Train Your Will And Be A Hero: The Heroic Minute

In the Catechism we’re told that the virtue of chastity, “ includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom.” Freedom is typically thought of as the ability to do whatever we want. However, choosing the good isn’t easy.

Our inherited concupiscence makes choosing the good a struggle. Because of original sin we have a darkened intellect, a weakened will, and an inclination towards evil.

When we are presented with options between good and evil we aren’t completely free to choose the good. If our wills are weakened we lack the ability to deny ourselves. Sin has rendered us prisoner to our passions.

But with Christ we are called to more. Our ability to govern our passions through the exercise of our will is actually part of what it means to share in Christ’s Kingly Office! As St. Ambrose tells us:

“Man is rightly called a king who makes his own body an obedient subject and, by governing himself with suitable rigor, refuses to let his passions breed rebellion in his soul, for he exercises a kind of royal power over himself. And because he knows how to rule his own person as king, so too does he sit as its judge. He will not let himself be imprisoned by sin, or thrown headlong into wickedness. “

By prayer, the sacraments, and union with Christ we have access to the grace necessary that allows us to struggle against our passions that tempt us to settle for less. And it is by the apprenticeship in self-mastery that we begin to train our wills for freedom. This is not a situation of either prayer or good habits, this a situation of both prayer AND good habits.

Self-Mastery needs both.

Freedom requires both.

And the Heroic minute brings both together at the first moment of your day.

The Heroic Minute

According to St. Josemaria Escriva, the heroic minute is a: “time fixed for getting up. Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and... up! The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body.”

To do the heroic minute you need to wake up the same time everyday and get up without hesitation. Earlier in his work, The Way, Escriva writes that in the heroic minute the aim is to, “Conquer yourself each day from the very first moment, getting up on the dot, at a fixed time, without yielding a single minute to laziness. If, with God's help, you conquer yourself, you will be well ahead for the rest of the day. It's so discouraging to find oneself beaten at the first skirmish!”

This is your first skirmish every morning. Before you have to say “no" to other desires throughout the day, you first skirmish is against the desire to roll over and hit snooze.

So here are three ways you can implement the heroic minute into your life and train good habits for your soul, and your body. This will be uncomfortable, but you will be one step closer to the self-mastery and freedom you desire.

1) Get up with your alarm

Set your alarm. Pick a time and stick to it. The moment you hear the alarm, remember you are in the midst of the first or many skirmishes of the day, and you want to start off with a “W”

Let this practice go into the weekend, and your days off as well. As humans we thrive when our lives are ordered. If we train ourselves to wake up at a certain time 5 days a week, but sleep in 2 days a week, it is unlikely we will stick with it beyond the weekend.

Pick a time that gives you a enough time to pray and exercise in the morning before starting your day, and then stick to it. Win that skirmish, and train your will.

2) Give your day to the Lord

Right after you win that first skirmish and you get up and out of bed. Turn your next thoughts to God.

It’s easy to grab our phones and start scrolling through social media, emails, or text messages in order to wake ourselves up. But before we do that, we must turn our attention to God and give Him our day.

I believe, in our time, this is the second skirmish of the day.

The choice to get up and move with our alarm is absolutely heroic, because we are so trained in comfort.

Likewise, the choice to give our next moments over to God before our phones is heroic, because we are so trained to turn our thoughts to social media before the Lord.

Giving our day to God, doesn’t have to be deeply contemplative. All it has to be is a moment of turning our thoughts to God and offering your day to Him.

3) Drink water

The last part is a good habit for your body. After giving your day to God, go drink 16 oz of water.

Since your body has been fasting from the moment you fell asleep, it is dehydrated. This is actually why our first meal of the day is called breakfast, because we literally break our fast. If you want a boost in mood and alertness grab some water, before you grab coffee.

For more on why you need to drink water in the morning - take a look here

Go Be A Hero

So when you go to bed tonight, set your alarm and prepare yourself for the first skirmish of the morning.

This advice from St Josemaria Escriva is the beginning of that apprenticeship in self-mastery. Resolve to train your will and recognize that with every uncomfortable wake up, you are one step closer to freedom.

Verso L’alto - Renzo