Freedom and interdependence

Peace be with you and accompany you always and everywhere and to the ends of the earth. (Mother Cabrini)

Independence day has drawn to a close (although people are still lighting firecrackers in our neighborhood). Our country has been preparing for this day for the past year. Yet, sadly, today many people remain unaware this is the formal name for our Fourth of July celebration because they do not know its history. For 250 years, we have celebrated freedom gained by independence from tyranny. And such independence requires interdependence to achieve and maintain; interdependence upon the Holy Spirit and upon one another.

Unfortunately, our personal independent and self-reliant ways become a barrier to loving God and others. So how do we gain the freedom from our own self-centeredness, neediness, wants, and brokenness necessary to harvest the field (John 4:35)? We have role models and mentors in the saints. Elizabeth of Portugal’s husband and son were at war with each other for five years. In one battle, she rode into the center of the battlefield on a lowly mule. Soldiers on both sides immediately stopped fighting. Her husband and son began to weep, hugged, and the war was ended. Ended by Elizabeth’s humility and the strength of the Holy Spirit residing habitually in her soul. Similarly, in the 17^th century the Venerable Mary Ward entered a room full of angry men shouting and arguing over issues, and the presence of the Holy Spirit within her immediately silenced the entire room. More recently, the 20^th century Servant of God Fr. John Hardon SJ was known to carry a similar presence into his work for the Church. And Saint Claude La Colombiere even gave us a precise to-do list on developing the habit of being God-focused.

How would our homes, families, churches, communities and country be changed if we too became vessels of grace?

It happens when we conduct our duties with joy, each focused on excellence in their own work rather than judging the lack of it in another’s. We can create an environment in our homes and churches such that people respond to the Holy Spirit’s invitation for love and relationship. So that just being on the property, one’s soul stills in peace. We build a foundation in the Spirit in which each one of us is a brick. The mortar holding us together has to be our sharing of that Spirit selflessly, other-focused. Indifferent to thinking what others should or shouldn’t do and instead asking what can I do? Helping to lift the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back rather than being the one to place that last straw on their burden. We help shoulder one another’s burdens not just financially but heart-to-heart. It takes interdependence to gain independence from the enemy and gain the freedom of living in Christ.

Our cause is in His hands; He never abandons those who have an upright heart. (Mother Cabrini)

For any of this to happen, we must pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to reign upon ourselves and family, parish and especially our priests. Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Fortitude, Piety, Fear of the Lord. God taught St. Therese that, in prayer, she could do anything. We too need to put faith into action—the action of prayer.  Before we can serve others, we must first live the Gospel in our own thoughts and work, and that comes from the relationship with God formed through mental prayer. One moment of prayer, as short as a breath, brings Eternal Grace upon the earth that has no ‘expiration date’. Disposing ourselves to God in prayer, emptying our hearts to be filled with Him, each individual becomes His vessel of Grace and through Him, become a collective force.

Love, and God, will take care of the rest. (Mother Cabrini)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam 😊

(Image from Pexels)