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Do Little Things with Great Love!
This will (I think) be a quickie post...
At Mass this morning, Fr. Joe was talking about the interplay between love of God and love of neighbor and he threw out a quote that really hit me. "People don't care what you know, they want to know that you care." Of course, father wasn't saying that what we know doesn't matter, but he was saying that love is absolutely the most important aspect of a priest. The priest has to be sensitive, understanding, caring, loving, etc. As St. Paul reminds us:
"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." [1 Corinthians 13:1-3]
On Wednesday evening we had what is called theological reflection, during which several of us guys talked about our experience in supervised ministry, and got the ideas of other guys (and a priest who sits in on the meeting) about how to be better at our ministry. That is a very simple, rather unhelpful, definition, but my point is that during the meeting I was talking about how it is difficult sometimes to spend time talking with the older (and possibly handicapped) individuals at St. Paul's Hermitage. One of the guys reminded me of the fantastic quote from Mother Theresa: "Do little things with great love."
I think I knew all these things, but it is easy for me to get buried beneath other concerns (teaching people, fulfilling a certain number of hours of ministry, etc.). Love, as we talked about in one of my classes today, is the highest end of man, it requires us to orient all our powers (abilities) - everything we do - towards love. Love is a supernatural calling, it isn't something we can do on our own, it requires a relationship with God. Basic stuff, but fundamental!
In other news, this weekend is an open weekend, so I will be heading with my family down to Marbury, AL to spend some time visiting my sister, who is a nun at the Dominican Monastery of St. Jude. Should be a lot of fun!
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