“But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” (Lk. 5:19)
All should be persuaded that it is easier to achieve this end by example than by words. Hence, we must convince ourselves that it is indispensable that we should practice all the virtues, and not be unacquainted with any of them.
Eugene de Mazenod’s 1818 Rule, Part 1, Chapter 3, §1 Preaching
REFLECTION
Grant us patience, O Lord, to follow the road you have taken.
Let our confidence not rest in our own understanding but in your guiding hand;
let our desires not be for our own comfort,
but for the joy of your kingdom;
for your cross is our hope and our joy now and unto the day of eternity. Amen.
https://prayer.forwardmovement.org/prayers_and_thanksgivings
I feel a little like I have stepped into a mine field – not one that will explode, but one in which I might get lost if I am not very careful.
I remember a time when I wanted to be known as the greatest in God’s Kingdom. If before I met Jesus I had been amongst the ‘biggest and the baddest’, then I wanted to be known for my holiness. At the very same time the Spirit was filling me with the desire to ask for the opposite and so my daily prayer was to ask God to “…make me little, to make me ordinary, that I might be a light for my neighbors’ feet”.
I recently shared with other members of our Oblate Family that I wanted only ‘to serve’, but how does one serve when I am often weak and there is a small battle going on within me; not a war but perhaps a skirmish…
I ask myself how I can serve in the midst of a mine field where I am not able to see my own feet and realise that as I look down there is a small light coming from my neighbor…
“Let our confidence not rest in our own understanding but in your guiding hand…”
Amen