Many of us will celebrate the annual tradition of this coming Thursday as Thanksgiving Day. Our national tradition goes back to 1621 to the giving of thanks by pilgrims and their Native American neighbor s at Plymouth (although history argues that many of the details of the first Thanksgiving are more myth than anything else). The tradition continued through the years, finally being fixed by President Lincoln by decree in 1863 that a national day of thanksgiving should occur on the last Thursday of November. The date was fixed again in 1941 by an act of Congress declaring that the fourth Thursday of November would be the date for Thanksgiving each year. This was a compromise between Republicans and Democrats. President Roosevelt had wanted Thanksgiving on the second to the last Thursday of November to provide for a longer Christmas shopping season to help the American economy. Republicans wanted to keep Thanksgiving on last Thursday of November, as Lincoln had declared, as an honor to the former president. The compromise allowed for both sides to get what they wanted, depending on how many Thursdays were in November in a given year.

No matter what Thursday the holiday is celebrated on, what is important is the reason why the day is celebrated. This is the one federal holiday that is designated as a day of offering thanks to God for the gifts and blessings that he has bestowed on the nation. While many of us will gather with family and friends to give thanks in the afternoon or evening, I invite you to first come to Mass at the Cathedral at 9:00AM, as there is no better way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day than with thanksgiving at Mass. The word Eucharist in Greek means “thanksgiving.” Every time we gather for the Mass, we are gathering to offer thanksgiving to God for his goodness, his mercy, and his love.

Long before the pilgrims at Plymouth gathered for the “first” Thanksgiving, thanksgiving had already been offered on these American shores in the Mass, but no one can be exactly sure when that happened. If you ask the Irish they will tell you it was by St. Brendan all the way back around the year 512 (one of the windows on the south side of the Cathedral commemorates this tradition). We know that Mass was offered on Epiphany on the island of Hispaniola as a part of Columbus’s second voyage in 1494. Finally, most likely by 1498, Henry Cabot’s expedition was exploring Newfoundland and Augustinian friars were among those in his party so Mass was most likely offered on the continent by then.

It is important for our lives to be marked by thanksgiving. Thanksgiving must be a way of life for the Christian, not simply a day on the calendar. Acknowledging that God is the giver of all good gifts, and that our talents and resourcefulness emanate from him, keeps us humble and open to receiving the continued graces that he wants to bestow on us. On behalf of Bishop Paprocki, Father Stock, Father Friedel, Deacon Smith, Deacon Keen, and all of the Cathedral Parish staff, I wish you and yours a blessed and happy Thanksgiving. God bless you!

 Father Christopher House is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in various leadership roles within the diocesan curia, namely Chancellor and Vicar Judicial.

I enjoy working out. After my second child, a switch flipped in my brain and I started lifting weights and changing my eating habits. I think we hear about those kind of transformations all of the time but I’ve learned that training my body and mastering my eating habits also had a profound affect on my spiritual life.

We suffer from a grave disembodiment. We tend to believe that our hearts, our souls, our minds are somehow altogether separate from our bodies. I would argue that they are altogether the same. Our inner life is often reflected from without, and the same can be said in reverse. When we are heavy of heart, we may expound this externally—binging on food (hello, pint/gallon of ice cream) or listening to sad music. When our heart is light, we do the opposite. There is a sense of incredulity when you see someone urging others to give all that they have to holiness when they cannot apply that discipline to how they care for their bodies.

What care are we called to? As with all things, we must operate in “reality as given,” and Christ rarely asks contrary of us. For instance, I have four children under the age of seven and a profound love for writing/theology. I rarely make time for more than an hour in the gym. Even that can be scarce at times. I won’t be training for Olympia or the NYC marathon anytime soon. That’s my “reality as given,” and I’m sure yours is different.

When St. Paul wrote “I beat my body into my slave,” I’m sure he wasn’t speaking of hitting the local gym as much as the spiritual asceticism that even Pope St. John Paul II frequently spoke of as self-mastery.

