“We May Surprise Ourself”

“Oh, what can I do… I’m just a small leaf blowing in the wind. Look at the gigantic problems of the world….. what can I do. In fact, why even bother.” I think that’s a feeling common to us all. Yet, when we do what God calls us to do, we may be surprised by  the results ….. we may even become saints and affect the entire world. “ Hey Dave, let’s calm down a bit, take it easy…hold off on the canonization…” Yet I would hazard to guess that hardly any of the saints thought that they would ever be pronounced a saint. 

The feast of St. Ambrose was December 7^th. St. Ambrose’s father died soon after his birth and he was raised by his mother and elder sister who was a nun…. not a terrific start for a man who ended up doing wonderful things for God. Ambrose became a great saint and doctor of the church and was instrumental in the conversion of St. Augustine. 

We read that, “Saint Ambrose proclaimed the coming of Christ in troubled times not so different from our own. When others were abandoning the true faith for false concepts of Christ, Ambrose remained steadfast and taught his people fidelity by preaching, writing, and composing inspiring hymns still sung today… Ambrose won the hearts of his people with his direct, compassionate pastoral style, drawing them away from Arian influences and to the true faith. A great defender of the Church, Ambrose died in 397, and is counted among the West’s four greatest Doctors of the Church. God poured out his Holy Spirit into Saint Ambrose, that he might preach and teach and sing God’s praises with wisdom and eloquence.” (Magnificat, Dec. 7, 2023)

We live in times not so different from the times of St. Ambrose…. from the times of any other saints; the world, the flesh, and the devil are always sneaking around no matter in what times we live. We are called to hear and obey the words of the Lord today in the midst of our life. We will probably not see the results of our labor right away….. we may not see the fruits of our labor even during our lifetime. Yet, if we follow the Lord, great things will happen due to our YES…. in God’s perfect timing.

Whether we’re a father or mother or doorkeeper or plumber or bookkeeper or doctor or lawyer or teacher or priest…..if we carry out our vocation by obeying the Lord in our day to day duties, the results will be wonderful… we will do great things for God. Again we may not see these results in our lifetime, but they will develop and bring about wonderful fruit.

So, let’s just do what the Lord calls us to do and leave the results to Him. And we will be pleasantly surprised. Who knows…. we may even become a saint…. or be walking in the midst of saints. Now that would be a very pleasant development….. really Good News.