Virtue Archives - Meditate Like the Saints

TRANSCRIPT:

So, this is the worst prayer you can ever pray: the Litany of Humility. So, I prayed this prayer because I’m trying to work on pride, which is the root of all sins, and the other day, I had a significant Zoom meeting scheduled with a business prospect. I always take my time to make sure I’m in place, I’m prepared, I’ve done my research, my lighting is decent, sometimes I even try and brush my hair, that sort of thing. And moments before the Zoom call began, there was a fire right here on my desk. What had happened was the little space heater that I have here in my basement office that I use when it’s particularly cold outside caught fire. And so as my Zoom call began, you know, when they let you into that waiting room on a Zoom call? Right as that happened, there was smoke wafting up in front of the camera, and I could see the fire right in front of me.

And of course, I had no option but to try and deal with it right there on camera. That was how I began that call. And as embarrassing as that was, as difficult as that was, that was only just the beginning. Because as I kind of tried to explain to my prospective client what was happening, I heard what sounded like a waterfall in my office. And the truth is that there was, in fact, a waterfall in my office. There was a plumbing catastrophe with my aquaponics system. I have a great big fish tank, and the water from the fish tank is pumped into a container where we grow spinach and lettuce and thyme and basil and those kinds of things, and then the water recycles between the plants and the fish. That all sounds really good, and for the last three years it’s worked fantastically. Until that day.

Somehow, the drainage pipe had clogged up, and the water, instead of flowing back to the fish, was just- it was a waterfall right onto the floor of the basement. That was how I started out the most significant meeting of the week. And so I took that as a message from Our Lord that I need to maybe not take myself so seriously, trust in Him some more, and embrace this whole idea of humiliation, because that was pretty embarrassing.

Beyond Good and Evil in the Spiritual Life

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi gentlemen, Jeff here, and posting my first video in the group. I’ve been lurking for a long time, but thanks to Christopher’s motivation and a little gentle peer pressure, I’m finally joining you all with these videos.

And on last week’s call, I heard something rather profound. Christopher was talking about doing the examinations and he said something I had not heard quite put that way before. In particular, what he said was that this particular examen we were looking at ourselves, and our day, our conduct in light of “What would Jesus do?”

And of course this is kind of simple cliche we’ve all heard used many times, but what it really made me think about was not just what would Jesus do from the standpoint of obvious good versus evil- we all kind of know, hopefully, how to choose right from wrong- but also in our lives we’re really aiming for something better.

And what our Lord did every moment of every day was perfection. He perfected the law and He perfected human conduct. And that’s what we’re called to do as well; not just to avoid the obvious evils, but also to always choose the higher good. And we make it to a point in our lives where Satan is no longer tempting us to choose something that’s overtly evil. It may be good enough for him that he simply tempts us to choose a lesser good than what God is calling us to.

And according to our state and life, that might be very difficult to discern, right? Do I spend extra time at my job working hard to get the approval of a superior or a client to make them happy, to make more money, maybe advance the company? Or is the higher good to leave the office on time, instead of staying late, so that I can go pray or exercise or spend time with my family- whatever the case may be?

So, choosing the higher good- “What would Jesus do?” That’s kind of my takeaway. Thanks for watching!