Brian’s Reflection: Friday, February 17, 2012

Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice,
here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word;
always doing the smaller right and doing it all for love.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, born Jan 2, 1873

The root of the word “sacrifice” lies in “to make holy”. The word has come, in “modern” times, to imply that if one made a sacrifice, it was a giving up of one’s self-worth or of one’s integrity. This is not the case. To sacrifice means to make choices that makes one’s Life holy, and enhances the core integrity of one’s essential Being.

Jesus made the “great sacrifice”. He chose to accept Death in order not to compromise His very essence as a Child of God. But most of the rest of us have simple daily choices to make … the “smaller right”. Kindness. Caring. Loving.

Example: our neighbour lady told us that her husband couldn’t find a good restaurant pasta meal. (Not surprising in Silver City!). We made him some. Why? Because we want small acts of Love to be at the core of our Life. Because it expresses what we believe it is to be a Human Being and a “child of God”.

Today there will definitely be an opportunity (or more) for each of us to “make a small sacrifice”. A kind word. A smile.

Let’s do it! For Heaven’s sake, we are not being asked to do anything spectacular.

Brian+