This happens when we busy ourselves with exterior acts of ministry as a way to avoid the much harder work associated with cultivating the interior life. Indeed, it’s quite possible to hide behind our works believing that, because we exercise this ministry or that, we are exempt from the labor that accompanies growth in the spiritual life. This “ticket punching” mentality leaves the practitioner spiritually empty and, in its most extreme, like “whitewashed tombs” (Mt 23:27).
serving without Spiritual Formation
