Life Lessons!

by Claire 

It has been my “turn” to write a post for a little while, and while it has been in the back of mind, every time I try to think of a topic my mind goes blank. I’ve been looking at my life, looking at the things I do, and wondering what can I share with the blogosphere... so here it goes.

God has been teaching me some lessons lately. Normally, that sounds like something quite vindictive, my mind conjures some mafia thug character in a Martin Scorsese film growling “I’m going to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!”. No, it definitely was not like that. God has been lovingly nudging me in certain directions and highlighting certain situations for me. I want to share one in particular

I live in a house with two girls that I don’t know, it was a flat share I had found on the internet. One of the girls I live with seriously, seriously gets on my nerves. She loves to talk about herself at great length, and share every single detail of every waking moment she has experienced. Now don’t get me wrong, I love to hear about other peoples lives, but seriously, she doesn’t care about anything I have to say. Take, for example, the other morning, she was talking so much I just walked out of the flat without remembering to bring anything with me to eat for the day. Slightly extreme, I know (and my purse did not appreciated it)! 

So in walks God with His lesson.... This past while I’ve been reading St. Therese of Lisieux’s autobiography, and came across this story:

“A holy nun of our community annoyed me in all that she did; the devil must have had something to do with it, and it was he who undoubtedly made me see in her so many disagreeable points. I did not want to yield to my natural antipathy, for I remembered that charity ought to betray itself in deeds, and not exist merely in the feelings, so I set myself to do for this sister all I should do for the one I loved most. Every time I met her I prayed for her, and offered to God her virtues and merits...I did not rest satisfied with praying for this sister, who gave me such occasions for self-mastery, I tried to render her as many services as I could, and when tempted to answer her sharply, I made haste to smile and change the subject...One day she said to me with a beaming face: “My dear Soeur Therese, tell me what attraction you find in me, for whenever we meet, you greet me with such a sweet smile!”

So when this passage cropped up I had to laugh to myself - God was teaching me a lesson, in the humourous fashion that He tends to exhibit to me. He knows I find my flatmate annoying, but he wants to show me that I can still show charity and love towards her, through the example of St. Therese. It will take me a while to get into the practice of it, but when she’s off on one of her long winded rants about something, I will offer up a prayer for her. I will use the situation for the good of her, and the good of Christ. I’m not saying I’m going to automatically become her best friend, but I want her to be able to see God through me, and by running out of the flat first thing in the morning, I’m never going to be able to achieve this!

I’m accepting our clashing of personalities as part of the day-to-day suffering that we as humans undergo. Suffering is difficult, it is uncomfortable, it is frustrating, but I read something recently that was quite profound: everytime we suffer, and offer this suffering to Christ, we are helping Him lift his cross that little bit higher as He makes the journey to Calvary. We are helping him support the weight of our sins, our sorrows, our burdens. I don’t know about you, but I would give anything to help Him do this for me. I’ve heard in the past offering something up for the souls in purgatory, for the Pope’s intentions, but never solely for Jesus. Our suffering - whether it be illness, death, spiritual dryness, or an annoying housemate - can be gifted to Jesus...Wow!

  

“There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already borne for us, and does not now bear with us.”-- Pope John Paul II