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Henry Brenner OSB

With Interest

with interest

In the parable of the nobleman the servant was charged to trade until the return of his master, and was severely reprimanded afterwards for having failed to do so. Why, did you not put my money in a bank, so that on my return I might have gotten it with interest? (Luke 29:23)

Any opportunity to increase whatever money one may possess is always an incentive to stir oneself to action. How much activity there is in the world, and most of it is in existence because of the remunerative element. Where that element is weak, commerce and business are weak; but where it is strong, those two sinews of life are also strong. Our Lord seized upon this universal truism as a most apt vehicle to convey the idea of spiritual diligence.

that word ‘Income’ has an encouraging sound, for… whatever a man may be doing, a certain amount of gain Is continuously coming his way…

“A business with an income at its heels, always furnishes oil for its own wheels”…That word ‘income’ has an encouraging sound, for it means that, whatever a man may be doing, a certain amount of gain is continuously coming his way; his expenses are not absent, but they are offset by a greater income. Rivers, despite the fact that they are forever emptying themselves into a large body of water, nevertheless remain full, since they are continually fed by many small streams. Thus it is in a man’s spiritual affairs; his energy is used up in effort, but it is steadily replaced by the little gains he makes here and there, tributaries we call them in the material sense, graces in the spiritual sense.

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Yes, grace always replenishes the diligent soul’s outlays. If it were not for God’s saving grace, all of us might well be discouraged and fall by the wayside. Our Saviour’s words bear witness to this, Without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5) But since God has promised His grace, and gives it generously to those who ask for it and try to make use of it, we are potentially very capable and not at all weak; according to Saint Paul, each one of us can say together with him, I can do all things in Him Who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

If it were not for God’s saving grace, all of us might well be discouraged and fall by the wayside.

When we speak of diligence, then, viewed from the supernatural standpoint, it is important that we lay much stress on the angle of prayer, upon which grace largely depends. Our Lord not only gave the promise: “It shall be given you,” but He prefixed a condition: Ask, and it shall be given you. (Matt. 7:7) The importance of which we speak has been expressed by spiritual writers in the phrase: “He who prays well, lives well.”

Ignorance is also to be taken into consideration when treating of diligence. For a person may be very diligently striving, but he may be going in the wrong direction. His heart is sound, but his mind is awry. In the words of Saint Augustine, “he runs well, but not on the right road.” Everyone, therefore, ought to be a consistent and earnest reader, choosing good matter and digesting it well, so that his or her ideas may not become deceptive and misleading. Otherwise the story of the traveller may be repeated. A traveller was walking along a country road, when a farmer came along in his wagon. “Will you give me a ride?” asked the traveller. The farmer stopped, but said nothing; it was answer enough, so the glad questioner climbed up on the seat, and the farmer said: “Git-up.” After a few moments of silence the traveller asked: “How far is it to —?” With a drawl the farmer replied: “Waal, if you keep on goin; in this direction, I figure it’ll be all around the world; but if you turn around and go the other way, you can get there in about an hour.”

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Ignorance often causes worlds of wasted effort. It is the purpose of God’s revelation to save us that unnecessary and futile expense of energy. The proud, self-sufficient philosopher spends a lifetime searching for the truth and never finds it; the little child humbly believing the catechism reaches that truth without difficulty and in the shortest possible time. Everything that follows afterwards on the foundation of truth is sound; but without truth to begin with everything turns out crooked and full of flaws.

"Never forget that it is at the beginning of each day that God has the necessary grace for the day ready for us. He knows exactly what opportunities we shall have to sin… and will give us everything we need if we ask Him then. That is why the devil does all he can to prevent us from saying our Morning Prayers or to make us say them badly."

Angel watching a kid