After a long absence in which I haven't written much at all, I have recently felt inspired to blog again. I was thinking that, often, I'll have an interesting thought during the day that I later forget, but this time, I resolved to write it down straight away.
Yesterday, while I was working at the library, an encounter I had with yet another irate black woman made me meditate upon the little way of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and the prayer of St. Francis of
The woman paid her overdue fine of $8.00 but when she asked for a receipt, she did so in a less-than-pleasant way. I wasn't sure if there was a way to simply print out a receipt from the computer, or if there was a procedure for ensuring the patron gets the correct information, but while I was trying to figure it out, she kept commanding me to "just write your name on a piece of paper saying I paid this."
The whole time I was writing it out for her, she stood there complaining to me about how she shouldn't have had the fine to begin with but she would pay it anyway, even though the "woman over there" (referring to Natalee, my coworker) had apparently given her a "hard time" earlier.
I managed not to say anything, but she was another one of these constantly irascible people who seem to exist just to exacerbate or exasperate others. After she left, though, the Holy Spirit must have prompted me in the right direction, thankfully, and I remembered the "little way" of my patron. Offering up this negative experience is not easy to do, and certainly not instinctual, but it made me think of how it can make the world a better place, one person at a time.
The Christian idea of "turning the other cheek" or "redemptive suffering" is a curious one on the surface; human nature and the way of modern man tell us to retaliate and to right the imbalance of justice in the universe created when such fricative encounters occur. But a deeper look into the reasons behind the Christian attitude reveal that it is the only way to reduce pain and hatred.
The idea I had was that of the Christian being a sort of "drain" from the universe. That is to say that, when bad things happen to us, especially those things caused by the ill-will of others, instead of reflecting that negativity back into the world, the Christian can become a "channel of peace" and funnel it out of the world by giving it to God. This is by no means to say that suffering the tempers of angry library patrons is easy to do, but giving it away to God instead of absorbing it personally makes life happier, both for yourself and the other person.
Besides this, looking to Jesus as our model provides another insight: I wondered what would have happened if he had resorted to retaliating while he was being crucified? But his mission was to come into the world not to condemn it, but to save it because of his great love. And true love entails sacrifice. By offering himself entirely to God, including his sufferings, Jesus was a channel of peace, and so great a one that he saved the entire world.
We might not be able to affect the whole world with our small offerings, but at least for the moment, we can help bring his saving love to the situation at hand.
I think it was interesting that I happened to be wearing my Prayer of St. Francis shirt while I was at work; I would not be surprised to learn that he had prayed for me at the time :)
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
