Small Mercies Miércoles: I'm grateful for generous love

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?”

~ William A. Ward

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

~ G.K. Chesterton

It’s Wednesday!  

So I’m taking a moment to acknowledge one specific thing, one wonderful “Small Mercy” that I’m thankful for today.

I’m grateful for:  the witness of love lived out by my colleague Rob, who chose to respond with gentleness and mercy to one person’s rude and inappropriate behavior in the midst of a meeting. I think this amounts to superhero powers! 

As our patron of Catholic communicators St. Francis de Sales prompted,

"Whatever we see our neighbor do
we must strive to interpret it
in the best manner possible…

Support and excuse your neighbor
with great generosity of heart."

[Source: Oblates of St Francis de Sales]

So much easier to admire than to actually do!

temptations

Do not grieve over the temptations you suffer. When the Lord intends to bestow a particular virtue on us, He often permits us first to be tempted by the opposite vice. Therefore, look upon every temptation as an invitation to grow in a particular virtue and a promise by God that you will be successful, if only you stand fast.

~St. Philip Neri  (1515-1595)

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The beginning of all temptation lies in a wavering mind and little trust in God, for as a rudderless ship is driven hither and yon by waves, so a careless and irresolute man is tempted in many ways. Fire tempers iron and temptation steels the just. Often we do not know what we can stand, but temptation shows us what we are. 

Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginnings of temptation, for the enemy is more easily conquered if he is refused admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when he knocks.

~St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622)

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I woke up the other day hearing a song from my dreams--one that I’ve never heard before: 

“come to the Father who loves you and won’t ever leave you.” 

What a beautiful reminder, especially during this season of Lent and it’s proding to shed away my illusions. Like the illusion that *I* can take care of my own personality defects, what a great temptation!

As my good friend Susan Stabile noted in a recent CREO EN DIOS blog post, 

"for those of us attempting to lead spiritual lives, temptation often comes in pleasing disguises. How much easier it would be to avoid temptation if the tempter appeared as a devil with pitchfork trying to persuade us to do some obviously evil act!"

Check out Susan’s entire post, including an image of Titian’s painting of “The Temptation of Christ.” You will be surprised.

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“Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure 

should take care not to fall.” 

~1 Corinthians 10: 12                       

This arrived for you today:

dear friend,

With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul. Just as sedition and internal disorders bring total ruin to a nation and leave it unable to resist the enemy, so also if our heart is inwardly troubled and disturbed, it loses both the strength necessary to hold on to the virtues it has acquired and the means to resist the temptations of the enemy. We then use up our energies fishing in troubled waters, as they say. 

The present life is given to us only to earn eternal life. If we forget this, we tend to concentrate all our affections on the things of this world, where we are but birds of passage. So it happens that when we have to leave this world we become frightened and upset. Believe me, if we want to live as happy pilgrims, we must always have in our hearts the hope of finally reaching that country where we will settle down forever. But at the same time we must believe, and believe with all our hearts (this is a most sacred truth!), that God keeps a loving eye on us as we walk toward Him, and never lets anything happen to us that is not for our greater good.

Try to nourish within yourself the spirit of gentleness, of holy joy and humility, which is the most apt path toward union with God. Do not get upset about this or that but walk in the way of union with great confidence in the mercy of God, Who will lead you by the hand right to your heavenly home. In the meantime, keep well clear of arguments and avoidable disputes.  

Be careful and attentive to all the matters God has committed to your care, but if possible do not be solicitous or worried; that is, do not burden yourself over them with uneasiness or anxiety. This worry only disturbs reason and good judgment and prevents you from doing well the very things you are worried about...A job done anxiously and hurriedly is never done well; we must do things with coolness and calm.  

With gentleness and peace, make your small efforts to better serve the Divine Goodness, but do not be frightened by the difficulties that crop up. What good, what precious thing has ever been obtained without effort and hard work? On our part, it is only necessary to remain faithful to our resolution to reach the perfection of holy love by doing all we can to make it perfect. If we do not do that we are not aiming very high. 

your brother in Christ,   

Francis de Sales

[Source: Oblates of St. Francis de Sales,

Daily with de Sales, from various entries in July]

Francis de Sales icon from Bridge Building Images

feast day: January 24, 2013