Interior life of the spirit

"In your poverty seek the Lord above all," are words of Venerable Mother Frances Streitel, Foundress of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother.  The Third Order Rule of St. Francis states this in the following manner: "Do not make anything your own, neither house,nor place, nor anything at all" (LR 6:1).  This week something I value highly was taken away and given to another.  In my hurt and anger, I distorted the reason for the action. As I took my pain to the Lord, I was given the grace to realize that what I was being asked to surrender paled in the light of Jesus giving His life on the wood of the cross for the salvation of humanity.  This insight certainly put things in perspective for me and gave me the strength to let go and let God transform my being more and more into the image of His Son.  As John the Baptist acknowledged: Christ must increase and I decrease, a grace I see being realized in the faces of the elderly, the sick and the dying of all walks of life and, yes, in children learning their faith, as was true of Mother Frances as a child.