I remember speaking with my doctor about all of this—fitness and the like. He told me that he struggled with the eating part. He didn’t like the idea of “depriving” himself or the monotony of repetitive meals. I invited him to change his hermeneutic. There’s really no deprivation or monotony if we view it all as simplicity and discipline. Simplicity of life without beckons us into deepening our inner life.

Now, the flipping of my switch that I spoke of didn’t come without suffering—cravings that I chose not to fulfill, painful soreness after moving up in weight on squats, etc. Great love requires suffering. That suffering begets humanity. Even the science behind muscle building requires a breakdown of muscle fibers. And that “breaking down” makes something stronger, just like suffering actually restores our harden hearts with “natural” hearts. Suffering makes way for love.

Ratzinger wrote, “When we know that the way of love—this exodus, this going out of oneself—is the true way by which man becomes human, then we also understand that suffering is the process through which we mature. Anyone who has inwardly accepted suffering becomes more mature and more understanding of others, becomes more human.”

Suffering over a spin class and suffering of spirit may seem vastly different, but taming my flesh has taught me a lot about taming my soul, and it has given me the greater gift of praxis that otherwise I have not. All things point to Christ, and all things that we give credit to the world for are meant to be redeemed for him —even what we eat and even more so how we treat this body that was made to worship him. All for Christ! Everything.

 Rachel Bulman is a wife, mother of 4, speaker, and blogger. This post is found on the Word on Fire website and used with permission. Find more of her work at RachelBulman.com.

  In his apostolic letter to close the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis suggested the Catholic Church set aside one day each year when communities can “reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel.” He designated this day as the “World Day of the Poor.” It will be celebrated on the thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary time (two Sundays before the season of Advent each year.) The second World Day of the Poor is Sunday, November 18, 2018.

 “It would be a day to help communities and each of the baptized to reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel and that, as long as Lazarus lies at the door of our homes (cf. Lk 16:19-21), there can be no justice or social peace. This Day will also represent a genuine form of new evangelization (cf. Mt 11:5) which can renew the face of the Church as She perseveres in her perennial activity of pastoral conversion and witness to mercy.”

 – Pope Francis

 Here are 5 Ways you can observe the World Day of the Poor:

1. Pray for the poor. There are so many people who need our prayers. If you’re overwhelmed and not sure where to start, try praying with your newsfeed. As you see headlines about what’s happening around the world, pause and pray for the people affected by those stories.
2. Learn about the causes of poverty and work to change them. There are many reasons why people around the world are trapped in poverty: lack of jobs, war and climate change that affects what farmers can grow are only a few examples. We can raise our voices together to ask our government to support policies that help address these causes of poverty. Advocate on behalf of people who are hungry and living in poverty by sending a letter to your Representatives and Senators in Congress at support.crs.org/act/nourish-change-13.
3. Support the church’s outreach to the poor. One way to care for the poor around the world is to support the work of Catholic Relief Services, the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS is motivated by the example of Jesus Christ to assist poor and suffering people in more than 100 countries. Go to crs.org/ways-to-give to help our brothers and sisters in need. Cathedral parish is looking to deepen our involvement in caring for the poor locally. Contact Vicki Compton at [email protected] or call 522-3342 to be part of this effort.
4. Make caring for the poor part of your routine. Do you buy coffee, chocolate or Christmas gifts? One way to support lowincome workers around the world is by buying things you use on a regular basis from organizations that pay a fair wage. If you drink coffee or tea, look for a fair trade label, which means that the farmers who harvest the coffee or tea are paid fairly and work in safe conditions. As you begin your Christmas shopping, consider buying gifts from around the world that are produced and traded ethically. Locally you can shop at Simply Fair, 2367 W Monroe and you can find a list of ethical online companies at ethicaltrade.crs.org/guide.
5. Practice the corporal works of mercy. The Corporal Works of Mercy are drawn from Jesus’ life and teachings. They call us to: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, bury the dead and give alms to the poor. Pope Francis added a new work of mercy: to care for God’s creation. The Corporal Works of Mercy offer a clear model and starting point for how to care for our neighbors in need.

