If we have the final goal before our eyes, it is much easier to exert our time our energy and efforts to attain that final goal. A long-distance runner having the goal before his eyes can pace himself so as to win the race and the well-deserved prize. The Olympic athletes strive to get the medal, bronze, silver or better yet the gold-medal. How much training has gone into arriving at this supreme moment, this final Olympic race, perhaps years accompanied with blood, sweat and tears, not to mention exhausting body pains! The efforts that the human person can make on a natural level to win the prize are almost mind-blowing; they stagger the imagination. When we have a strong motivational meaning and impulse the accomplishments are literally shocking!
AN EXAMPLE FROM FAMILY LIFE AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE CHILD.
Little Johnny has been the cause of his parents’ constant worries, headaches and sleepless nights. Basically, this 11-year old’s life is a total disorder. His grades have plummeted to an all-time low. Never is there a day in which he has not engaged in a fight with his two siblings. Obedience is a word that does not exist in his vocabulary or lexicon. His room usually looks like a bomb explosion. After he has used the bathroom even the best maids are left with their jaws ajar. Getting to school on time is like climbing Mount Everest with a hundred pound back-pack. His future appears to be a dark and dismal tunnel where the darkness looms over him in ever greater dense clouds. 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 the bridge as his roof and wandering vagabonds his companions for life. Birds of the flock stick together.
A BRILLIANT-TRANSFORMING EXPERIENCE. Even in the midst of this apparent calamity and future disaster for little Johnny one of his school companions has a lightbulb that has been turned on! DISNEYLAND! YES DISNEYLAND! ONCE AGAIN DISNELAND! A few years earlier little Johnny was taken to Disneyland for an entire day. The festive environment, the flickering lights, the well-painted clowns, the plethora of amusement rides, the cotton-candy, hot-dogs and rich chocolate milkshake and much more left an indelible impression on little Johnny.
Therefore, Johnny’s friend, aware of the present state of affairs, suggests to the parents of Johnny the prospect of taking Johnny to Disneyland. However, Disneyland will only become a reality if and when Johnny makes a firm and resolute decision to turn over a new leaf, to start anew, to undergo a radical metamorphosis, transformation of life.
THE REAL-DEAL!!! The parents of Johnny accept the proposal and prospect of Johnny’s friend. The deal is a demanding one. All of the obvious failures of Johnny must be amended and corrected. No fighting with siblings, order in room and bathroom, grade improvement in school, punctuality. All of these proposals must be carried out starting from Monday through Friday. If done, then Disneyland for all of Saturday will be the recompense.
MIRACLES GALORE! The parents, teachers and even friends never really believed in the reality of miracles but now before their eyes, as the days whirled by from Monday through Friday undeniable miracles took place. Johnny’s room and bathroom, immaculate! His treatment of his siblings, as if they were King and Queen and he their humble servant. Punctuality for school and all other activities, down to the “T”! His academic reports and grades, that previously had reached an all-time low now were skyrocketing. Perhaps he would receive academic honors at the close of the school year! Obedience to the wishes and commands of his parents, as if he were a buck-private being employed by a five-star general! To conclude that Saturday Johnny was taken to Disneyland from dawn until dusk, enjoying every moment of his well-deserved prize. Rides, clowns, snacks and meals, music and the whole festive milieu he drank in as if it were an eternal elixir, raising him from the earthly doldrums to the eternal bliss!
THE SECRET: THE MOTIVATIONAL PRINCIPLE. The key to the radical transformation of Johnny boy 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 be motivated to do absolutely 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.
OUR SUPERNATURAL MOTIVATION. 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, meaning and 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 or diploma in view. They are like the sailor tossed and turned in the midst of the storm at sea but there is no port or land in view!
LIFE’S GOALS. As followers of Christ we must have goals so as to be motivated to carry out great endeavors and enterprises for the General of our Eternal army Jesus the Lord.
OUR GOAL: HEAVEN. We honestly do not reflect enough upon our ultimate goal in life—Heaven! What is heaven like? Even the greatest of minds, the greatest mystics, even St. Paul himself falls far short of its reality. “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man the great things that Gods has prepared for those who love Him.” (I 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 stimulus to motivate us, we should carry out this mental exercise, using our imagination as best we can. Try to recall in your past the happiest day, the happiest hour, and then the happiest event and moment in your life. (It’s worth the effort!) Once done magnify the joy of that moment a thousand times and add to this eternity. This most joyful moment, that you can barely describe in human terms, will be forever and ever and ever.
ON A PERSONAL NOTE! 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 of what I believe to be the happiest, most joyful experience, time and moment in my own life. It would have been 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. The joy that experienced, being so ineffable, can hardly be expressed in words. The ontological reality was the radical transformation of having the priestly character on my soul, indelible and to be there 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 to attain the eternal reward and crown that waits for me in Heaven.
Now it is your turn to recall that supreme day, hour and moment of ineffable joy that you experienced and to multiply that joy 1000 times and then prolong this for all eternity. Undoubtedly this will serve as a motivational force to catapult you into a higher realm in your spiritual life and a more serious effort to do all in your power to reach your destiny, your eternal goal—which is Heaven.
