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give thanks, Mother Cabrini, optimism, perseverance, saint, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thessalonians, trust in God, willingness
If we need a model of perseverance so that we’ll never give up on life, we would do well to consider St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. I learned about the woman called “Mother” Cabrini (a great designation for the first U.S. citizen to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church) in elementary school. She lived until 1917 – when my parents were already three years old – so seemed more real to us than most of the holy people we learned about who had died and been declared “official” saints centuries ago. If anyone ever had reason to sit back and say, “Enough! I give up,” she did! Here are a few of the facts.
She was refused entrance to the religious community that had educated her to be a teacher. She began work at a House of Providence doing charitable work; the bishop closed it three years later. She wanted to be a missionary to China but the Pope (Leo XIII) told her to go to the United States instead to work with Italian immigrants and she went. She had a fear of drowning but crossed the Atlantic Ocean more than 30 times before she died in one of her own hospitals in Chicago, Illinois. Perseverance? Oh, yes…and a willingness to hear the voice of God in those she trusted to guide her.
It is not enough to list her challenges; I advise reading even a short biography. My point today, however, is to note her willingness and the optimism that must have accompanied her throughout her life. Today’s verse before the gospel in the lectionary readings seems a perfect example of how she must have moved through her days. In Paul’s first Letter to the Thessalonians we read, “In all circumstances, give thanks!”
Praised be, Mother Cabrini!
Of all the lectionary readings today, the one sentence that called out to me was the gospel acclamation. From Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, we hear: In all circumstances, give thanks…Perhaps it is because of these days of pondering wisdom with an extraordinary group of people, reflecting deeply on life and our living of it, that those words seem so clearly the way to proceed. I can’t imagine on my most difficult days stopping to read and assent to that thought. It does, however, make sense to me this morning. I have found, if I really stop to think, that I can learn from everything and everyone that I encounter. Whether the lessons in the experiences are easy or monumentally difficult, there is something helpful to take away from everything if I have eyes to see and ears ready to hear. Sometimes the most important insights come from the most difficult happenings. It is the willingness to see beyond the circumstances themselves to what might be there for me to learn that can help me let go of my personal agenda in order to see what might be a bigger picture.
