Attaining the Goal

If we have the final goal before our eyes, it is much easier to exert our time, energy, and efforts towards attaining it. Having the goal in mind, a long-distance runner can best pace himself to win the race and the well-deserved prize. How much training has gone into arriving at this supreme moment, this final race! Perhaps years, accompanied with blood, sweat, and tears—not to mention the exhausting body pains.

The efforts that the human person can make on a natural level to win the prize are almost mind-blowing. When we have strong motivations and meaning behind our efforts, the accomplishments are shocking. The same applies to the spiritual life.

Little Johnny has been the cause of his parents’ constant worries, headaches, and sleepless nights. This 11-year old’s life is in total disorder. His grades have plummeted. He fights with his siblings. The word obedience does not seem to exist in his vocabulary. His room looks like a bomb went off. Getting to school on time is like climbing Mount Everest.

His future appears dismal. His teachers, counsellors, and friends (if they could be called “friends”) all seem to have a clear premonition that in a few years he will be living on the streets, with a bridge as his roof and wandering vagabonds his companions.

In the midst of this calamity, Johnny’s parents come up with an idea: Disneyland! Years earlier, they’d taken Johnny to Disneyland, and the experience left an indelible impression on him. They decide to use the prospect of another day at the amusement park as a motivator for their son to turn over a new leaf, to start anew, to transformation his life.

The deal is a demanding one—Johnny’s parents were aware. All his obvious failures must be amended and corrected. No fighting with siblings, order in living spaces, grade improvements, punctuality. They must all be carried out from Monday through Friday. If done, then he’ll win the prize of Disneyland on Saturday.

That week Johnny changed before their eyes. His room—immaculate. His treatment of his siblings—as if they were kings and queens, and he their humble servant. Punctuality down to a T. His academic reports and grades now skyrocketed. Obedience like that of a soldier.

That Saturday Johnny was taken to Disneyland from dawn until dusk, enjoying every moment of the day. Rides, clowns, meals, music, and the whole festive milieu he drank in as if it were an eternal elixir, raising him from the earthly doldrums to eternal bliss!

The key to the radical transformation of Johnny was one thing: the principle of motivation. His catastrophic prior life was determined by a meaningless existence. He had no goal, no purpose, no meaning, no joy, no reason to do anything of perennial value and worth. He had to be motivated. This key that unlocked the inexhaustible richness in the heart, mind, and person of Johnny was the amusement that he so ardently yearned for in his dreamland—which for him was Disneyland.

One of the primary reasons why there are so many so-called anemic, dead-beat, lazy, slothful, slumbering, and sleepy Catholics is because they are truly lacking in motivation. They have lost the purpose, the meaning behind, and the goal of their existence. They are running a race, but there seems to be no finish-line. They are hitting the books, but there seems to be no graduation. They are sailors tossed and turned in a storm with no land in view.

As followers of Christ we must have goals to help motivate ourselves to carry out great endeavors for the General of our Eternal Army, Jesus the Lord.

We do not reflect enough upon our ultimate goal in life: Heaven!

What is heaven like? The greatest of minds, the greatest mystics, even St. Paul himself aren’t able to capture its reality. “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man the great things that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). Paul also states, “The sufferings of this life are as nothing compared to the glory that awaits the sons of God” (Rom 8:18).

Still, as a motivator, we should carry out this mental exercise, using our imaginations as best we can. Try to recall in your past the happiest day, the happiest hour, the happiest event or moment in your life. (It’s worth the effort!) Once done, magnify the joy of that moment a thousand times and extend it across eternity. This most joyful moment will be forever and ever and ever.

If you were to ask me to carry out this experience it would not be hard to recall the day, the hour, and the specific moment that I believe to be the happiest, most joyful experience of my life. May 25, 1986. Place? The Basilica of St Peter in Rome. The context? The Mass of Ordination to the priesthood. The officiating Bishop? The Bishop of Rome, Pope St John Paul II.

The specific moment would be when the Holy Father, the future St. John Paul II, gently placed his hands on my head and prayed over me. I can hardly express in words the joy that I experienced. The ontological reality was the radical transformation of having the priestly character on my soul, indelible for all eternity. How true these words: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Following up on our theme and topic, this event can motivate me to strive with even greater effort and enthusiasm towards attaining the eternal reward, the crown that waits me.

Now it’s your turn to recall that supreme day, hour, and moment of ineffable joy in your life. Multiply it 1000 times and extend it across all eternity. Let this motivation catapult you into a higher realm in your spiritual life. Do everything in your power to reach your destiny, your eternal goal—Heaven!

Photo by Zulmaury Saavedra on Unsplash