The Power of the Will - Greg Aitchison

Greg Aitchison—a father of four, former middle school theology teacher, and now a Catholic health coach and Catholic religion curriculum planner—reflects on St. John Henry Newman’s sermon “The Power of the Will.” Greg highlights Newman’s central conviction: unless we labor for sanctity, our projects amount to nothing. Newman insists that we must firmly set our will on loving God; without this intentional desire, we will never reach union with Him. Our shortcomings, Newman says, do not primarily arise from our fallen nature but from lacking “one thing”—the genuine desire to be made new. We are privileged to have received grace, and it is our responsibility to nurture it so that we may become true sons and daughters of God. Spiritual exertion is required for us to grow in love of God. What we lack is not capacity but the willingness to use what God has already given us. For Newman, holiness is eminently practical. Though the evil one presses heavily upon us, we can freely cast off his influence. Once we choose to reject evil, grace becomes fully operative in our lives. The saints accomplished great things because they possessed hearts capable of contemplating, designing, and willing great things—and we, too, are called to this same sanctity. Echoing St. John Paul II, Newman urges us: “Be not afraid.” And again: “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.”

Greg’s Catholic health coaching project can be found at HappyHealthyandHoly.org.
His Catholic curriculum work is available at CatholicReligionTeacher.com.

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.