 For more information, please contact Vicki Compton at [email protected].

I am not sure your family tradition the night of Thanksgiving, but much to my chagrin I have a few family members that hit the big sales starting that evening. While I am not opposed to snatching a good sale, I always feel uncomfortable thinking about the workers who leave their families to prepare for the mad rush of eager shoppers. I am sure the deals on that evening make it worth it for that special item someone has been asking for all year, but I wish we could just give it one day. In fact, the next day, known as “Black Friday,” is one of the biggest shopping days in the US. Did you known the most popular requested gift card this year is an Amazon gift card? Anyone surprised? The shopping weekend doesn’t end here! We continue onto “Small Business Saturday” and then “Cyber Monday.”

The upcoming weekend is a shopper’s delight! But, something seems to be missing in all of this commotion. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to recognize your blessings! The gift of family, friends, a warm meal; we receive an abundance of blessings! I hate to say it to my fellow shoppers reading this, but wouldn’t it be better to have “giving days” rather than “shopping days” ahead of us?

Good news, “Giving Tuesday” is right around the corner! Giving Tuesday is celebrated on November 27, 2018 and is promoted as a global day of giving. While the day has increased in awareness and popularity since its inception in 2012, it is still unknown to many. Giving Tuesday was created by a team at the Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact and an organization called 92nd Street Y. They wanted to create one day when individuals and communities could celebrate and encourage giving. The day juxtaposes the consumerism culture prominent in days prior. Last year, all types of nonprofits received over 2.5 million gifts which totaled more than 300 million dollars all raised in ONE day! Those numbers are a tremendous example of generosity in a world that sometimes seems to emphasize individualism and consumerism over philanthropy.

So, how can we as Catholics participate in Giving Tuesday? How about responding in the spirit of stewardship? Think about your GPS for a minute. Yes, the GPS that you may have used to navigate you to a store or an event recently. Just as a GPS navigates us to our destination, stewardship helps us navigate our faith life. Ultimately, the destination is being in full communion with Jesus. Here at Cathedral, we will be posting opportunities to use our Stewardship GPS to Give, Pray, and Serve. We invite you to join us.

On November 27th:

• Join us for Mass at 7AM or 5:15PM
• Come in for Confession from 4:15PM- 5:00PM
• Take time reading the Scriptures for the day, easily found on USCCB’s website (http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112718.cfm)
• Pray for those listed on the online prayer wall or listed as a Mass Intention for the week Consider serving at your favorite organization that day or contacting an organization about volunteering
• Call a friend and invite them to an upcoming faith formation event or next Sunday’s Mass

Share with us how you use your Stewardship GPS on Giving Tuesday by engaging in the conversation on Facebook or with your peers. We are all blessed in abundance by God. Let us lead the way (GPS!) by our example on Giving Tuesday!

Katie Price is the Coordinator for Stewardship at the Cathedral. She can be reached at [email protected].

This past Tuesday evening we completed a three part faith formation video series on the Lord Jesus as Priest, Prophet and King. I am grateful to those who participated and for the great conversations that we had at each session. In the series, Bishop Robert Barron explained what these three ministries, what we call the triple munera, meant for Jesus and what they mean for us by virtue of our baptism since we are given a share in them by virtue of this great sacrament.

Our Lord Jesus came to sanctify the world anew, to show us the way to offer right praise to God. By virtue of our baptism, we are called to share in the priestly ministry of Christ by striving for holiness each and every day, by striving to offer God right praise in every aspect of our lives. As a priestly people, we are called to make the world holy by our presence and action in it. The second munera, the prophetic ministry of our baptism, calls us to witness to Christ by calling people back to relationship with God. This was the role of the Prophets in the Scriptures, fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, to call Israel from its sinfulness back to its covenant relationship with the Lord. In a world of false or misguided priorities, this ministry can be very challenging as many people are disinclined to break habits and mind-sets that are contrary to God’s will; sinful as these things may be, people can find a false comfort in them and are not quick to give these things up.

