The number one trusted online resource for Catholic values
Menu
A+ A A-

Trustworthy in Small Matters

  • FR. DONALD HAGGERTY

The most telling evidence of our need to grow in love may be our omissions when an opportunity for a smaller gesture of love presents itself.


masaccio-6793Lack of generosity in the small moments of the day can have a cumulative effect on our soul.  The danger is that we begin to lose awareness of the indistinguishable nature of love's demands. 

God does not measure differences in love according to the apparent magnitude of what we choose in that moment.  Nor does he compare one hour to the next when he asks us to give ourselves in love in the present hour.  For God, all that matters is our willingness to give fully in love to the current hour of need no matter what is available for our choosing....

The most important acts of a holy life take place in secret, within quiet depths of the soul.  And these most important acts are the offerings it makes for others.  There is no great love of God unless a soul is great in offering itself for others.  And this begins in the intensity of its prayer, where God alone sees.

This is Meaghen Gonzalez, Editor of CERC. I hope you appreciated this piece. We curate these articles especially for believers like you.

Please show your appreciation by making a $3 donation. CERC is entirely reader supported.

dividertop

Acknowledgement

haggertyFr. Donald Haggerty. "Trustworthy in Small Matters." The Contemplative Hunger (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2016).

Reprinted with permission from Ignatius Press.

The Author

haggerty1Fr. Donald Haggerty, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, serves at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. He has been a Professor of Moral Theology at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York and Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland and has a long association as a spiritual director for Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. He is author of Conversion: Spiritual Insights into an Essential Encounter with GodContemplative ProvocationsContemplative Enigmas: Insights and Aid on the Path to Deeper Prayer, and The Contemplative Hunger.

Copyright © 2016 Ignatius Press