The basic principle here is that the longer one sticks with something, the more one can learn about both oneself and the object of one’s concentration. CUBS fans know that. Look how long these fans stuck with their team! They learned that this team would and could win. And it did. The management learned how to develop a winning team. And eventually they did.
In the Hindu religious framework, there is wise admonition that to get treasure from the ground (like oil) one needs to dig in one spot deeply, rather than allow many shallow spots dug over any field.
Moving to the Roman Catholic Church, we see many examples of this principle. As one example, we can look at St. Augustine. He looked for truth, and believe he would find it in the Catholic Church. He stuck with the Church, knowing that this is where he would find his heart’s desire. Finally, in his elder years, he exclaimed that he finally found the Lord. He wishes he could’ve found God earlier. But at least he found the Lord now. He was convinced he would. He stuck with his search and was victorious.
St. Thomas Aquinas did much research throughout the years of his own life. He wanted to develop a systematic system that would demonstrate our need of Catholicism, and how it can nourish our individual path to God. He got it from Islamic sources. He was so successful that he is heralded even now as one of our more important theologians.
Yet in his elderly years he stated that everything he wrote was as so much straw. He said this because he finally found God deeply himself, and all else- including his own writings- paled by comparison. But to reach this point in his life, he had to really dig and be faithful to it. Don’t stop for anything!
Using the Hindu adage gain, we see that both saints dug in one spot and “hit oil,’ so to speak. Perhaps we could learn from that and do the same?
We could attend Mass regularly and be faithful in this practice, being willing in this sense to keep digging in one spot. And we could learn by this practice that same lesson learned by the two saints above. By remaining faithful in this way, we ourselves could find God.
We could remain faithful to all our relationships and refuse to be either fickle or shallow. By always remaining faithful here, we can learn more deeply the value, say, of forgiveness and make better decisions. We can learn to strengthen our will in this manner. We can learn more about ourselves and what we are capable of, virtues not suspected before. And here too, being faithful in this way we would open ourselves up to God and yes, find Him as did all the saints of old.
Blessings, Fr. Walter
