Being Wholly Committed to God
In ancient times, a servant belonged entirely to his master. His service admitted no competing allegiance, since he could not devote himself completely to one household while also placing himself at the disposal of another. This background helps us to understand the force of Christ’s words: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Our commitment to Christ must embrace the whole of our life. We cannot assign one part of our existence to God while reserving another part for ourselves, as though our faith concerned only prayer, worship, and explicitly religious duties. We belong wholly to God, and therefore our studies, professional work, family responsibilities, friendships, recreation, and ordinary concerns should all be directed towards him. This does not mean that every activity must be overtly religious, but that everything good in our life should form part of our response to his love.
The spiritual life cannot be reduced to a collection of pious practices placed alongside the duties of ordinary life. Prayer, the sacraments, spiritual reading, and acts of penance nourish our relationship with God, but that relationship must then give life to everything we do. Our work and daily responsibilities are not obstacles that distract us from holiness. When they correspond to God’s will, they are the circumstances in which holiness is meant to grow. We meet God not only in church or during times set aside for prayer, but also in the duties, interruptions, difficulties, and encounters that make up each day.
Our desire to love and serve the Lord should therefore unify our life. When we make a morning offering, we place the whole day in God’s hands, including the joys we hope to receive and the difficulties we cannot yet foresee. We offer him our work, our relationships, our health, our tiredness, and even the unexpected events that upset our plans. Nothing needs to remain outside this gift. By giving the day to God at its beginning, we express our desire that everything we do may become an act of love.
The legend of King Midas tells of a man who turned everything he touched into gold. Christians are called to carry out a far greater transformation. Through love, we can turn the human work of an ordinary day into the work of God, something that possesses an eternal value. The task itself may remain simple and unnoticed, but its deepest meaning changes when it is carried out for love of God and in service of others.
The material of this offering is usually found in very ordinary things. It includes the care we take with the tools and equipment we use, the effort we make to arrive on time, the patience with which we face an unexpected setback, and the conscientious fulfilment of duties that may not attract much attention. These actions can appear insignificant, but love gives them a lasting value. God does not judge our lives merely by the apparent importance of what we accomplish. He looks at the faithfulness and love with which we carry out what has been entrusted to us.
We should not imagine that complete dedication to God requires us to abandon ordinary human interests. On the contrary, belonging to God enables us to love the world properly. Because creation comes from his hand, our work, friendships, culture, and legitimate enjoyments can all lead us towards him. What Christ rejects is not the responsible use of created goods, but the divided heart that treats them as rivals to God. Money, success, comfort, and recognition become forms of mammon when they claim the devotion that belongs to God alone.
Serving one Master therefore brings freedom rather than restriction. A divided heart is continually pulled in different directions. It wants to please God, but it also seeks approval, comfort, control, or worldly success at any cost. When God becomes the true centre of our life, created things take their proper place. We can enjoy them without becoming enslaved to them, work hard without making an idol of achievement, and accept sacrifices without feeling that our whole happiness has been taken away.
Unity of Life
Our determination to live as children of God must take visible form in ordinary life. At home, at work, among friends, and during recreation, we are called to remain men and women of faith. Christianity is not a part-time occupation. We cannot confine our relationship with God to the moments we spend in a church or to a few devotional practices during the day. Our friendship with Christ should accompany us wherever we go and influence the way we work, speak, rest, and treat other people.
Saint Paul expressed this clearly when he wrote: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Even the most common human actions can become occasions for gratitude and praise. Saint Basil encouraged Christians to remember God throughout the course of the day. When we sit down to eat, we can thank him for his generosity. When we put on our clothes, we can remember the one who has provided for our needs. The beauty of the sky, the coming of sunrise and sunset, and the rest we receive in sleep can all remind us of the Creator. Noble created realities should not draw us away from God, but lead us to know and love him more deeply.
When we love someone, that person remains present in our thoughts even while we are occupied with other things. Something similar should occur in our relationship with Christ. We may not be thinking explicitly about him at every moment, but our love for him can become the underlying motive of our actions. He is the Lord whom we wish to glorify through work done well, faithful friendship, service to those in need, and the responsible use of our time and talents.
This desire to serve Christ should also influence our involvement in society. We try to understand and apply the social teaching of the Church because we want human life to reflect the dignity God has given to every person. We care for the created world because it is his gift and has been entrusted to our stewardship. We make an effort to be cordial, punctual, industrious, and dependable because our conduct affects other people and because our work can become a service offered to God.
The unity of life we seek is not a matter of attaching religious language to everything we do. Nor does it require us to pretend that every temporal question has a specifically Catholic technical solution. Earthly realities possess their own legitimate autonomy. Economics, medicine, engineering, politics, and the natural sciences must be studied according to their own proper methods. Christians should respect the competence and freedom required in these fields rather than using religion as a substitute for professional knowledge.
At the same time, faith cannot be excluded from any area of human life. Christians belong in every honest profession and in every legitimate sphere of society, where they can act as a leaven. Faith gives us a deeper understanding of the human person, the purpose of freedom, and the demands of justice and charity. It does not provide ready-made answers to every practical problem, but it shapes the conscience and priorities of those who must seek those answers responsibly.
Apostolate follows naturally from this unity of life. It is not an activity reserved for particular occasions or for those who possess unusual talents. It is the overflow of our love for God and our concern for others. When Christ occupies the centre of our life, we want other people to know him. This desire appears in friendship, conversation, example, and a willingness to offer help when an opportunity arises. It should never be forced or artificial. Genuine apostolate grows from a sincere interest in each person and from the conviction that friendship with Christ is the greatest good we can share.
