Every man should try to fulfill his task or duties with seriousness. God has given us everything, and everything we do belongs to him; because even our abilities and work have been created for his glory. 

Newsroom (November 10, 2021, 12:00 PM, Gaudium Press) The frantic speed of modernity makes it hard to reflect on daily events. Hence, the contemporary man is prone to superficial thoughts and does not deeply analyze the consequences of his actions, either good or bad.

Now, everything in this life is serious, for we are God’s creatures, and “it is in Him that we have life, movement, and being” (Acts 17:28). Thus, the most trivial of our actions are related to the elevated realities and can bring us grave consequences or place us before costly responsibilities if we do not execute them properly.

Therefore, this seriousness in carrying out a task requires, in the first place, complete objectivity. We must see reality as it is, without veils or prejudices, and without allowing it to become distorted by anxieties or frenzies.

From such coherence in seeing and judging will come seriousness in acting. What one must do must be started right away, executed in full, without wasting time, and without unnecessary interruptions.

We are trees with poor, sinful, and often rotten fruits

However, let us not forget that without the help of grace, human nature is incapable of practicing the Natural Law itself stably and even doing anything meritorious for eternal salvation. Because of our fallen nature, we are trees whose fruit is poor, sinful, and often rotten.

Only when the sap of grace circulates vigorously in the stem and branches of this tree, reaching even the foliage farthest from the root, do we produce abundant and good fruit.

Everything we have comes from God

Each one of us is a servant of God who has nothing of himself. In the order of nature, we receive from the Creator the being that He conceived for us from eternity, endowed with particular attributes and gifts.

Along with existence, He also gave us all the necessary goods, both material and spiritual.

We receive the human life from our parents, but not the soul, which God infused in us and raised us to supernatural life through Baptism. From that moment on, Christ’s rich legacy to his Church is directly and undeservedly at our entire disposal: his doctrine, the sacraments, the graces, the benefits flowing from his merits, etc.

God bestows the gifts for His glory when distributing them among us, his servants. God does not follow human criteria but does it according to his will, aiming at his glory.

The natural or spiritual gifts that He bestows us do not base themselves on our desires, aptitudes, or merits. On the contrary, God endows us with qualities in the function of the glory He has reserved for us in Heaven.

Thus, he gives us our intelligence, will and sensibility, mentality, and character in the sight of the throne we will occupy in eternity.

He prepares our nature and our spirit so we can receive the supernatural gifts with He wants to adorn us, and all the graces and benefits with which He fills us throughout our lives are aimed in this same direction.

We are members of one body

The Church constitutes a body in which each member has a different function. God adjusts the graces to the various duties we have. And He requires everyone to apply themselves, in their specific purpose, within this Mystical Body.

Therefore, each one of us has a specific mission. And we cannot want – by selfishness or by aspiring to a function that has not been assigned to us – to jeopardize the harmony of this ensemble that God created in His infinite Wisdom.

From the moment we receive the use of reason, we must give ourselves to God’s cause and work only for it. And as soon as we realize what our specific mission is and what responsibilities are inherent to them, we must begin to act without delay, using all the gifts that Providence has given us to fulfill it in this life.

Msgr. João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, EP.

Text extracted, with adaptations, from the book New Insgights on the Gospel. Vol 2.

Compiled by Ena Alfaro