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Ending and Beginning the Liturgical Year Without Regrets

nov-dec-calendarThat time of year is about to be upon us — the stretch between Halloween and New Year’s that contains a lot of busyness in our society. Right in the middle of this busy time the liturgical Church year comes to an end, and the season of Advent begins a new one. It’s a season with a lot of holidays and feast days, and sometimes (more often than we may want to admit) we come to the end of it exhausted and full of regrets about being so busy and rushed and not having had the time to reflect and prepare ourselves for the Christmas season (which extends at least 3 weeks past Christmas day!).

How can things be different this year? How do we walk through this time of year and these Church seasons with restful and joyful hearts? I have a few thoughts. Continue reading →

“Blessed are the poor in spirit…”

Luca Giordano [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Luca Giordano [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

“…for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3). Today is St. Francis of Assisi’s feast day. So much could be said of this extraordinary saint whose life echoes in eternity. But today I am thinking particularly about how he sought out poverty on this earth. He came from a wealthy family,  but in his early 20s he gave up his inheritance and embraced a life of poverty and prayer.

Choosing poverty may be one of the most counter-cultural things a person could do in the 21st century, particularly in America. Giving up material possessions and joining a religious order in the service of God would seem crazy to a lot of people. Even the people who think it noble and admire others for doing so, may secretly cringe at the thought of living with very few material possessions.

But we need to pray for more and more of these vocations, because those who live these lives of detachment are the ones who are pointing the rest of us to the kingdom of heaven. Most of us, in our daily consumption of material goods, are cemented in the kingdom of earth. We are fearful of losing the comforts of life or having to deprive ourselves of little luxuries, and so we become attached to here — this world. We need societies full of religious vocations, those who have embraced lives of poverty, to keep the rest of us focused on living with a healthy detachment on this side of eternity.

St. Francis, pray for us!

Do Little Things with Great Love

therese_podcast_300px_0-2It’s St. Therese’s feast day on Saturday (Oct. 1), and her words have been on my mind and heart recently as I’ve been praying her Novena. I finished reading her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, last month; and one theme in particular has stayed with me as I go about my daily tasks: we are to do little things with great love.

We learn from this Doctor of the Church, that our path to becoming more like Jesus is really all about how we love. Moreover, it’s all about how we love in the little things. In the little encounters and duties of our daily lives we will discover whether we really have love. The presence of love will be more apparent in the quiet acts of service than in the loud displays of our faith. It is truly revealed in the hidden charities that few see, rather than the public demonstrations.

If the little activities of our days do not reveal much love, then we can see the opportunities we have to redeem. And redeem them we must. As Saint Paul says, “If I have not love, I am nothing;” and “if I have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2-3). Whether we do great things or small things matters not for eternity. What matters for eternity is that we did what God called us to do with great love. Whether you make a meal today, sweep a floor, hold a door, pick up someone else’s trash, pay for someone’s meal, give someone your seat, or clean up yet another potty training accident–do it with great love. We must all get to the place where we can say with conviction of heart, along with St. Therese, “My vocation is LOVE!”