What Are You Looking At?

“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures.” – St. André Bessette

Why are you looking up at the sky? In Canada, we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord on the Sunday after the usual Thursday. I thought much about how the apostles were looking up and they were asked why they were doing that. Maybe their hearts felt alone. Maybe their hearts were burning but for sure, in my mind, they were full of hope. Recently, someone I knew was almost the victim of a scam. Things worked out and it was a relief. I thought how this person must have been protected because it could have been quite worse. In some way, we are all protected because we were promised that our Lord would be with us. It is amazing to listen to the readings from the Acts of Apostles. Listening to how the early church grew is always amazing. We are never alone.

“Give something, however small, to the one in need. For it is not small to one who has nothing. Neither is it small to God, if we have given what we could.”  -St. Gregory Nazianzen

After the death of her husband and separation from many friends, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton faced loneliness as a widow and single mother. She converted to Catholicism and found her strength in God, eventually founding the Sisters of Charity. St. Elizabeth’s example can show you how God wants to use your pain and loneliness to bring you consolation in Him. St. Isidore the farmer did his work daily and asked the angels to help him. They seemed to have done so. Despite the mocking he received, the people in the area noticed his crops were better than the others. Maybe they realized something. Another curious saint was St. Bernard of Menthon. He spent much time guiding pilgrims over the Alps. He built two hospices in the mountains, and he saw many converts in his work. The dogs were named St. Bernards in his honour.

“Act and God will act, work and He will work.”– St. Joan of Arc

I do not want to spend my time looking up at the sky. I want to move in a way that will be useful in God’s eyes. The saints I wrote about were just a few who could be examples for us. There are many. We need to continue to be as determined and joyful as the early Christians in the Acts. We are living in a new time, but the demands are the same. Society might be against us but that does not change the work that needs to be done. We need to be ready. I for one, do not want to lose the opportunities that are presented to me.

Always forward, never back.”– St. Junipero Serra