Smiling asceticism

IT'S a beautiful concept that we need to be familiar with. I mean, all of us. I bet the world would be a lot different if at least the idea is known by many and pursued in some way, no matter how clumsily.

It corresponds to a basic and indispensable necessity of man. We need to grow and to mature, to learn how to grapple with our responsibilities, to develop virtues, to face challenges, solve problems.

Asceticism is all these, and the whole range of appropriate attitudes, habits and practices we need to have and to do to achieve our proper end. It also affirms our real dignity as persons and as children of God.

For this, we need to develop the discipline of praying, making sacrifices, and pursuing a plan to grow in virtues. For this, we need that indestructible conviction that in this life we need to struggle.

Indeed, ascetical struggle is a clear sign of interior life. Simply put, if there is no ascetical struggle, there is no interior life. If there is a lot of ascetical struggle, there is also a lot of interior life, one that can overflow in many external manifestations.

Without ascetical struggle, one's appearances of goodness will remain mere those, without substance and content. In time, they will just wither away, and one's real and ugly self comes out.

What a common phenomenon this is!

Let's never forget that life is warfare, because there are goals to reach, difficulties to overcome, and enemies to defeat. There are temptations to resist. We need to be strong and use the appropriate means for combat.

Remember that our Lord had told us to enter by the narrow gate (cf. Mt 7,13), to carry our cross (cf. Lk 14,27), to be strong (cf. Lk 11,21). But all these should also be done discreetly, and even in a cheerful way.

This smiling asceticism has its basis in what our Lord said that when we fast and pray, for example, we should not be like the hypocrites: sad. We should look good. (cf. Mt 6,16-17)

Our Lord himself is the perfect example of this. Though he underwent the severest of sufferings, he remained calm, patient and merciful. Even externally, he looked good. He wore the finest seamless vesture at that time.

This smiling asceticism has its basis in the truth that we are all children of God, and therefore no matter what happens we will always be in good hands -- those of our loving omnipotent Father God.

Our Lord will always provide us with the necessary grace, the guiding lights and powerful strength to enable us to conform ourselves to him little by little.

I wonder how much of asceticism is known by the ordinary man and woman of today. I remember asking one educated fellow what he thought about asceticism. All he could blurt out was that it must be the substance behind vinegar, the essence of acetic acid.

At the moment, many are drowned in a flood of political talk, emitting all sorts of opinions and punditry, sometimes clothing them as dogmas. Of course, human as we are, we need to talk about politics, just as we need to do business, pursue the arts, resort to fun and entertainment.

But do we go all the way to orient and integrate all these human activities into our objective need for asceticism? This is the challenge we are facing today.

We need to convince everyone that we need to undertake ascetical struggle. And this in a constant way, not just intermittently. The appropriate attitude to develop is that we just have to begin and begin again no matter what.

We need to devise some concrete plan to pursue this ascetical struggle with a certain degree of seriousness. We can always start small, until we develop a formidable system that can truly transform our lives in a radical and extensive way.

Yes, there are many, even endless aspects involved in this business of asceticism. We need, for example, to have a good foundation of human virtues like order, sincerity, prudence, fortitude, etc.

We need to know the doctrine of our faith. We need to learn to pray and to do mortifications, as well as to actively participate in the task incumbent on everyone to do apostolate, an extension of Our Lord's work of redemption.