When I was younger it was a special treat when my mom would indulge me with one of those teen magazines. Of course inside was the latest styles and the latest teen heartthrob. Often there was some type of personality test to help you determine which heartthrob you would you most likely date, or how good you were at saving money, or whether you were sporty, intellectual, artsy, shy or outgoing, etc. There would be a list of questions and each answer had a numeric score. At the end of the test you would add up your score and determine which category best described you. Of course if you didn't like the answer at the end, you could always retake the test, choose better answers, and get the result you really wanted.
The world is full of tests that try to determine who we are. We are constantly tested at school to determine how well we understand a concept or subject. At work we may have to do competency tests to determine how well we know our job. Our health can be determined by a battery of tests and corresponding values. But what about faith? Is there a way to determine if we have enough of it? How do we know if we really trust God enough? How many good works do we have to do to get into heaven? I don't think there are any concrete answers to those questions. I think when it comes to faith there is no magic number. Our love for neighbor and God should just continue to grow with each passing day, month, and year.
I think it would be a good idea for each of us to ask ourselves some questions though. Did we do a good job loving God today? What did we allow to get in our way--emotions, circumstance, time, money, worldly pleasures, pain, regret, loss? If you could ask God for one grace that would help you love Him more, what would you ask for? Think very carefully about that. What really gets in your way of loving God? It is a question you could ask yourself every day. You may find the answer even varies from day to day, but if you can determine the answer to that question, you may begin to have a deeper understanding of your relationship with God. Also, remember to ask God for His help. His graces can help you begin a very personal, direct path to heaven. It's just like taking the personality quizzes of our youth. We all know what we want the outcome to be, so let's do our best to answer the questions correctly.
-Susan
