Doing Good Quietly

One of the noteworthy characteristics of Marist Spirituality is doing good quietly.  Yesterday's celebration of the Nativity of Mary called to mind her birth in obscurity.  No fanfare, no neon lights announcing that the mother of God had just come into the world.  It is only through an apocryphal gospel that we know the names of her parents,  Mary first makes an appearance in St. Luke during the annunciation story.  She appears in the Gospels at most seven times and her words are brief.  Yet the good that has come from her cannot be measured.
St. Peter Claver, whose Memorial we observe today, spent his life as "the slave of the African slaves" in Columbia, South America where for 38 years he quietly ministered to the bodies and souls of these men, women and children who had been captured and sold into slavery.  No fanfare, no lights again, but through his efforts hundreds of thousands found love and care and entered the church. He himself contracted the plague and suffered alone in shameful neglect, but at his death the church and city of Cartegena competed to shower him with honors.
As we go about our daily work and interactions, we might keep Mary and Peter Claver in mind and "not let our left hand know what our right is doing" as Jesus suggested.
Bro. Rene