Escuela y desarrollo de la educación emocional

We must continually review our lives in the light of the Gospel

883. While travelling on this Road of Hope, you will occasionally need to stop

under the shade of a tree along the way to review your progress. Based on your experience so far, you may need to decide either to procure some extra

provisions for the journey or to make some adjustments to your itinerary.

884. The greater the task before you, the more careful you must be with its planning. If you disregard this principle, you hold your eternal life in little esteem.

885. To look to the past and lament is useless.

To look to the past to take inordinate pride in accomplishments is dangerous.

To look to the past to learn its lessons for the present is the beginning of wisdom.

886. You must be thorough, sincere, and courageous in your examination of conscience. Just as you would not expect an accountant to have the results before conducting an audit, likewise when you conduct your examination allow the facts to speak for themselves and be ready to acknowledge your spiritual balance sheet as it really is.

887. Regardless of how well-built a car may be, it will still need periodic

inspections. No matter how good your health appears to be, you still need regular medical checkups. It is the same with your soul. Therefore, thoroughly examine your conscience every night, every week, every time you approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation—indeed, every time you are recollected.

888. Do not overlook those “little” acts of unfaithfulness. Remember, storms and floods are not the only things which can destroy a crop: tiny insects can devastate a field overnight.

889. Only an extremely foolish soldier would be so occupied with trying to avoid a head wound that he turns his back on the enemy. Yet this is precisely how you are acting if you are so preoccupied with avoiding a mortal sin that you forget that gradual accumulation of venial sins.

890. You are rightly sorry for the many times you have betrayed the Lord. Sorrow,

however, is not enough. You must be like Mary Magdalene whose “sins, which are many, are forgiven for she loved much” (Luke 7:47) and St. John who ran away from Jesus in the garden but returned to stand at the foot of the cross.

Resolve always to love in deed as well as in word.

891. If you cannot try to avoid venial sins, your love of God is weak and you will not be able to persevere along the Road of Hope.

892. Failure to examine your conscience is a very serious matter: it indicates a tendency to sins of omission which can lead to an indifferent attitude toward God’s will, a loss of the spirit of sacrifice, an avoidance of responsibility, an increase in worldliness, and an unwillingness to confront difficulties directly.

893. Your repentance and resolution of amendment should not resemble an actor in a Chinese opera who sheds copious tears during the performance only to revert to his jovial self the moment the curtain is lowered.

894. A spacecraft soars deep into space, but its flight path has been clearly predetermined and its pilot must constantly adjust the steering according to instructions communicated from mission control. If he does not, he and his craft may never reach their goal.

895. If you simply look at the engine of a malfunctioning motor car without making any of the necessary repairs, it will continue to malfunction. Likewise, no matter how well you examine your conscience, unless you make firm resolutions to amend your life, the examination will be of no use to you.

896. When making your examination, concentrate on making practical resolutions.

A thousand vague points will not add an iota to your holiness of life.

897. “Leave it till later” is occasionally the prudent policy of a wise person, but it is more often the lame excuse of a weak-willed procrastinator.

898. The present moment alone is important. Do not remember yesterday in order to weep over it: it is now in the past. Do not worry about tomorrow: it is still in the future. Entrust the past to God’s mercy and the future to his providence. As to the present, strive to live it in his love.

899. When you fall short, do not become despondent. Do you think you belong to one of the nine choirs of angels and are incapable of committing a sin?

900. You have committed yourself to being an apostle, but you still do not entrust everything to the Lord. How do you expect to be an effective tool in his hands if you will not allow him control of the instrument?

901. Faced with a great responsibility, you feel tempted to rely on human

machinations rather than the power of God, hoping to obtain quick results. But are you undertaking this project for his glory or your own?

902. Are you afraid of being ridiculed by other people for being “naïve”?

Remember that Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Joseph Cottelengo, and John Bosco were all called mad while they lived, but now they are acclaimed as saints. Have confidence in God and continue to press forward.

903. If you are to head in the right direction on the Road of Hope, you must be able to say without hesitation: “Lord, all I do I do for love of you and for you in my neighbor. I will not hold back anything for myself. I do not ask to be

thanked. I seek no reward.”

904. After you have examined your conscience, what should you do? You must weep over your sins like Peter, lay yourself at his feet like Mary Magdalene, resolve to reform with the resolution of Zacchaeus and the zeal of Paul. Only in this way will you advance with hope.

905. Hope will remain only hope so long as you depend only on yourself. But when you allow your hopes and desires to be shaped by the grace of God, they will be realized in a way you could not even have imagined.

906. You have the following means at your disposal:

1) The blessed Sacrament: “And lo, I am with you to the close of the age”

(Matthew 28:20).

2) The Holy Spirit: “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counselor to be with you for ever” (John 14:16).

3) Mary: “Behold your mother” (John 19:27)!

4) The Gospel: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).

Our Lord gave you all these, so why do you consider them of such little value?

Does the world offer you anything which even compares with them?

907. Your plans are vast, your undertaking is enormous; and the obstacles you face seem as high as mountains and as vast as the sea. You begin to wonder how your frailness will ever surmount these difficulties. Take to heart the words of St. Paul: “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise” (1

Corinthians 1:27) and “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:10). All things are possible, provided you remain open and faithful to God’s grace.

908. Examining your conscience means to review your life in the light of faith.

909. Every six months, take the time to draw up a summary of all your activities, an inventory of all your belongings, and a review of all changes in your

sentiments. Submit these to a thorough judgment, having the courage to dispose of those things which are useless.