A Call To Love

I posted yesterday's slice of bread one minute after the deadline, so it will appear with today's slice.  I apologize.

October presents three great women who discovered that their call in life was simply (or not so simply) to LOVE:  Mary, our Good Mother, (October is the Month of the Holy Rosary), St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, whose memorial it is today, and St. Teresa of Avila, whose memorial is on October 15th.
When she was 15, Therese Martin stated very clearly, "My vocation is to love."  She received permission to enter the Carmel at Lisieux and for nine years lived that vocation on this earth.  Since her death at the age of 24, she has kept her promise of "spending her heaven doing good on earth." and her vocation to love continues in the inspiration and miracles attributed to her.  She died on September 30, 1897. and was canonized in 1925, remarkably fast in those days.  She was declared patroness of the Missions in 1927, and a Doctor of the Church in 1997. Her simple "little way" makes spirituality accessible to all of us and consists in accepting with LOVE all that comes our way in the course of a day, and by doing all our daily tasks and duties with love.  It certainly means loving all people who come into our life.  Love is the key.
 Her vocation was tested in the convent where she was criticized for her youth, or wrongly accused for receiving special favor from her sister who was the Prioress, or where she found menial tasks like doing laundry and being splashed by a neighboring sister with dirty soapy water, or with the suffering caused by her bout with tuberculosis.  She cannot be accused of a "pie in the sky" spirituality, but one filled with the nitty-gritties we all face.  The difference was how she dealt with them  and that was with love.  Something to keep in mind when we see a symbol on our dashboard indicated a low tire, or when traffic makes us late for work. It's all very real, it's all very doable with love,
Bro. Rene