True Charity...

True Charity…

Yesterday I told you about what Therese considered true charity, fulfilling God’s New Commandment fully. She not only taught her novices about service to others, she taught them about gratitude.

One of the young novices, Marie of the Trinity, has a difficult time from the time she had been a postulant saying thank you for anything. Here is the advice Therese gave her young student…

“You must get used to letting your gratitude be seen, to say thank you with an open heart for the least little thing.” Therese told Marie of the Trinity, “This is the practice of Charity, to act this way; otherwise, it is indifference which, even if it is only exterior, freezes the heart and destroys the cordiality that is necessary in community.”

This is important for more than just the community the sisters lived in. It is important for one other community as well - the global community. What Therese was ultimately teaching her novices was not just to be of service to others but to be grateful while doing it.

Grateful?

You bet. Not just to help others with joy in your heart while doing it, but to be grateful for the opportunity as well. Remember when Our Dear Lord was on this earth he said, “Whatever you have done to the least of my brethren you have done also to me.” Think of it as the person you are helping giving you a chance to wait hand and foot on Jesus.

Yet, if Therese where here, she would tell you the same thing that the Dali Lama teaches.

For those of you who are not aware of it, there was a certain sister who seemed to irritate Therese in everything she did. Instead of getting upset and avoiding the person as many others would have done, Therese went out of her way to be nice to her the sister who irritated her so. She always greeted her with a smile. Not only that, she would present all of the nuns good qualities to God. What is the lesson here?

The lesson is the same one that the Dali Lama teaches. We should even be grateful to those people who anger and upset us. Believe me I have had plenty of people in my life who have done there best to make me feel my worst. Why would I be grateful to such an individual? For the same reason that both Christianity and Buddhism teach - it is important to be grateful for the opportunity to practice patience and love.

And that, my friends, is the Olympics of Christian Love.

God Bless You all.

Sister Julie