Not all the struggles and obstacles that we have to face on our life’s journey of becoming spiritual people are internal. The culture in which we live is constantly pointing in different directions and trying to tear up the road we want to follow. It puts up signs all along the way: This is all there is! There ain’t no more! Get it all now while you can! You have a right to comfort and prosperity! Live for today! We are so deeply rooted in our culture that we have a difficult time seeing the unspoken assumptions on which this culture rests. We take for granted a consumer society and a lifestyle based on the acquisition of and pleasurable use of material things. Plus we see so many other around us living this way.

This is especially intense, I believe, at Christmas when everything in our society is geared up to buying the latest gadget. The primary struggles with our lifestyle   revolve around our use of money and time. Each day we face the challenge of how we are to use the resources we have. Very easily these can become the center of our attention and the goal of our lives, rather than the means by which we make a contribution to future generations and move to a fuller, more comprehensive, richer relationship with God and with one another.

The resources we have to help us in this struggle are the Scriptures, the teachings of the Church and, in a very special way, the lives of the saints. In spite of all the pious writings which make the great Christians of the past seem anemic, they were strong people, people who stood against the prevailing culture of the day.

Indeed life’s journey can be a struggle. It is in dealing with these struggles that we spiritually grow.