First must apologize for being away so long but at times these times of reflection as well as a deep look into your introspective on yourself and your abilities in serving God can be life-changing. Today I would like to get started on the subject of whether we want to be a mouse that roared for a mouse whispers. There are peaks and valleys within our reach religious lives and in our faith that we must deal with. While these are not uncommon or even rare they do challenges from time to time to strengthen our faithor prepare us for a future task that Christ has for us to do. When we leave these times of spiritual dryness we are often fired up and looking for the task that is set before us. Just like those who make it through the RCIA program are also fired up to serve their God. In this sense they all want to do something great in the eyes of God and man so they can show just how fired up they are. These people are called the mice that roared. There are some who God gives graces to that are supposed to be a roaring mouse. You can see these people because every task they undertake turns to gold. However it should be noted that in all of these cases these people who can hit the home runs are people who do their tasks for the love of God and not to display before man. This is often where many new Catholics or many beginning Catholics make their mistake. They too want to swing for the fences but this is not the role that God gave them. their role is much smaller they continually try to swing of the bleachers and never hit the ball out of the infield. This can lead for many feelings of frustration, anger, unworthiness and can destroy their faith because they want to talk about their failures to those they know in church and can't talk to anyone else because they would not understand. So instead they quietly withdraw from the church and become one of the millions of Catholics who were no longer active within their faith. This is the evil ones favorite tactic to destroy a member of the church and render him useless. And useless to the body of Christ.
This is because in our rush to show God to prove to God and to those around us how great our faith is we often skip the one question we should always ask. What is your will for me God? It takes many players to make up a baseball or football team each has his own special assignment and that is why he's on the field. The player that is very fast usually bats first because he get on base and steal bases to get into scoring position. The second and third batters are both good contact batters with limited power their task is to get on base safely. The fourth batter is often the strongest and can hit the ball out of the park more times than not. Batters 6,7 and 8 are batters of usually limited abilities but can get on base to boot the rotation of batters around. The ninth better(no I don't believe in the designated hitter role) is usually the worst hitter of all the picture. He can't hit worth a lick but can prevent the other side from scoring and thereby help this team to win. A mouse roars is the fourth batter who didn't hit it out of the park more times than not God gives him the graces to complete his large projects and when he does them he will give the credit to God as wills the glory. Between the picture and the clean up hitter are usually the ones that led to the news paper. But remember the distinction between that home run hitter for the picture they do it for the glory of God not for self. Often a brother or sister unless they are very blessed claim their desire is to serve God and do so for these few there are no thoughts of self however often it is 100 times more the case that although they do not realize it these new Catholics or those who are new to the Scriptures are wanting to serve God and wave a flag screaming hey look what I did. In the remain in this frame of mind until a brother or sister tells him which is rare because the desire to not hurt them is stronger than his desire to correct him in love. So there is a failure on both ends and often this results in the anger and frustration of the new Catholic and often pushes him over the edge to where he becomes an ineffective Catholic as well as a nonactive Catholic. There are some who go through this period of anger and frustration and turn to God for the answers. It is here that they find they are one of the mice that whispered.
Being one of the mice that whispered is it first difficult and leaves the individual asking God if this service is the enough? For those that often wondered that I would like to introduce to you St. Therese the little flower of Liseoux
The answer to this is simple she was assigned by God to be a mouse that whispered into the smallest of things without notice or without praise. She served God with love in her assigned position and never wanted to be a mouse that roared. In reading the books about her as well as her own private writings it is known that she was content in her role as a mouse whispered and trusted God in all things.
The list of things you could do as a mouse that whispered is very very long and to try to write down every job we would both be asleep within the hour. But I do want to bring up a few. One of the greatest ones in my mind and it pulls at my heartstrings the hardest is to talk and bring company to an elderly person. I am sure we have all had the experience of an elderly person that basically talk carrier off and the lease at that time we were thankful to get away! These elderly who are talkative are often very lonely it matters not if they are an old folks home, a veterans hospital, in church or even just down the block. A few minutes of time that you can spare daily or even every couple of days to sit and talk to these people for them is gods greatest blessing. I ask you to pay attention to what I just said to them these talks are God's greatest blessing. Somehow being a mouse that whispered is not so unimportant anymore. The other possibility is to smile everywhere you go and treat every person you meet like you would want to be treated. I admit this is sometimes difficult when a waitress makes a error on your order but what does it cost you to be kind in your correction rather than to scream and yell and complain to the manager? Treat everyone how you want to be treated. It is not so hard to do once you get used to doing it. Another is to smile and tell people God bless you! Those who do not want that blessing will turn away and say nothing but to others those few words can make a bad day a good day because they know somebody cares for them. The last suggestion I have is difficult for some myself included so it is rarely I can do this. The next time you walk into a Denny's or a village inn or any other such type restaurant look around if there is a person in uniform possibly having lunch or dinner with his family ca a manager over and tell him that you want to pick up his check and ask him to make sure it is a anonymous gift. You never know whether or not that husband or wife or mother is about to deploy overseas for a year's tour in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Military families are some of the lowest paid people in this nation. However they do not do this job for pay they do it out of a sense of duty to their nation and the people of our nation. So it never hurts to pick up a check and free up a little money for them to use elsewhere. As I said being a mouse whispered doing something for God's glory and receiving no credit or even being noticed suddenly seems a lot more important than when we began this blog. God gives us graces to our abilities. But because being a mouse that roared sounds to our ears so impressive we swing for this go first. But if you would only step back and look at what it means to be a mouse whispers I think you could join me in saying. Lord God I thank you for the many gifts you have given us in the many graces that you stored upon us. I thank you Lord for making me a mouse that whispered. Help me with your graces to always be a mouse whispered for in this service I find that I may bring you many glories to your name. I asked this in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
by brothers and sisters I hope that you find some use in these words written by someone as unworthy as myself it is my greatest hope that while I pray for you you are praying for me. God bless you and good night
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