"Courage," said St. Theresa to her daughters. "Courage! When obedience fills your time with exterior things, do not be afflicted; if you are sent to the kitchen, then understand well, that Our Lord is there in the midst of the kettles."
What a beautiful subject for contemplation and meditation! Jesus in the midst of the kettles! Well, yes, whether in the midst of dusters and brooms, or wash tubs and irons, whatever may be my assigned office, Jesus is there; and the harder and less conspicuous this office is considered, the more certain and efficacious is His Presence. He is pleased to be among the most hidden and the most humble.
Therefore, I must never desire, in foolish pride, to leave my office, to aim at a more conspicuous position in the community. The lowest place is what benefits me; that is where I will most often find Jesus.
Father Charles de Foucauld in his retreat of 1902, the year following his ordination, took as his resolution this one word Abjection. And he developed it thus: "To serve others, I will determine upon a certain number of truly abject acts daily and do them as Jesus of Nazareth who came to serve...to minister unto and not to be ministered to." He therefore decided to send back to his garrison, the soldier that had been appointed to take care of his hermitage in the desert.
If I have a showy office I will fulfill it humbly. If I have a humble office, I will rejoice. If I have an office without special color and which draws little notice, I will profit by this obscurity to live in simplicity and to force myself to give Christ some consolation by a special love.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
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