Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
“I am the most inept of creatures, but the Lord sometimes uses very weak instruments for His works; so let it be His will.”
I recently ran across this quote from Blessed Maria Vincenza Poloni, a nineteenth-century Italian sister. She was co-founder of a Veronese community of women religious who continue to do good works today in Latin America and Africa. It’s just so… human, isn’t it, that someone with that sort of drive and charism could still see herself as “the most inept of creatures”?
It’s a human-ness with which many of us struggle. We know we’re not the best singer in the choir and lose sight of the fact that we’re doing His work when we listen to a friend’s heartbreak. We feel guilty about not doing more to help those living on society’s margins and forget that our commitment helps keep the parish adoration chapel open. We beat ourselves up over gossiping and ignore the life-giving and sometimes saving assistance we provide at a home for abused women.
We all have our roles, and they all are God-sent. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t sing in the choir unless our voice is professional quality. It does mean that a humble focus on doing more of what we do well rather than despairing over what we do not is part of embracing the greatest spiritual gifts.
