Belief and Action. By:CC

"How you act reveals what you believe. How you act will tell you if you truly believe you are born from above. You want to know what you believe, see how you act. Even better accept input from others who will not flatter you. The new self reveals itself precisely at those limits when we must choose to keep the unredeemed ego, the old self in place or let go and let the walls and defenses crumble. If I still cultivate the old self. If I guard it, protect it, protect turf, wall myself off from the claims of God or others – how can I really say that the new self is alive in me? How would anyone know that there lives in us the new life in Christ unless we were ready to die to self?" ( Abbot Gerard D'Souza- Homily April 14th. 2015)

    Our faith may dwell intimately within us and our prayers are often privately proclaimed in the sanctuary of our hearts- appropriately hidden from the gaze of others. Through faith we are invited to allow God to transform us. 
   A life surrendered to Christ is one of perpetual surrender. It is a constant and continuous offering of ourselves to God in complete awareness of our lowliness. Much of our spiritual life occurs in the hidden interior of our hearts. Our Lord calls us outside of ourselves to proclaim the Good News and live our lives as an example of virtue. It is beyond faith alone. If we proclaim to have faith and if we humbly pray in the hidden places of our hearts then this should indeed manifest itself in all of our outward actions. 
"How you act reveals what you believe" if this is true then ideally our every action as followers of Christ should be radiant and Christ like. Yet, we stumble and we fall. Our actions fail to consistently reveal what we believe because our faith at times is inconsistent.
  In these shortcomings we are humbled and we are called to examine our hearts and the depths of our belief. We are tested and forced to the 'limits' when we must make a choice to act in accordance to our belief or to be controlled by the temptation and resort to the old self. 
  The new self, if alive in us takes great work. It is this self that demands cultivation and protection.  A life of prayer safeguarded by the Sacraments. It is the new self that brings forth new life by death. The authenticity of our faith, the goal of our spiritual lives is to have all that we believe, say, and do harmoniously united in Christ.- CC