The interior life of the spirit

"In your poverty seek the Lord above all" are words spoken by Venerable Mother Frances, Foundress of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother. The Third Order Rule for Franciscans states this in the following manner: "Do not make anything your own, neither house, nor place,nor anything at all" (LR 6:1).  This week something I value highly was taken away from me and given to another. In my hurt and anger I distorted the reason for the action. As I took my pain to the Lord, I realized that what I was being asked to surrender to another paled in the light of Jesus giving up His life on the cross as willed by His Father and doing so for the salvation of all humankind.  This insight certainly put things in perspective for me and gave me the strength to let go and let God transform my being more and more into the image of His Son.  As John the Baptist acknowledged: Christ must increase and I decrease, a grace I see being realized daily in the faces of the elderly, the sick and the dying of all walks of life and, yes, in children learning their faith as Mother Frances did as a child.