a new life; and he was never distracted from God, constantly doing the will of God, which alone he sought in his life. In this manner, St. Vincent put in a lot of hard work to execute the spiritual roadmap he had made for his personal spiritual growth. He always had the satisfaction of God blessing his efforts to become holy like God himself.
Do I recognize that personal effort is an important element in my spiritual growth? Do I make honest efforts to grow in my spiritual life? Do I believe that if I seek God I will find him? Do I have a plan for my growth in spiritual life and am I earnest in executing it? Do I believe that God will reward me for my hard work?
See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. (Rev 22:12)