My Spiritual Testament of Totus Tuus

At the end of our Totus Tuus experience this summer, we were asked to write a spiritual testament. Not knowing exactly what to write, I sat outside the Chiara Center on a beautiful summer day and petitioned God for His help. Inspired or not, this is what I wrote:

Serviam

God has led me to the doors of the Church, not looking inward, but outward to the world He has called me to serve. Through His grace which sustains, He has given me the faith by which to know His love and mercy.

So then, I am called to respond, to lay down my earthly life to serve the kingdom which my flesh could neither merit nor deserve, all for the sake of spreading Christ's Gospel.

"Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God's grace." (Acts 20:24)

I have been called to withdraw my desire of all earthly things, and yet in His kindness, His earthly creation constantly proclaims the glory due His name.

As I take up my cross and die to self, I know that I shall never be alone in doing so. With so great a crowd of witnesses as have gone before me, I am filled with gratitude for the example that has been and continues to be--the example of the Church. God, so intimately knowing His creation, has inspired in me a great love of humanity, and so blessed me with the gift of the Church, who in her majesty can never displace herself from the love of God. In fact, even before my fleshly existence, He knew of my need for His Incarnation--for His joining in my humanity--and so for my salvation, He sacrificed His only Son.

Thanks be to God for all that He has given me, none of which I deserve, but all freely given, for me, His chosen one.