The Smallest Thing

Painting: Dupre PD1923

My Amens

Finding space for prayer can be a struggle for many of us, on some days more than on others. Which is why I appreciate the practice of a Morning Offering, or a Direction of Intention. On those days when circumstances call me to race from caring for children to helping a friend to making a last minute dinner, I am grateful for a prayer like this one... 

"My God, I give You this day. I offer You, now, all of the good that I shall do.. and I promise to accept, for love of You, all of the difficulty that I shall meet. Help me to conduct myself during this day in a manner pleasing to You." (St. Francis de Sales)

May my moments of service be my amens. 






Painting: Adriaan de Lelie, in US public domain due to age

Charity the Measure

"'To do little things

 with great purity of intention and a strong will

to please God is to do them excellently, 

and then they greatly sanctify us.' 

 The more our works are motivated by the love of God,

the greater their value becomes.

    Some persons weigh the merit of their actions

 by their appearance or difficulty.

 They prize only showy virtues or gifts,

without considering

 that the use they make of God's gifts

derives value only from the motive and aim of their actions.

Charity must be the only measure."

(text from In the Midst of the World, Sister Joanna Marie Wenzel VHM using writings of Sr. Francis de Sales, Brooklyn Visitation, 1985, p. 9)

(painting 1893, in US public domain)