In My House
"I applied myself especially to practicing small virtues, since great ones did not come easily to me, and so I loved to pick up the cloaks forgotten by the sisters and render them all the services I could." (See Teresa of Lisieux: autobiographical manuscripts.)
"A simple soul is one that, in the depths of all that happens, knows how to discover, adore, and love the will of someone who loves us. A simple life is a life that flows in union of faith with this love."
Augustin Guilleran
As I try to write, Loïc sits beside me, and I must keep both eyes open—watching that he doesn't hurl the green plant to the floor while laughing, or stubbornly pull at my paper to tear it with evident satisfaction.
My God! That line from Teresa of Lisieux falls before my eyes at just the right moment, reminding me that I too am called to Love, and that this is not lived through great virtues but through all the small things of every day: that lovely pot I care for, now in pieces from Loïc's hand; that person knocking at the door just as I am feeding him (and I know he will be angry if I leave him alone); those accounts I still cannot finish because he needs changing; that nearly sleepless night because Loïc had a toothache; that worry about my older son who cannot adjust to the specialized facility; and that loneliness that never ends after my husband's death.
A moment of impatience: the urge to cry out, this is not fair, "I cannot take anymore"!
Yet I must gather up that broken pot, go open the door, change Loïc, calm and comfort him, call the doctor who treats Thaddeus, live completely alone in the evening that begins. So why not do it with a smile? Or if tears come, at least lay my complaint on God's heart, but quietly, like a child? Each of these gestures so small, so humble can become eternity if I do it with love: picking up every shard of broken glass with care so no one gets cut; opening the door with a smile to welcome the one who knocks and inviting him to join Loïc at his meal; watching him laugh with joy under the shower; fighting with all my strength and stubbornly against his suffering that refuses to yield; making an appointment with the doctor; reading a good book to pass this solitary evening. Yes, all of this that I live in my house on earth can become a path to HIS HOUSE, the path of LOVE, where God awaits me.
Camille Profilitte, a mother (France)
P.S. Loïc has just had an accident—it's time to put into practice what I have just written.
"We must know how to bloom where God has planted us" (St. Anthony)
"Lord, accept me as I am, with my faults, with my weaknesses, but grant that I may become as you would have me be" (John Paul I)