Choosing All

Embarking on a missions trip, or a month long service project is a laudable and usually life changing endeavor. Yet dedicating one’s life to missionary activity and the service of those in need finds its true value and worth only in the ‘mirror of eternity.’ Saint Therese, patroness of missions, is one who understood the importance of ‘giving all.’ She lived her days so conscious of God and so attentive to Him that she strove never to miss an opportunity to offer a sacrifice for love of Him. Perhaps this is one of the roots of her unshakable confidence: the fact that she had always done God’s will and not her own. She knew He would not be outdone in generosity. This poses what would be a daunting example to us if the Saint had not called it ‘the little way.’ In a sense, Bl. Mother Teresa summed up this spirituality in her own life when she said: ‘Take whatever He gives and give whatever He takes with a big smile.’ That is a gift of self in its entirety! Do we not realize that we are immensely loved when someone readily sacrifices their own hopes and ambitions, even without our asking, just to please us? In this sense we can understand the joy God takes in His Saints. They are the ones who find all their delight in loving Him, doing His bidding, and seeking the good of His children – just because He is our Good God! When his love is reciprocated in this way, we find God where He desires to dwell… in our brothers and sisters.