For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” (Isa 30:15)

While visiting my family a few weeks ago, I witnessed my nephew’s baptism. Little Leo Michael became a saint of God on December 28, 2024. Without any help from Leo, God worked something greater than any mere man has ever done. Pharaohs build pyramids and kings build cities, but God builds a temple that will never pass away. God is the greatest master builder, and man would do well to remember it.

As we grow older, we are no longer completely passive in our own salvation, but we begin to participate more actively in the mystery of God’s saving grace. This being so, we often overemphasize our own effort in this work. God desires to save us through our own actions, but he does so in his own time and in his own way. In striving for the Dominican ideal—the imitation of Christ after the model of St. Dominic—I sometimes find myself frustrated with God’s patience. I think that more penance, more self-denial, more time on my knees will speed up God’s work, so I pour myself into these works with renewed vigor. I seek to build the temple of God with my own effort.

These practices—penance, self-denial, praying on our knees—are good. They’re even necessary and healthy pieces of the Christian life, but there’s a time and place for everything. I’ve found that these kinds of initiatives at times leave me thinking more about my own suffering than Jesus’.

At times I can forget that my salvation is more God’s concern than it is mine. My primary concern is God’s glory, loving him with all my heart and soul so as to know him fully. In putting my eyes too much on my own effort, I think of myself more than I think of God. I end up loving God less and hindering the very sanctification I’m trying to bring about.

Sometimes I need to remember that I’m not so different from little Leo. God is the master builder; the work is his, first and foremost. He lets me help, but the best way I can do that is by keeping my eyes on him and not trying to track or measure the work he’s doing in me. We don’t build temples to honor temples, but to honor God. Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus; you better believe he’ll keep an eye on us.

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Image: Henri Frédéric Schopin, The Children of Israel Crossing the Red Sea