God’s Friends

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center, doing good, God, great love, light, Mother Teresa, saints, small things, St. Therese of Lisieux, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today people all over the world, especially in a small town in France called Lisieux, celebrate the feast of their most famous inhabitant of all, Therese Martin. She lived in Lisieux all her life, entered the Carmelite convent at age 15, never left, died at age 24 and was proclaimed a saint 28 years later, proving what Mother Teresa of Calcutta, one of the most recent saints named by the Roman Catholic Church believed: that it isn’t necessary to do great things but only to do small things with great love. Therese herself spoke that same language, noting that one might achieve holiness even in doing humble tasks like bending to pick up a pin if it is done with love. Who thinks that way? Obviously those suffused with God’s love who live ever conscious of God’s presence in all that they encounter in each moment of life – and beyond. Before she died, Therese was clear about eternal life. She said she planned to “spend my heaven doing good on earth.”

May we come to value each moment – the extraordinary and the mundane – in such a way that the length of our days will not be the measure of our love but rather the light with which our days are illuminated because God is at the center of it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facing the Storm

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awake, aware, bad news, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, compassionate, fix, help another soul, light one candle, mend, safe, small things, stay calm, storm, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, world problems

The lead story on all of the TV networks last night was the impending storm all up and down the east coast of our country. Already death and destruction could be seen coming across from the west and over the weekend it seems inevitable that a “one-two punch” will wreak havoc on the rest of us. That just adds to all the other bad news of politics and terror attacks that make one wonder when all these storms in our lives will abate.

The Society of the Christophers is famous for the saying, “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” I read an analogous quote from author Clarissa Pinkola Estes this morning that gave me permission once more not to set my sights on saving the whole world. (Sometimes in our frustrations we need reminders.) She says:

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.

So blessings today on all those who serve good hot soup to those in shelters, to first responders who leave the comfort of their homes to rescue victims of fire and flood, and to those who stretch out their arms to assuage distress by offering hugs to those in need. Stay safe out there, everyone. Stay awake and aware. Stay compassionate and stay calm. Stay ready to serve.