The third ministry of Christ that we share in by virtue of our baptism is that of kingship. What this means for us in the life of the Church is that we are called to maintain proper order. As individuals, we are called to maintain proper order in our lives by fully participating in the life of grace and seeing that sin does not enter in; we must do this because we are a part of the mystical body of Christ and if we are diminished by sin then so also is the whole mystical body. If we find sin in our lives, it must be cut out or pushed back. This is a serious mistake that people make at times, thinking that there can be some co-existence with sin and evil. It isn’t possible. This was the mistake made by many of the kings of Israel. Some blatantly cooperated with evil but others tragically compromised with it in various ways. Though sometimes well intentioned, any attempt to compromise or coexist with evil leads to bad kingship.

While all of the faithful are given a share in these three-fold ministries, those men who are in Sacred Orders by virtue of ordination have a unique responsibility in fulfilling these offices in the Church through teaching, governing, and sanctifying. Among them, the bishops of the Church have the greatest responsibility. They are the successors of the Apostles and it is through them that priests and deacons are ordained and ordered to assist them in these three sacred functions. This week the bishops of the United States will be holding their annual fall meeting in Baltimore and they have asked for our prayers. It is no secret that there has been poor exercise of the Kingly charism by some in governance and the bishops will be meeting to address these issues along with other pressing and difficult questions for the good of the faithful of this nation and the Church at large.

It is an unenviable task that the bishops have, to be responsible for every soul in their own particular diocese and to also share in responsibility for the greater Church. They need our prayers. The vast majority of the bishops are good and holy men who need the grace of God as much as we do and some perhaps even more. Let us pray for them, especially for our own bishop, Thomas John, that God will grant them zeal, courage, and fortitude in safeguarding the good of the faithful, especially the most vulnerable, as we all strive to answer the Lord’s call in our lives and journey towards his Kingdom.

Father Christopher House is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in various leadership roles within the diocesan curia, namely Chancellor and Vicar Judicial.

Peace in our world is something that we all dream of, though we often feel paralyzed in our efforts to bring about peace. Watching news clips of the political and religious turmoil present in our world today is enough to make even the most optimistic person sit back and wonder if peace is something that can be achieved.

The question that has often come to mind when I think about the daunting task of world peace, is how on earth can I, as an individual, really make a difference from day to day?

John Henry Newman (1801– 1890) in part answers this question in his statement “holiness before peace.”

Newman claims that true peace can only be found through becoming holy. But what does this mean for us as we go about our daily lives?

The answer to this sounds quite simple: The closer one grows to God, the more peaceful one becomes. That’s because as Christians, we believe that peace on earth ultimately stems from the peace of God. How does this work, practically speaking? Every act of holiness (going to Mass, praying the rosary, helping the homeless) allows God to act in our lives, which in turn allows God to act through us in bringing about peace in the world. As we ourselves grow holier, this allows us to participate in God’s peace, which ultimately influences those around us.

Sometimes bringing about peace in our world can be as simple as a smile or hug to someone who needs it. We recognize Christ in our neighbors, and so we also allow Christ to work through us in our interactions with our neighbors.

Peace, even in the simplest of gestures, originates in God.

Reflecting upon Newman’s idea that peace stems from holiness, we begin to see that the peace that God gives to us as we grow in holiness is actually a gift for the world. St. Teresa of Calcutta is a great example of peace stemming from holiness. St. Teresa often spoke about her work as a mission of love. She understood her mission to the poor as originating in her worship in the Mass and her participation in the devotions of the Catholic Church, such as the rosary, daily prayer, and feeding the hungry. The peace that St. Teresa exuded in her work with the poor flowed out of her experience of Christ in the Eucharist and her closeness to God, and even though she didn’t always feel the love of God, she cognitively knew that God was present.

While most of us don’t lead the extraordinary life of a St. Teresa, the wisdom of holiness leading to peace is certainly relevant to all of us. As Catholics, Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is present to all of us. This living encounter through the Eucharist changes all of us and brings us all closer to God.

