Diligence is the opposite of negligence; the diligent man pursues his goal with the same faithfulness with which God has pursued us, wayward as we are, through the long course of salvation history. St. Thomas Aquinas writes that “diligence, no less than solicitude, is required for every virtue.” (Sum., 11:11, 54, Art. 1)
Christians are called to diligence in prayer, in self-scrutiny, in exercising virtue, in seeking God’s will, in detachment from the world and in reflecting on God’s word in Scripture: “If we are diligent in observing all of these commandments before the Lord, our God, as he commanded of us, then this will be our righteousness.” (Deuteronomy 6:25) Diligence is made possible by the freedom of will that we have been granted by God, and it is the virtue by which man can secure for himself true happiness. (Gau di um et spes, 17)
©LPi