Somewhere safe with somebody good

Oh, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person: having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them out. Just as they are – chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.

Dinah Maria (Murlock) Craik, 1826-1887

What does a person want?

I believe, as one of Jan Karon’s books is so aptly titled, we want to be somewhere safe with somebody good.

But what does that mean?

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read all about it!

One of my great desires is that the Gospel always be presented as

good news,

happy news,

filling our hearts with

joy and consolation.

Yes, Jesus’ teaching is demanding, but St. Therese helps us see it as genuine good news, since the Gospel is no less than the revelation of God’s tenderness, God’s mercy toward each of his children, illuminating the laws of life that lead to happiness.

“Sometimes when I read certain spiritual treatises where perfection is shown through a thousand obstacles, surrounded by a host of snares, my poor little spirit quickly tires, I shut the learned book that makes my head ache and dries up my heart, and I take up Sacred Scripture. Then everything seems luminous to me, one single word reveals infinite horizons to my soul, perfection seems easy, and I see that it is enough to recognize one’s own nothingness and abandon oneself like a child into God’s arms.

Leaving to great souls, great spirits, the beautiful books that I cannot understand and still less put into practice, I rejoice to be little, because only children and those who are like them will be admitted to the heavenly banquet.”

St. Therese of Liseux
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little saints

I wrote the other day about my new Saint friends.

If you’ve read it: I’d love to hear if any of you choose a new friend too!

As of late, I’ve been spending a lot of time with my sous-Saint, St. Therese of Lisieux.

Trust me – the Holy Spirit has reallllly been working over-time showing me exactly WHY she was chosen for me.

And let me tell you – we have become very fast BFFs!!

In a vulnerable, wounded world like ours, where nevertheless the Holy Spirit is addressing all Christians with a ringing call to holiness and inspiring them with a desire to live out the Gospel message in all its depth, I think there is no better path than the one St. Therese of Lisieux offers us: her little way of trust and love.

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