Ideals

"Ideals are like the stars:

we never reach them.

But like the sailors on the high seas;

we chart our course by following them."

(Jean Paul Sartre)

In reality, we stand before an ideal. The ideal is like a light over a high summit. Before that lofty light, we can choose between two attitudes:

a) Negative: When I as a Christian see that light so high in the sky, and I am so close to the ground, I may be overcome by sadness and may begin to punish myself with thoughts of shame and remorse, letting my guilt run wild without restraint.

In that way, the ideal, instead of being the means of elevation, can become the tool of destruction and the cause of havoc.

Be careful, my brothers and sisters! We must be alert in order to avoid the brink of disaster. It is necessary to renounce the idea of omnipotence and to accept with peace the little that we can do. Accept the limitations of the human condition and make an effort to achieve the maximum that we are capable of achieving even if it is not a great deal. You will have peace. You will be strong.

b) Positive: The ideal (enclosed in this book) will be the light of your path or, in other words, your critical conscience: your light will allow you to see each instant as you proceed according to the spirit of the Lord or according to your instincts, and you will verify if you are walking on the correct or the mistaken path.

Each time you fall, Get up! Begin again; tomorrow will be a better day. Walk!

Extracted from the book “Transfiguration” by Father Ignacio Larrañaga