224th Meditation
“Be calm and carefree, without ever losing vigilance and concentration of soul” (Inner Word).
Combining these two elements is a fine spiritual art. This carefree tranquillity arises from the certainty of knowing oneself to be sheltered in God and to live concretely in this certainty. Then, all situations that come our way will not be overcome primarily through the efforts of our will, that is, by our own strength, which easily leads to inner tension. Rather, they will be faced by listening attentively to the Lord’s directives. Our will then follows the thread of the Holy Spirit, and is docilely and tenderly coupled to Him.
Thus, our way of living will be increasingly marked by the supernatural. We know that our Father has all things in His hands, and that He “works all the time” (Jn 5:17). From this comes that carefree tranquillity, which will be all the greater the more we follow this path of trust.
This tranquillity in God, together with the vigilance of the soul, form a harmonious unity. Indeed, it is the Spirit Himself who awakens in us the proper vigilance, so that the focus and concentration of the soul are not lost. Therefore, the carefree tranquillity of which we speak is by no means a kind of spiritual laziness, which would letharise our soul; rather it is a support for the vigilance and concentration of the soul.
The soul is not to neglect its spiritual and ascetical formation; rather, thanks to the growing influence of the Holy Spirit upon it, it will take care that it is always in the right disposition to listen to God’s directives and respond to them.
This means avoiding everything that would weaken our inner attention to our Heavenly Father; everything that would unnecessarily bind us to passing things; everything that, in one way or another, would want to imprison us.
At the same time, we will put into practice Christian prudence, which teaches us to opt for what serves us best on the spiritual path.