Wednesday, June 10, 2015

                                                                INTEGRITY
Seeing the wholeness of God’s words of truth
The summation of the fruits of the Holy Spirit implanted within us at Confirmation
The fullness of the relationship between God and man
Expressive action of man’s gifts for which he was to live, for which he was created
Ultimate example of oneness with God
Visible sign of unity of man and God’s words of truth and life

Integrity is like mercy, requiring a process of prayer, meditation, dialogue, reading God’s words in order to incorporate integrity into one’s life.  Some call the process intuition, a process of seeking not through reason, but acquiring a sense of what God intended man to become after Christ’s Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  Some call it becoming fully human and some call it following the will of God for man.
I first encountered integrity from a CFO of a multi-conglomerate food processing company. Integrity was what he was called at his retirement party; he had the ability to lead many different divisions because he could see the intent of the whole entire company- to feed the world with healthy, nutritious, sustainable food. 
I first knew this man as a man of prayer; he would ask me for what could he pray for me that day or he would ask me to pray for him on a decision he had to make for the company.  At 6:30 am on a snowy Mn winter-asking for prayer- that stayed in my mind and heart.
Years later I hear integrity spoken in regard to the late Cardinal George, “ a man with authority to speak for the church and get his fellow bishops to bracket their differences and act as one for the good of the church.  He could do it because of who he is; his character and insight made him the reference point when things were very serious.”  (George Weigel)
One who follows God’s plan for his life in humble, thoughtful ways; one who knows the truth which is Christ; one who seeks oneness in all to become whole, complete with God; this is one whom man can say, “he has integrity.”


No comments:

Post a Comment