God is looking for us. God wants us saints. When we become aware of it, we can feel some vertigo, imagining what we could be ask for and how we would do it. While some of them have fulfilled certain truly admirable feats, they are no less of those who have attained holiness by fulfilling their ordinary tasks heroically. That is to say, doing well what they should do, the moment they should do it, for God's sake.

Also, the reality, for a child, a teenager, a young person, even an adult, is given in a context of study. Until the end of college, it’s the task that consumes most hours of the day. Even then, don’t you pursue perfect that knowledge with workshops, specialization courses, postgraduate, MBA, etc.?

When we open our eyes to this truth that doing my homework on time, making an effort in the summaries, finishing a project with neatness, etc., brings us closer to the holiness that God expects from us, two reactions appear. The first is to rejoice because, although it’s not something "gifted", it’s not so complicated! And the second, to be filled with anxiety or despair by a misunderstanding (or misleading) perfectionism, condemning using ourselves for not having correctly underlined the titles of a delivery. For the second to not happen, listed some points that can help put things in place.

 

1. Is a medium

The great saint of youth, Don Bosco, recommended: "Joy, Study and piety: It’s the best program to make you happy and will benefit your soul the most." He wasn’t mistaken when he taught that intellectual training is linked to spiritual formation. 

Remember that a saint is the one who fought to live the virtues heroically. And isn’t study an ideal mean to grow them? To develop up to this point, I think I can exemplify some: we learn patience, which comes from the hand of perseverance, by putting daily efforts to achieve future gains; generosity, polishing our talents and then donating them; humility, when we don’t want to be flattered or excel if it isn’t to give greater glory to God, when we offer good grades ... and not so good ones that can come despite having put the means; strength, by overcoming the boredom of going to study or changing a fun plan because you have something to finish; perseverance, putting new illusions when the initial illusion was gone; fraternity, helping others, even if that means reducing our study time and striving to make it perform more, to help or explain something to a partner; industriousness and discipline, establishing an order and method, and seeking to fulfill it; serenity, when we might despair or cry, when what we expect does not come out, but we abandon ourselves with confidence in the hands of God; responsibility, attending to the commitments that we set; long-suffering, focusing on the task and on our objectives, both at the beginning and at the end; justice and sincerity, not copying or deceiving; temperance, establishing the balance between rest, study, life of piety, family life, etc.

It is also a field in which we can grow in the spirit of penance and mortification, suppressing the music or the less comfortable places, avoiding going to open the refrigerator every time you move the page, leave the cell phone or suspend social networks, among other things that can hurt the time of study. This is just a brushstroke, because each one can discover and rediscover nuances of his day to day and his study in which he can improve.

 

2. But it is not the end

When we talk about using all the means to achieve a certain human perfection, we can deviate from the road. If we do, we'll fall into two flaws. First, vanity. Conceit, disorderly ambition, selfishness, pride, believe us better than we are... Etc. If we realize or others make us see that we are absorbed by an academic fanaticism which also brings some pedantry or unhealthy pride, we can stop and think: "Who am I looking for? Me or the glory of God? " Second, more seriously, embittered by distrust of God. Do we really believe that God intends that we, the imperfect creatures, all come out perfect? Or worse, that His love depends on how many “outstanding’s” we get? I'm going to remember two things: His love is unconditional. He wants us to strive, but if, by putting the means, we don't reach the goal we put on, he doesn't want us any less. The other: Nothing can come entirely perfect. In addition,... Perfect, according to who? What is the parameter we are using?

What we seek, what we must not lose sight of, is to give glory to God, to love him more, to surrender our talents, to forge virtues, to do apostolate, etc. A well exploited study is not the one that brings the best grades, but that helps us to love God more.

For both roots there is the same advice: before starting the study, make a brief offer of works. By offering God what we're going to do, we're telling him it's for him. But in case we deviate, there is one solution: to rectify. “Sorry, sir, I forgot I meant to please you, and I started looking after me". That's it. We can, again, offer what we have in hand and reroute.

 

3. Not the only thing

St. Josemaria Escrivá, the saint who said "an hour's study, for a modern apostle, it is an hour of prayer" and also that "if you are to serve God with your intelligence, for you to study is a serious obligation," he added: "It’s ok that you put that effort into study, as long as you put the same effort into acquiring the inner life. "

Perhaps it is understood, but I don’t think it’s wrong to remember that, although it’s well that we strive to study enough hours, finish tasks, etc., we can’t leave in second place the life plan of a Christian, with the norms of mercy that each one has marked; we can’t stop making time for prayer with the excuse "but if I turn my study into prayer!". In that case, it would be evident that we are not prioritizing our dealings with God. And if so, we could not be looking, in the studio, to love Him more. It would be an incoherence, like the one usually reproached to parents who, by wanting to buy more things from their children, become absent figures.

When we prioritize the times to treat God (prayer, Mass, rosary, spiritual reading, etc.) the later study yields more, humanly and supernaturally.

 

4. And we are not alone

The academic training we seek is not to inflate our brains with much information. We strive to be better (human, supernatural, and intellectually) for others, for God's sake. When we study, we are doing and preparing for a fruitful apostolate.

What we do in present is when we help a colleague with something that costs him, when patiently we return to explain a topic, etc. Also, when, by the Communion of the Saints, we offer the study of the subjects that less sympathetic we fall, by the souls of Purgatory, by an intention for which we want to intercede, etc.

"The scholar is the one who takes others to what he has understood: the truth", said the wise Saint Thomas Aquinas. This means, in addition to the foregoing, to bring them also good example and good advice. It is a good opportunity to talk about a virtuous and happy life. "

And the future Apostolate is the one we sow: we prepare ourselves to be good professionals, who will be able to positively influence their environment, in the community, in society.

 

A tip for when you get distracted

It is natural to be distracted, feel tired, bored, etc. When you feel that your mind is elsewhere, you can renew the offer of the study that you did initially ("Lord, I offer you this again"). It can help you to have a tiny crucifix next to your materials, so from time to time you look at it, turning the look into an ejaculatory and a renewal of the intention.

 

Another for when you get tired

Rest is important too. Never study in a way that neglects and resents health. You should organize your study so that sleep and rest are present. When you are rested, you can give more and better.

 

And another for when you get discouraged

You are the son of God. Son of a father who doesn’t ask for results and won’t leave you without dessert if you postpone. Considering this (divine sonship) won’t change your note, but the sense you can interpret it.

 

And forever, and at all times

The Annunciation is usually represented with the Blessed Virgin studying the Sacred Scriptures. I imagine that the Child Jesus will have learned them by listening to His Mother and the good of Saint Joseph. I think of my own experience, when I didn’t understand certain subjects and asked my mother. Likewise, you can ask Santa Maria for help, to study well, in a way that is pleasing to God. Ask her to teach you how to imitate the virtues that she k