As we begin the blessed season of Lent, I would recommend making a commitment to strive for holiness, rather than giving up chocolate or some other sweet. We should always remember that God has loved us first, and he has made us for himself. He “desires” our love, and so he leaves us free, for true love cannot be coerced. It cannot be commanded. It must be freely given. From the beginning God created us with that radical freedom: to choose him, or to choose ourselves instead. In choosing God, however, we must prefer him to everything: sensory pleasure, worldly success, and lesser loves. It’s not that we must reject these good things outright, but we must order them to the highest good, which is God, if we are to live in communion with that highest good. We must prefer nothing earthly to divine love, glory, and holiness. So, enjoy your car or your job or your family, but realize that God comes first. Our spirits are often willing to make that choice for God, but our flesh is weak. We enjoy the things of the world, even though they are passing away, and we wish to enjoy them more constantly, more immediately, and at almost any cost. Inevitably, this presents us with a moral crisis, an ordeal, in which we must choose between God and our disordered attachment to some earthly thing. For some people, that thing will be job security; for others, it will be an unhealthy romantic relationship. For some, the temptation may be to buy physical health at the cost of immoral medical practices. The possibilities are as endless and delightful as the things of this world. When we read the history of God’s people, we see that the true heroes are those who faced such an ordeal and chose to suffer for love rather than sin for self. Abraham and Job come to mind. They clearly fit the profile of a saint. But so many others were tested and failed. Think about the great falls of Adam and Eve, David and Solomon, and even Moses. Think about the fallen angels, who first chose a hell of selfishness over an eternity of love. All of us are called to share God’s life, and we must face our ordeal and choose God freely. The ultimate test is our death; only then can we be truly called saints—completed saints, “saints in light.” In the Christ we share, Fr. John J. Gordon OMI