“You shall love the Lord, your God”
Self-Control – Self Control is one of the twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit; it is “the act, power, or habit of having one’s desires under the control of the will, enlightened by right reason and faith.” It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can control our desires and thus direct our hearts to God. The Sacrament of Confirmation gives us this Grace. Saint Paul writes to Saint Timothy reminding Him to fan into flame or stir up that desire which was given Him in Confirmation. “…I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:6-7) If we live out our Baptism and Confirmation, then the fruit of the Holy Spirit, self-control will be evident in our life.
How can we practice self-control? We have to place our desires under God’s will as we pray in the Our Father, “Thy will be done.” Our will must be completely aligned with God’s will. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton said, “I propose that we do the will of God, as God wants it and when God wants it.” Blessed Mother Teresa would remind herself and her sisters of God’s will by uttering a phrase for each finger on her hand. She would say, “I will; I want; with God’s Grace; to be; holy” Saint Gerard put a note on the door of his room, “Here the will of God is done.” Just as we saw in the story of Egyptian mythology, there is a correlation between what we do now with our hearts and what we share in later with our hearts. This is why we pray in the collect of the Mass, “May we do with loving hearts what you ask of us and come to share the life you promise.” So we must do now what it is that God asks of us, we align our will with His will. This is where our heart (desire) and soul (intellect and will) unite. Our soul is where our free will is located and so we use our free will to choose Christ. We choose to direct the desires of our heart toward God.
How do we choose to direct the desires of our heart toward God? On our own, we cannot direct the desires of our heart towards God. We need the Holy Spirit to help us and enlighten us with right reason and faith. We know that it is reasonable to direct our desires toward God. Why? When our desires are directed toward creation rather than the Creator, the heart is only temporarily satisfied. We are happy, but only happy for a moment. On the other hand, when we direct our desires toward God and He is our object and end, we find true joy. Happiness and pleasures that originate in some bodily sensation are not lasting. Joy, another fruit of the Holy Spirit, is a lasting happiness because it originates in the soul and the soul’s free will to choose God. When we direct our desires toward God, we will have joy!
When we see joy in our self or others, what does that indicate? There is a logical flow from love to self-control to joy. If we love God with our heart we will practice self-control and direct our desires to their proper end, our desires will then be satisfied and we will have joy. “The Gospel for today’s Mass is an invitation to joy because it is an invitation to love. The law of love is also the law of joy. The virtue of joy is not distinct from charity, but a certain act and effect of it. Our joy and good humor, whether in calm seas or in rough, constitute a trusty barometer of our union with God.” [1]
Each Night after Evening Prayer I on Sundays the Church prays in the Liturgy of the Hours, Psalm 4. [2] “‘What can bring us happiness?’ many say. Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord. You have put into my heart a greater joy than they have from abundance of corn and new wine.” The psalmist asks the same question that we ask, “What can bring us happiness?” The answer is to let the face of God shine on us, which is discussed later in this lesson. When the face of God is shining on us there is a great joy put in our heart, a joy that surpasses any abundance that worldly goods can bring.
Why are both faith and reason important in having self-control? We have right reason; it is reasonable to direct our desires toward God, because we can clearly see what happens when our desires are directed away from God. We are enlightened by faith. We see the faith of Abraham, Moses, David, Saint John the Baptist, Our Lady, the Apostles and countless Saints. Faith is both “knowledge and trust.” [3] Those listed above had knowledge of God and a trust in God. We must have both if we are to direct our desires to God and have self-control. In a sense we only have self-control when we abandon “self” to God. Self-control, therefore only takes place when the “self” has knowledge and trust in something greater than “self” and then chooses that greatness and desires to be under the control of that greatness.
In the prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas, we pray to have “a heart to seek you.” To seek is to long for, to desire. A thirsty athlete longs for a water break. Our hearts cry out in the entrance antiphon, “Our hearts rejoice who seek for the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength; seek always the face of the Lord.”
What is the difference between seeking the Lord, seeking His strength and seeking His face?There is a big difference. If we seek the Lord, this seems very general. It is seeking a person but not being very specific about what you are particularly seeking. For example if we say that we want to see the CEO of a company, the secretary may ask, “What is the meeting in regards to?”
Are we seeking the Lord in a general or vague way? Do we seek Him in a casual way and without purpose or in a specific and intentional way? Usually we seek not only the person, but seek something from the person. We seek the strength of the Lord, a strength that we need in our life. When we look at a crucifix we see the depth of the strength of God, a depth that conquers death and sin.
What does it mean to seek a face? When you are face to face with a person you can see the full scope of their emotion, you can see their eyes, mouth, the wrinkles in their forehead. We should not seek the Lord in a vague way or just for what He can give us, instead we should seek intimacy with Him, to see and feel the desires and emotions that He felt. We must seek it all!
[1] Fr. Francis Fernandez; In Conversation with God; Vol. 5; 55.2
[2] Liturgy of the Hours; Night Prayer after Evening Prayer I on Sundays
[3] YouCat; Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church; section 21