Gaining Self Knowledge
Mastery of self is all the powers of your soul working in harmony to bring you what is good and to make you happy.
That is what life was like in Paradise before the Fall. Now, however, we have the tendency to sin, (concupiscence); further, because of the Fall, our intellect is darkened, our will is weakened, and our passions are disordered. This results in the inability to follow God the way we are supposed to.
So, what do we do? How do we travel the spiritual journey to attain holiness? We need to know ourselves to root out habitual since and disordered attachments that get in the way, and to do this, we need grace: grace that comes through the sacraments and prayer.
How do we gain self-knowledge? There are some basic means at our disposal:
Frequent confession. Going to this sacrament frequently helps us recognize with which sins we are struggling simply because we confess them more frequently.
Spiritual direction. Sitting down one-on-one with someone helps us to discover through wise guidance the areas in our life where we struggle or fail. We can also receive help by way of advice on how to respond differently and more virtuously.
Daily resolution. This comes out of our meditation. When we seek to apply the insights or inspirations given to us by God in our prayer in a practical way in our life, we are now taking very concrete and positive steps to repent and change for the better.
Daily examination of conscience. We should examine our day, especially by focusing on our resolution of that day, to determine how well we followed through with it. If we didn’t do so well, we shouldn’t get discouraged; we can be more determined to move forward with it next time.
Rooting Out Faults
Trying to root out all of our faults at once will only unsettle us and we will lose heart. It is not possible to do this anyway. Thus, aim at only one objective at a time. Here are some further tips.
Take notice of sins confessed most often.
Notice also which sins are most deliberate.
Notice which sins cause the greatest embarrassment, or that you are least inclined to confess.
“Our examination of conscience must be reduced to a search for our passions. A general examination of sins is for the confessions of those who are not trying to advance. Rather, we should seek to know as to what affections are a hindrance to our heart; what passions are in possession of it, in what does it chiefly go astray? For it is by the passions of the soul that one gets to know one’s state, by probing them one after the other.”
~ St. Francis de Sales
An analogy may help here: we could stop the water from coming out of a lawn sprinkler by trying to plug up each little hole, or we can turn it off at its source. Sometimes, after working on a fault for some time, we make a little progress and the fault seems to regress, while another suddenly appears with grand fashion.
When this happens, holy writers suggest that we should then turn our attention to that newest fault. It is like when pulling weeds, we may work long and hard on one weed with deep roots, but, in so doing, may uproot others along the way. Hence, with Christ’s grace, we may dispossess ourselves of two faults instead of one.
Any predominant fault will be opposed to either an active or passive pursuit of God’s will. Either we will fail to actively do what God wants (disobeying, sinning against charity, seeking our will over His own, etc.) or we will fail to passively desire what God does (rebelling against His will for us, complaining, growing impatient with things out of our control, etc.)
Some Final Considerations
Resolutions should be positive and specific. Do not say, “Today, I will not be rude.” Rather, say, “Today, I am going to be kind to so and so.” Trust God, not yourself. Thus, keep your heart at peace because He is working and loving you even when you do not feel like He is.
Satan loves to steal the peace from our hearts by making us feel abandoned by God or like we are on our own and He is not helping us. That way we will give up. We must not forget that we are perfected by fighting our imperfections, and we are guaranteed victory provided we do not give up the fight.
How to face temptation.
We must determine beforehand what our behavior should be during the trial.
Pray until the temptation ceases.
Make a resolution during your next meditation and carry it out.
Assign a penance for yourself to carry out if you do not keep your resolution.
Know that with each resistance you grow stronger and the enemy grows weaker.
Make frequent use of confession and the Eucharist.
Purpose of Life
Our life has a purpose: grow in holiness to share in God’s divine life.
Jesus explains this in his Sermon on the Mount
When you pray, not if…
When you fast, not if…
When you give alms, not if…
However, that is not the only goal He gives us.
“He sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal [the sick]” (Luke 9:2).
Go out to all the world and proclaim the Good News.
That is our work: to grow in holiness and bring others with us.