Introduction to the Devout Life: Choosing virtue in the performance of duties. (b) Fidelity in small things is as important as fidelity in great ones.

Turning now to Chapter 35, "Fidelity on All Occasions."

Be prepared... to undergo many great trials for his sake, even martyrdom; resolve, should he ask, to give him all you hold most dear:  father, mother, brother, husband, wife, children, your eyes, your very life; such sacrifices must find your heart ready.

But as long as his Divine Providence spares you these great and painful trials... bear patiently the small trials that are your daily lot, those little inconveniences and trifling losses... A headache, a toothache, or a cold; the bad temper of one's husband or wife; meeting with disdain or sulkiness; a glass broken; gloves, a ring or a handkerchief lost; the inconvenience of going to bed early or of rising early to pray or go to Communion; a feeling of embarrassment in performing certain devotions in public, all of these things, when accepted and embraced with love, are most pleasing to God.... as such opportunities occur at every moment they enable us to heap up spiritual riches if we only take advantage of them.

What can we glean from this passage?

(1)  Opportunities to embrace God's work in love occur at every moment, so look for those opportunities as often as I remember.

If I take nothing else from this, I'm going to try to take that an opportunity is available "at every moment" to do "my" work for the kingdom of God, if only I sit up, take notice, and offer that work in love.   I put "my" in scare quotes because I have a choice at all times:  to do "my" work or to do God's work.  It might be different work; or it might be the same work.  But even if it's the same, by turning and offering it to God in love instead of irritation or whatever my personal response to it might be, I make it God's work.

(2)  Respond cheerfully and constructively to the "theft" of "my" time or the undoing of "my" work.

For someone like me who's severely attached to time, it's obvious what sort of "little inconveniences and trifling losses" I need to bear patiently:  The baby who cries just as I think he's down for a nap at last; the syrup spilled just as I finish mopping the floor; the playdate cancelled just as everyone's ready to leave the house; the schoolwork completed that turns out to have been done sloppily or completely wrong.   First, I have to quit complaining about them; second, I have to drop the work I thought I was meant to do, and instead take up the work that these little undoings ask of me.  Lie down to nurse the baby; show a little one how to clean a sticky spill; explain the change of plans to the disappointed children, and help them find a different activity; patiently re-teach the lesson until it's mastered.

St. Francis describes St. Catherine of Siena's example in doing humble things for the love of God, and goes on:

I give you this example... to show you how important it is to direct our actions, however humble, to the service of God and advise you most earnestly to imitate the woman praised so highly by Solomon who put her hand to strong, noble and lofty things yet did not neglect her spinning wheel, she hath put out her hand to strong things, and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle.  Put your hand to strong things... by prayer and meditation, by frequenting the sacraments and teaching others to love God, inspiring their hearts to good; in other words by doing all the great and important things whenever you have the opportunity.  But do not forget your spinning wheel, that is to say, practise the humble and lowly virtues which grow, like flowers, at the foot of the Cross:  helping the poor, visiting the sick, looking after your family with all that this involves, above all practicing that diligence which admits no idleness...

Great opportunities of serving God are rare, but little ones are frequent, and our Lord has told us that if we are faithful over little things, he will commit great things to our charge.  Do everything in God's name, then, and it will be done well; whether you eat or drink, take recreation or turn the spit, you can profit in God's sight by doing them because it is his will.

Here is another tool for discernment, one that might serve as a check on my tendency to prioritize other things above my family's "little" needs.  The small daily tasks are not necessarily less important than apparently great ones.  So when setting out to place one action above another in the hierarchy of "things I've got to get done," I must not be fooled into thinking that the grander task, or the less quotidian one is the one I must be called to most strongly.   

Comments

[Patty]

erin, the link to this post on your summary page is broken. Thought you might like to know! :-)

[bearing]

Ok.... I *think* it's fixed... Thanks!