{"id":163291,"date":"2025-03-19T01:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T05:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/?p=163291"},"modified":"2025-03-19T22:06:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T02:06:37","slug":"lent-2025-day-15-persevering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/lent-2025-day-15-persevering\/","title":{"rendered":"Lent 2025 &#8211; Day 15 &#8211; Persevering"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"163291\" class=\"elementor elementor-163291\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cbf6437 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cbf6437\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-758300f elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"758300f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<iframe class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/318EVRNGj9j8PXbUAy1loO?utm_source=generator\" style=\"border-radius:12px\"  width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameBorder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bee7262 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"bee7262\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>Day 15<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Persevering<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At no stage of life can people feel so secure and committed that they do not need to give careful attention to ensuring perseverance in faithfulness; just as there is no age at which a person has completely achieved maturity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 St. John Paul II, Vita Consecrata<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s one thing to make good choices, to use our freedom to grow in love, as we are called to do, rather than forfeiting our freedom to the slavery of attachments and sin. But the power of the human will isn\u2019t exhausted by only choosing to follow the right path in isolated moments. Loving God with all our strength also means persevering on that path. Our Lord left no room for doubt on this: \u201cBut the one who perseveres to the end will be saved\u201d (Matthew 24:13). And just to make sure we understand, he illustrated this fundamental truth with a visual metaphor: \u201cNo one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God\u201d (Luke 9:62).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Levels of Maturity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Babies are immature; their will is undeveloped, just as are many other of their natural powers. They have no conscious awareness or control over their emotions, their whims, their passions, and their drives. Their spiritual freedom is in an embryonic state: They are completely dependent on the care and education of others. Just as they need to be potty-trained, they also need to be feelings-trained; they need to learn how to integrate their passions into a harmonious, mature personality under the guidance of their intelligence and their will. In the meantime, they are overly swayed by the pleasure and whim of the moment, by their biorhythms and their moods.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adolescents are usually more mature. They can make independent, creative plans, and they can follow through on them, if they like them and feel the immediate rewards \u2014 just think of how much dedication a boy can put into mastering a video game. The will has grown and developed and can be directed toward achievements that take time and perseverance. But adolescents usually remain inordinately attached to immediate gratification, to easy pleasure. Even physiologically, certain areas of the brain that enable more mature judgment are still developing until we reach our twenties. The will, too, is still developing, and still needs training. This is why it is often so hard for adolescents to persevere in tasks where the reward is distant or in jobs that they simply don\u2019t enjoy. They need help to discipline themselves in those areas where they feel less immediate gratification and where over-indulgence in pleasure can cause them moral or emotional damage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The adolescent may or may not show up to fulfill his commitments. He will begin grand projects on a whim, in the wake of an emotional high, and then leave them half-finished. The adolescent can make excellent and numerous resolutions for personal, academic, extracurricular, or spiritual improvement. But those resolutions will quickly fizzle out, and they will be replaced by another set of resolutions, which will also fizzle out, and the pattern continues. This is the activity of a will that is still immature. A person with an immature will would like to do many worthy things, but in actual practice, the \u201cI would like\u201d may never upgrade itself to the full, mature \u201cI will.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mature adults have developed the capacity for self-governance. They are able to navigate the ebb and flow of emotional energy and maintain a steady, determined pace in pursuit of worthy goals. They are responsible, dependable, and persevering. Without denying their real and legitimate needs for healthy pleasure and gratification, mature adults are able to keep their internal stature ordered and secure, so as to continue worthwhile pursuits over the long haul. They are able to envision how much effort certain commitments or objectives will take, and so they make their decisions with sufficient reflection, knowing what will be required of them. They are committed enough to follow through even though it will be costly, because they have maturely judged (intellect) and maturely decided (will) that the endeavor is worthwhile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Cost of Discipleship<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesus described this steadiness, this healthy realism, this capacity of perseverance, with two of his vivid parables. He emphasized how essential mature willpower \u2014 a will liberated from inordinate attachments that inhibit the freedom to love fully (renouncing all possessions) \u2014 really is for Christian discipleship:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhich of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers should laugh at him and say, \u2018This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.\u2019 Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.\u201d (Luke 14:28\u201333)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is possible to have reached adulthood physiologically and to still be an infant or an adolescent as regards the maturity of one\u2019s will. In this case, even full-grown, worldly, successful adults may be unable to love God as much as they really want to, because a lot of that strength is simply not yet available to them; in some senses, they are still babies. But growth in this area can happen very quickly, once we plug in to God\u2019s grace and make a firm decision to follow him more closely each day. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also possible to be a child or an adolescent physiologically and have already developed a relatively mature will. But maturity doesn\u2019t mean that love has reached its limit. As the mind and soul continue to grow in \u201cwisdom and in stature, and in favor before God and man,\u201d the \u201call\u201d of a person\u2019s love for God will also continue to grow (Luke 2:52).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whatever our current level of spiritual maturity, we do well to remember that love is intrinsically dynamic, and it will always have room to keep on expanding. Obeying the command to love God with all our strength, therefore, is a lifetime project.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What idea in this reflection struck you most and why?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In which areas or relationships of your life do you still lack maturity or interior freedom?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What life experiences have helped you the most along your path of becoming more mature, responsible, and dependable as a person? How and why did those experiences help you so much?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strengthening your will is much easier to do than you might think. Willpower is like a muscle, and the more we exercise it, the more it grows. The key is to exercise it with faith and prayer, so that we always stay under the light of God\u2019s grace and never start thinking we can simply achieve spiritual maturity by trying harder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What will you do today to strengthen your will in loving service of God\u2019s plan for your life?<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I will follow through on a task or commitment that I have been procrastinating.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I will start my day by doing the least pleasant item on my to-do list, saving the more pleasing things for later (as a kind of reward).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I will make a weekly schedule around my most important priorities and then make a concerted effort to follow that schedule, saying \u201cno\u201d to nonessential, unplanned needs and opportunities that pop up.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Write your own resolution) I will<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Concluding Prayer<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I arise today, through God\u2019s strength to pilot me;<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God\u2019s might to uphold me,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God\u2019s wisdom to guide me,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God\u2019s eye to look before me,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God\u2019s ear to hear me,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God\u2019s word to speak for me,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God\u2019s hand to guard me,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God\u2019s way to lie before me,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God\u2019s shield to protect me,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God\u2019s hosts to save me from snares of the devil,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from temptations of vices,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from every one who desires me ill,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">afar and anear,<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">alone and in a crowd . . . Amen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 St. Patrick of Ireland<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Day 15 Persevering At no stage of life can people feel so secure and committed that they do not need to give careful attention to ensuring perseverance in faithfulness; just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":163104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6893],"tags":[2965],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-163291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lent-2025","tag-lent"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.8 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lent 2025 - Day 15 - Persevering - Regnum Christi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/lent-2025-day-15-persevering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lent 2025 - Day 15 - Persevering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Day 15 Persevering At no stage of life can people feel so secure and committed that they do not need to give careful attention to ensuring perseverance in faithfulness; 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John Bartunek, LC\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/622fd36594e05daecbf3cb6f50d7151c3066ae3991815fa200dc7c1865bc6a7e?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/622fd36594e05daecbf3cb6f50d7151c3066ae3991815fa200dc7c1865bc6a7e?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/622fd36594e05daecbf3cb6f50d7151c3066ae3991815fa200dc7c1865bc6a7e?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. John Bartunek, LC\"},\"description\":\"Fr. John Bartunek, LC, S.Th.D, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college, he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and baseball coach. He then spent a year as a professional actor in Chicago before entering the religious Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1993. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003 and earned his doctorate in moral theology in 2010. He provided spiritual support on the set of Mel Gibson\u2019s\u00a0The Passion of the Christ\u00a0while researching the 2005 Catholic best seller,\u00a0Inside the Passion, the only authorized, behind-the-scenes explanation of the film. Fr. John has contributed news commentary regarding religious issues on NBC, CNN, Fox, and the BBC. He also served as the English-language press liaison for the Vatican\u2019s 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. His most widely known books are The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer and 60 Days to Becoming a Missionary Disciple. His most recent book is\u00a0Spiritual But Not Religious: The Search for Meaning in a Material World. Fr. John resides in Atlanta and serves as Territorial Vicar for the Legionaries of Christ. See all books, Regnum Christi Essays, Retreat Guides, posts, and online classes from Fr. 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