Our behaviour will reveal whether our love for God is real. Faith should make us more attentive to others, more reliable in our duties, and more willing to forgive. It should help us resist laziness and selfishness, while also teaching us to work without anxiety or excessive self-importance. The person who tries to serve God in everything will still have defects and will often need to begin again, but there should be a growing harmony between prayer and conduct. What we say to God should gradually become visible in the way we live.
Unity of life does not mean that we never experience inner conflict. We will continue to feel the attraction of comfort, vanity, resentment, and self-interest. Our life becomes unified through repeated acts of conversion, as we bring these competing desires back under the rule of our love for God. Each time we correct ourselves, renew our intention, or return to prayer after becoming distracted, we strengthen that unity. Holiness ordinarily develops through this patient effort to allow Christ to enter more fully into every part of our existence.
Rectitude of Intention
Saint Luke tells us that the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard Christ’s teaching about serving one master and scoffed at him. Their reaction reveals how attachment can distort our judgement. Rather than allowing the Lord’s words to challenge them, they mocked what they were unwilling to accept. People can still react in this way when confronted with genuine generosity or detachment. They may suspect hidden motives because they cannot imagine that someone would make a sacrifice simply out of love for God.
Jesus answered the Pharisees directly: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” They were concerned with appearing righteous, while their hearts remained attached to wealth, influence, and social honour. The approval of others had become more important to them than the judgement of God. Their conduct was especially serious because they used religion itself as a means of self-exaltation.
Christ frequently warned his disciples against this hypocrisy. He spoke of those who enjoyed walking about in long robes, receiving greetings in public places, and occupying seats of honour at religious and social gatherings. They appeared devout, but their prayers concealed vanity and injustice. Their example reminds us that even good and religious actions can be corrupted when they are performed mainly to gain admiration or reinforce a favourable image of ourselves.
God sees the heart, and therefore we need to rectify our intention frequently. Our motives are seldom entirely pure. We may begin a task out of duty and love, yet soon find ourselves thinking about whether others have noticed our effort. We may offer help sincerely and then feel resentful when no gratitude is shown. We may speak about a good cause while becoming more interested in winning an argument than in serving the truth. Rectitude of intention requires us to notice these changes and gently redirect our actions towards God.
This does not mean that we must analyse every motive endlessly or become anxious whenever we experience some human satisfaction. It is natural to appreciate encouragement and to take pleasure in work done well. The problem arises when praise becomes the principal reason for acting, or when we abandon what is right because it brings criticism rather than approval. We should be grateful for human recognition when it comes, but we cannot allow our fidelity to depend upon it.
Pope John Paul I, while Patriarch of Venice, once recalled a story attributed to Tolstoy. A cook named John slaughtered a calf and threw the entrails into the yard, where the dogs eagerly devoured them and praised him as an excellent cook. Later, when he was shelling peas and peeling onions, he threw the husks outside. The dogs sniffed them disdainfully and declared that the cook had become worthless. John was not disturbed by their opinion. He knew that his task was to prepare food for his master, not to satisfy the dogs. His master’s appreciation was enough.
The story expresses with humour an important truth. Public opinion can change quickly, and the same people who praise us today may criticize us tomorrow. Their judgement may be based on very little knowledge of our circumstances or intentions. When we live primarily for the approval of others, we hand over our peace to something unstable. We begin adapting our conduct to whatever will win applause, even when it conflicts with our conscience or our duty.
A person who is truly dedicated to God will not be indifferent to legitimate advice or correction. We should listen humbly when others point out our faults, especially when they know us well or have responsibility for guiding us. Rectitude of intention is not an excuse for stubbornness. Nevertheless, there is a great difference between receiving correction and allowing ourselves to be governed by idle criticism. We should ask honestly whether a criticism contains truth, make whatever changes are needed, and then continue our work without becoming preoccupied with the opinion of every observer.
We want to please God more than anyone else. This intention gives steadiness to our lives because God’s judgement is not superficial or changeable. He knows our limitations, the circumstances in which we act, and the effort hidden from everyone else. He also sees the vanity and self-interest that we may conceal even from ourselves. Living before God therefore gives us both confidence and humility. We do not need to defend ourselves constantly, but neither can we hide behind appearances.
The desire to please God also benefits those around us. When we are less concerned with protecting our image, we become freer to serve. We can undertake tasks that bring little recognition, admit mistakes without excessive embarrassment, and allow others to receive credit. We are also less likely to manipulate people or use good works to establish our superiority. Over time, this self-forgetfulness becomes one of the best contributions we can make to the welfare of others.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is our model of a life directed entirely towards God’s glory. She did not seek attention for herself, yet no human being has cooperated more fully with God’s plan. She remained faithful in the ordinary life of Nazareth and in the suffering of Calvary because her heart belonged wholly to the Lord. We can ask her to help us preserve a supernatural outlook and to correct our course whenever vanity, attachment, or fear of human opinion begins to lead us away from God.
A ship crossing the sea must repeatedly adjust its course by looking towards a fixed point. In the same way, we should return often to the purpose that gives direction to our life. We belong to God and want to serve him in everything. By looking to Mary and following her example, we will learn to renew this intention throughout the day. She will help us to serve one Master with an undivided heart and to reach the harbour for which we were created.
By the Via Virtutis team
Photo by HAN Mengqi on Unsplash
