Tuesday, May 09, 2006

He Knows What He is About

We all have times in life when everything seems hectic and there are too many things to do in too short a time. One job piles on top of another and there doesn’t seem to be too much breathing space. There can be those panic-stricken moments when I think that there is only one of me, not fifty million, and that I have only two hands, not several, one brain, not many, and only 24 hours in one day, not infinity.

Today was to be “one of those days”… and then God sent along two beautiful male mallard ducks that perched on the wall alongside the Tiber. Outlined against the black sky of the impending downpour, their shining dark green heads looked beautiful. It occurred to me that, even at the busiest moments, God sends along a moment of light relief. Then, tagged along at the end of an e-mail, was the following famous reflection, written by Cardinal Newman (1801-1890). Whatever is happening, God is there if only I open my eyes.

He Knows What He is About
God has created me to do Him some definite service;
He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another.
I have my mission.
I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good, I shall do His work;
I shall be an angel of peace,
a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it,
if I do but keep His commandments
and serve Him in my calling.
Therefore, I will trust Him.
Whatever, wherever I am,
I can never be thrown away.
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him;
in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him.
He does nothing in vain.
He knows what He is about.
He may take away my friends.
He may throw me among strangers.
He may make me feel desolate,make my spirits sink,
hide my future from me--still He knows what He is about.

God bless,
Sr. Janet