Let’s face it — the practices of the interior life and the life of virtue really are difficult at times. In one of his Anglican sermons, Blessed John Henry Newman makes the point that even those who “set about the work of religion in good earnest” sometimes find it wearisome:

“In spite of their knowledge of the truth, and their faith, in spite of the aids and consolations they receive from above, still how often do their corrupt hearts betray them! Even their privileges are often burdensome to them, even to pray for the grace which in Christ is pledged to them is an irksome task. … Not only the mass of mankind, but even the confirmed servants of Christ, witness to the opposition which exists between their own nature and the demands of religion” (“Religion a Weariness to the Natural Man,” Parochial and Plain Sermons).

Truly, those “corrupt hearts” of which Newman speaks are the portals through which lukewarmness so easily enters.

But the solution, according to St. Josemaría Escrivá, could hardly be more simple: “Fall in love, and you will not leave him” (The Way, No. 999).