The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

The Apostles' efforts in fishing were useless throughout the night, but when they acted with the intention of obeying Jesus their efforts are over abundant. In the spiritual realm we must always act with a good intention _ doing the will of God _ if we are to have any good effects.

In all that we do we must have the purpose or intention to serve and honor God. St. Paul tells us this when he says: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever else you do, do all to the glory of God." (I. Cor. 10:31). Likewise the maxim of St. Ignatius, All for the greater glory of God, teaches us how we must act. We should also reflect seriously upon the words of the Lord's Prayer. We pray in the beginning of this prayer: hallowed be Thy Name to remind us that we were created for the honor and glory of God. Our entire lives have been given us to make holy the name of God.

A most fundamental question that we find in the first few pages of almost every catechism, teaches us why we were created. "God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him. . ." This is our first and only duty. Everything else is secondary. Once we truly realize this, the forming of a good intention becomes habitual. And in this habitual state of living, breathing and working for God we find spiritual and oftentimes material success in our efforts.

On the other hand if we are filled with pride and vanity and forget God we find that we make no progress in the spiritual life and are often frustrated even in the material aspects of our lives. The key to our success is in having a good and pure intention.

The intention (or will) is the most important aspect of all that we do. A thing that is done well, if it lack a good intention is vitiated. And a thing that may not be perfectly done becomes eternally meritorious if it has been done with a pure intention. The most insignificant of actions become the most meritorious just by a simple act of the will _ a good intention.

That which separates a good act from an evil one is the intention. If we dress ourselves to flatter our pride and vanity we commit evil, whereas if we dress ourselves for the honor and glory of God we merit grace. And the same can be said of everything that we think, say, do, or omit.

It has been said that, "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions", but this is not exactly true. What is often meant here might be better expressed as: "the road to Hell is paved with false intentions." Many claim to have good intentions of doing something even though they do not truly have the will to do it or follow through with it. This is not a good intention — this is a lie — and this is what paves the way to Hell. To have a good intention necessitates also having the will to follow through with it. If this will is there, then God accepts the desire for the deed, even when we are impeded from doing that which we desire. These desires and pure intentions far from paving the way to Hell, pave the way to Heaven.

The saints were often inspired to desire much more than they physically could do for the honor and glory of God. They were often eaten up with the desire to do more and more for the love of God. And as far as their minds and hearts could reach in pure intentions and desires, God rewarded them with blessings and wonderful graces beyond measure. Because they loved beyond measure they were rewarded beyond measure. Thus the finite creatures that we are have been made capable of pleasing the infinite majesty of God, all with a simple act of the will; a simple act of love; a simple pure intention.

But, it bears repeating, the pure intention automatically implies the will and desire to accomplish. The man who says that he has the intention to make a pilgrimage to Rome, but has no will to get up and go; does not have a real intention but rather a false one. These are the types of intentions that pave the way to Hell. On the other hand the man who intends to make a pilgrimage to Rome but dies before he can accomplish his goal has a true pure intention and will receive the reward from God just as if he accomplished the goal. So we see that God accepts the desire for the deed with this pure intention.

Now hopefully, we can see the necessity of making a good morning offering, and consecrating all our thoughts, words, and deeds of the day for the honor and glory of God. Thus we form a pure and good intention for all that we do for that day. Once we truly incorporate this pure intention into our day and all that we do, we will see a true progress in our spiritual lives. We will draw closer to God in love, and merit more benefits for ourselves in eternity.

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