Our daily prayers, rituals like journaling, and acts of mercy like helping the poor or visiting a sick friend all aid in our growth toward God.

In turn, our worship at Mass, accompanied by the daily nourishment of prayer, changes us from the inside out and inspires us to work for peace, whether it be buying a cup of coffee for a person having a bad day or feeding an entire nation. All of these acts come from God and bring us closer to the peace of Christ and help us to build a peaceful society.

May we as Christians remember where peace ultimately originates: in Christ’s love for his people.

Elizabeth H. Farnsworth heads the daily operations for the National Institute for Newman Studies’ Newman Studies Journal, which provides scholars with top-tier knowledge on Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman’s life, work, and influence. She is also currently a doctoral candidate in theology at the University of Dayton.

At the close of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis suggested that the Church set aside one day each year for communities to “reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel .” He designated this day as the World Day of the Poor, to be celebrated each year on the 33rdSunday in Ordinary Time.

It is right that during our Season of Stewardship and during the season of Thanksgiving that we take some time to reflect on how the Gospel is calling us as individuals and as a parish family to serve the poor. The widow who fed Elijah with the last of her flour and the widow in the Gospel of Mark help us understand that God is calling us to extravagant generosity. We are called to give all. Really, it’s ridiculous! And impossible. Except for those of us in whom Christ lives. And so it is not impossible. St. Teresa of Calcutta said that The Holy Hour before the Eucharist should lead us to a “holy hour” with the poor. Our Eucharist is incomplete if it does not make us love and serve the poor.”

The Cathedral parish, and its members, are active in a wide variety of service activities, and welcome the opportunity to serve people in need in our parish and beyond. There have been many opportunities over the years for parishioners to support the local community. Here is what we have been doing lately:

Catholic Charities Holy Family Food Pantry
A collection bin is in the Atrium for an ongoing food collection for the Holy Family Food Pantry. In the past, the CCCW members collected non-perishable food at their fall meetings to fill the Holy Family Food Pantry Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets. Beginning this year, all parishioners are invited to participate in this giving opportunity. A list of suggested food items has appeared in the bulletin and cash donations are also accepted. Place a check or cash in an envelope marked “Food Pantry” and drop it in the collection basket.

Helping Hands Food Ministry
We are completing our 13th year of providing a home-cooked meal for the 50 men who seek shelter at Helping Hands. Teams provide a meal on the 4th Saturday of each month. Each January an organizational meeting is held to form teams and plan meals for the year. Volunteers prepare the food, purchase drinks and disposable dinnerware, deliver and serve the meal.

Christ Child Shower
The CCCW has coordinated the Christ Child Shower for many years. Generous contributions of items for babies, preschool children and pregnant/new mothers are accepted and divided between the Pregnancy Care Center and Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery for distribution to their client families.

Blessing Bags
Parishioners donate toiletries, personal care items, socks, etc. to make Blessing Bags for individuals who are homebound or who cannot afford them. In 2018, a group of CCCW ladies and their families prepared packages for 65 residents of a local nursing home as well as 18 home bound Cathedral parishioners in Sister Francella’s ministry. In past years, these bags were also provided to Helping Hands to provide needed items to homeless individuals.

Socktober
Borrowing this idea from other parishes, Cathedral parishioners donated almost 500 pairs of socks, hats and gloves for area shelters! We will make this much needed service an annual giving opportunity.

Breadline Sunday
Held annually on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Breadline Sunday is an easy way to donate to St. John’s Breadline and get the bread for your Thanksgiving stuffing.

All these ways of helping are essential for vulnerable members of our community and the agencies who assist them. But there may be ways we can do more to address the root causes of homelessness or perhaps join with the Heartland Continuum to seek long-term solutions.

