Wonder

I heard a homily once, sitting in a metal folding chair in the auditorium at one of the local schools. It was an all girls school, and I had my camera in my lap. There are only so many pictures you can take of someone giving a homily. I leaned my head against the wall behind me and pulled out my phone, jotting down things from his homily. I was writing notes for the post I would later write up for my job, but I was really writing them for myself.

I think people often underestimate the ability of the male clergy to speak to the heart of a woman. One who accepts their role, and asks the Spirit to lead, have often been able to speak truth that I needed to hear, as a woman, not just as a follower of Jesus. This particular mass was being celebrated at an all girls school. The homilist, our dear, somewhat elderly Archbishop. The pairing of teenage girls with a sort of grandfatherly figure could not have seemed less alike, but there he was, and he had the girls attention, you could tell. He had my attention as well.

A line he spoke struck me and keeps striking me, the more that I move it about in my head, trying to wrap my mind around it. The film Wonder Woman had recently come out and was being spoken of, and the line was this: "You do not have to be Wonder Woman in order to achieve God's plan for your life."

This is a relief to me, to hear, and I think it was probably a relief for the girls, especially the seniors, whom feel as though they have to save the world, or at least I did at that age. It seems there is a lot of pressure on us to make our lives WORTH something, as if simply being alive isn't a battle in and of itself. There are a lot of days I have no desire to do something great, but all of the inspirational quotes on Pinterest make me feel as though I have to be all things to all people, which is something I had relinquished in the fact that I can never be a priest and he is the one whom that is expected of.

The reality is, that I have to constantly remind myself, is that I simply have to be me, in communion with the Lord, walking day in and day out and for some people that looks very incredible and some days it does look very incredible for me. But most days, it's just getting up and going to work and being faithful to my prayer and the commitments that I've made. That life is not glamorous, or often spoken of as worthwhile, when it is the reality that is faced.

A little bit ago I was reading St. Faustina's diary and she was writing a list of things she would get permission for and on the list was eating a snack twice a day. And that's about as ordinary as it gets, because eating is something we all have to do, and even St. Faustina, whom Jesus appeared to on the regular, still needed to eat two snacks a day.

I think I've rambled on for a while, but the TL;DR of this post is this: making it through today is enough, as long as you are walking close to Jesus.