A moving anecdote.
She never went to school. Never learnt how to write or read. Yet she was so wise! This African black girl one day went to a missionary who had been serving the local Church there for over twenty years. She asked him simply:
“Father, can you help me, please? I need some advice from you.”
“Certainly, ” answered the friar, “I am all ears!”
“What can I do to show my gratitude to Mary? I want to thank her.”
“Has She been kind to you? Have you received a special grace from her?”
“Yes,” answered peacefully the little girl. “My sister was very ill and so we agreed to start a novena to Our Lady so that Mary would heal my sister. We prayed a lot and on the last day of the novena my sister died. She died very gently, with the name of Jesus on her lips. What can I do to thank Mary?”
The friar thought he had not understood correctly so he asked, “What did you say? You mean that your sister recovered, not that she …died?”
“No, Father, she died. We desired that she would live. Me and my sister we were very close. We shall miss each other. But the Madonna gave us a more beautiful present. My sister died. Mary came and took her straight to Jesus who now will love her forever. His love is better than mine!”
Prayer, someone remarked, is not forcing God to do our will but letting God bend ours!
There are those who talk about the Gospel, and there are those who live it.
There are those who reflect with their minds, and there are those who reason with the mind of God.
“Why is it that everyone here is happy except me, ” asked the disciple of the Master.
“Because they have learned to see the goodness and beauty which is around them,” answered the Master.
“But why do I not see the goodness and beauty around me,” the disciple persisted.
“Because one cannot see outside him what he cannot see within himself,” answered the Master.
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We can only grow in love by trusting.
Faith is always a risk.
But it is the only risk which gives us the key to beauty and wonder.