The Heartland Continuum is an organization of all agencies and individuals who serve the homeless population or are interested in helping. These agencies include shelters, soup kitchens, resource areas, and day services. To learn more about the Heartland Continuum and what is going on in Springfield to help people experiencing homelessness, visit heartlandcontinuum.com

If you are interested in helping our parish discern how to better care for those in need, please come on Monday, December 10, at 6 p.m. to the Atrium for a 45-minute presentation called “Healthy Spaces for Helping.” This is a session about the effects of trauma (abuse, neglect, living in poverty) on children and adults. We’ll learn about why being trauma-aware is essential to responding to the needs of our community, particularly people and populations who are homeless or who live in poverty. If you are interested, please contact Vicki Compton at [email protected] or by calling 522-3342. All parishioners and friends of the Cathedral are welcome!

 Vicki Compton is the Coordinator of Faith Formation and Mission at the Cathedral. She can be contacted by calling the Parish Offices or emailing her directly at [email protected].

The winds of the last Sunday in October took many leaves with them but the colors of the season are still in full bloom. The beauty of creation in autumn is also a harbinger of the coming of winter when much of creation will enter into its deep sleep. While the winter may be cold and dark, we know that light and warmth will return again as springtime will call creation back into new life, yet we still must face the winter. The same is true in our lives that this earthly life must come to an end. As we begin the month of November, the month of All Souls, it is good for us to be reminded of what the Church terms the Four Last Things: death, judgement, hell, and heaven.

They say that there are two unavoidable realities in life: death and taxes. That statement is only half true. You can avoid taxes, I don’t advise it, but people do try and some are successful. Some people try to avoid death but no one has succeeded there. Life is the time and opportunity for us to accept God’s grace and to cooperate with it. While death is perceived as the natural course of life, death is also understood from a religious perspective as an aberration, as a consequence of sin, that was not made nor intended by God (see Wisdom 1:13 & 2:24). A disciple should be able to see a distinction between death and Christian death. For the faithful Christian death has been transformed into nothing more than a doorway to a new and greater life with God in Christ.

This year on the Solemnity of Christ the King (two weeks from now) we will hear the Gospel of the Last Judgment proclaimed to us at Mass. While the Scriptures speak of this general judgment the Church also speaks of particular judgment that all of us will face at the moment of death. Our own innate sense of justice moves us to believe that there must be some final reckoning concerning what good, or lack thereof, that we did in our earthly life. This judgement is not so much about God rendering a decision regarding us but rather fulfilling the choice we made by how we lived, as St. Paul teaches us “for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor 5: 10). From this judgment, we then enter into one of two destinies: eternal life or eternal damnation.

For those who live and die in God’s friendship, they can be assured of everlasting life with him in heaven. This eternal destiny may be entered into immediately for those who die without any attachment to sin or after a period of purification for those who die, not in mortal sin, but with an attachment to venial sin. This process of purging is known as purgatory. Every soul in purgatory is destined for union with God in heaven. The pain of purgatory is not an intentional punishment inflicted by God but rather it is the result of the pain of separation experienced by the soul until it achieves perfect union with God.

For those who die in a state of mortal sin, having made a clear, manifested choice against God, the Church teaches that those souls suffer the eternal torments of hell. The suffering of hell is not one of fire and brimstone, but one of complete and everlasting separation from God with full knowledge of what has been lost. The Church teaches that hell does indeed exist and the Lord Jesus warns us of it in the Scriptures. While the Church affirms hell’s existence, she does not formally teach that anyone is there except the devil and his fallen angels.

Death and judgment are realities that all of us must one day face, but for those who strive daily to live in God’s friendship, sinners though we are, we have nothing to fear for we have a loving and merciful God. Let us keep our hearts open to that love and mercy every day. If you would like to learn more about the Four Last Things, I invite you to two upcoming faith formation sessions on the subject with Fr. Stock on November 19th and 26th at 7PM in the Cathedral Atrium.

Father Christopher House is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in various leadership roles within the diocesan curia, namely Chancellor and Vicar Judicial.

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
— St. Teresa of Ávila

When I first read the words of this beautiful prayer by St. Teresa of Ávila, I felt they truly summed up how I wanted to live my life — by sharing God’s love with those around me. My own prayer became focused on finding ways to love the people I meet, even in the routine circumstances of my day.

