Archbishop Gomez on Fidelity

Most Reverend José H. Gomez, S.T.D. Archbishop of San Antonio

Some time ago, responding to an interviewer’s question, a well-known psychiatrist said that for him a mature person is one who is able to delay immediate gratification to obtain mid- and long-term results that are more important and enduring for ones life.

In fact, a small child is not yet able to think about its future wellbeing. For a child there are only immediate needs and desires. This is what makes it so hard for them to understand that they can’t eat a lot of treats because they will give them a stomachache later on.

But as we learn about life, we understand that both the effort and the ability to sacrifice immediate desires give us a kind of satisfaction that is not only more intense, but also more important and enduring.

This definition of maturity is very important because it is perfectly compatible with our Christian living. Christian life is a race of endurance, not of speed, and therefore it seems more like a marathon than a hundred meter race.

The metaphor with sports isn’t mine, but St. Paul’s, whose jubilee year we continue to celebrate with the universal church.

In fact, comparing Christian life to the races of the athletes of his time, St. Paul wrote about himself, “forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:13-14)

Through the figure of the popular athletic competitions of Greece in his time, St. Paul expressed both the sacrifice and the great satisfaction of living that essential virtue of perseverance.

Perseverance, according to St. Paul, is a virtue that not only involves giving up what we like, but one that demands that we remain firm in the great values of our faith, as disciples of Jesus Christ, knowing how to gladly give up what is temporary in order to choose what is valuable and enduring.

Perseverance — the ability to endure daily difficulties and remain faithful to the principles of our faith — does not seem to be valued and promoted much as a virtue these days. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 162 encourages us to actively work on perseverance with a suggestion on how to do it: “To live, grow and persevere in the faith until the end, we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the Lord to increase our faith; it must be ‘working through charity,’ abounding in hope and rooted in the faith of the church.”

Perhaps, this is one of the most important lessons that young people learn on graduation day, as I recently pointed out at the commencement of the University of the Incarnate Word: “I pray that you will always remember that your life is far more than a career track. It is a journey with Jesus to see God.”

At the start of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II, whose life as a pontiff was always an example of perseverance and generosity, delivered a homily during his first apostolic trip, in which he indicated the importance of imitating the Virgin Mary in this important Christian virtue.

“It is easy to be constant for one or two days,” said the pope, “but it is difficult and important to be constant for one’s entire life, just as Mary was.” (John Paul II, Homily in the Cathedral of Mexico, Jan. 26, 1979)

Mary, our Blessed Mother, lived her life to the fullest and the Apostle St. Paul worked tirelessly for the Gospel. Each show us that behind the apparent failure or “loss” that may be involved in making some sacrifices in order to be consistent with our faith and our principles there is the joy of perseverance. In reality, we are not losing, but gaining.

And what do we gain? Pope Benedict XVI told us in the homily with which he began his pontificate, that Christ “takes nothing away, and he gives you everything.”

We receive peace and happiness, as much as possible on earth, and eternal life in heaven.

It is always striking and emotional to hear St. Paul’s words at the end of his apostolic journey: “For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” and his conviction that God will grant him eternal victory, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of right-eousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.” (2 Tm 4:6-8)

I pray that Mary, Mother of God and our mother, and St. Paul, will intercede for us so that we may have the courage to continue the ‘good fight’ and the conviction that living with Christ, he’ll give us the grace of final perseverance and the final victory.