He was perhaps 5 years old, standing in my open doorway and waiting for me to notice him. When I greeted the little boy, he whispered in his best English: “My mother asks you give her painkillers. Her tooth is hurting.” Because my husband and I run a tourist lodge in Gambia, I spend the winter months in this tiny West African country. Many people live hand-to-mouth, and finding money to go to a health clinic is beyond them. Our neighbors know I keep a basic first aid kit and painkillers on hand, so it’s a rare week when someone doesn’t appear at our door asking for help. It’s one small way I can show love to my community. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself, and he lived out that commandment daily. He brought God’s love to those on the margins of society, stood up against injustice, and showed compassion for those he met.

St. Teresa was born in Spain in 1515. As a young woman, she became a Carmelite nun, but for many years she found it difficult to devote herself as fully to God as she wanted. But eventually, after a series of visions, she felt herself becoming closer and closer to God, founding her own religious order despite much opposition. She focused on living a life of simplicity and experiencing God’s love, motivating her to show that love to those around her. This famous prayer sums up her attitude. It’s become a very real inspiration for me here in one of the poorest countries in Africa. Here are a few ways you too can bring this prayer to life:

Yours are the eyes that look with compassion

When Jesus looked at people he met, he didn’t judge them by the standards of the day. He looked beyond the outward circumstances of their lives — circumstances that sometimes invited condemnation from the religious leaders and the community — and showed love toward them. Think about his compassionate exchange with the woman caught in adultery or his interactions with Zacchaeus, the tax collector reviled in his community. With these examples in mind, I’m trying to look at others with the same compassion, without judging or condemning, even those who perhaps don’t invite it easily.

Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world

Jesus used his hands to work as a skilled carpenter. We, too, have skills we can use to help others, such as helping a friend fix their car, using your gifts to update the church website, or cleaning up a neighbor’s yard after a storm. Jesus also blessed people with his hands, like the children who were brought to him despite the disciples’ disapproval. In the past, I’ve cooked a meal for an elderly neighbor, sewed drapes for a friend’s new home, and soothed a fretful baby so a new mom could steal some sleep. These are all practical ways we can use our hands to bless others. Jesus also used his hands to heal. He spread mud on a blind man’s eyes, lifted Jairus’ daughter from her deathbed, and even touched lepers despite the fear and revulsion of most people at the time. We can all hold the hand of a sick friend when praying for their healing, console a teen who’s disappointed after not making the team, or hug a grieving friend.

Yours are the feet that walk to do good

Jesus walked everywhere, crisscrossing the region constantly because walking was the only way to travel unless you were rich. During his journeying, Jesus reached out to others. He talked with the woman at the well and taught those who walked miles and sat for hours just to listen to him speak. He even walked to Bethany, knowing that his friend Lazarus had died, to comfort Martha and Mary and ultimately raise Lazarus to life again.

Use your feet to do good by doing a walk or run for charity. A few years back, I raised money for Cancer Research UK by taking part in a 5K run. The thought that I was helping others was a great motivation when I was training! By extension, drive a friend to a doctor’s appointment or take a neighbor to the grocery store. You might travel yourself to visit a friend in the hospital or volunteer at a shelter for the homeless. Some might even feel called to travel worldwide, perhaps to serve on a hospital ship or volunteer their medical expertise.

Learning to live St. Teresa’s prayer means looking for opportunities to bring God’s love to others, including small acts of compassion in our daily lives. Praying St. Teresa’s prayer has made me much more aware of God’s compassion toward people I meet every day — in line at the grocery store, waiting for the bus, or simply someone I pass in the street. I feel closer to God because I’m learning to see others through his eyes. So every day, I’m trying to look for ways to use my hands, feet, and whole body to show God’s love to everyone.

Elizabeth Manneh is a freelance writer, sharing her time between the UK and The Gambia, West Africa. This article is used with permission from Busted Halo and can be found here: https://bit.ly/2zhfZ4l