for his love endures forever

This morning as we enter fully into the weekend, on this day, October 1st, we recall to mind the Little flower, St. Theresa of the child Jesus of Lisieux.

She struggled with her vocation, her calling in life. She wanted to be many things, a preacher, a teacher, a missionary, a martyr. She wanted to give God her entire life.

In the midst of her search she came upon a revelation: "Set your desires on the greater gifts. And I will show you the way which surpasses all others. For St. PAul insists that the greater gifts are nothing at all without love and that this same love is surely the best path leading directly to God. At length I had found peace of mind."

She exclaims that "love appeared to be the hinge for my vocation... I knew that the church had a heart and such a heart appeared aflame with love...Love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love ebraces every time and every place. In one word Love is everlasting."

Thus began her little way of martyrdom, dying to self so that she might live for love, seeking the highest good for herself and for others.

Psalm 136 in the Old testament recounts God's actions in history. The psalm itself is built around a refrain that repeats every second line, for instance:

"who alone has wrought marvelous works
for his love endures forever
whose wisdom it was made the skies
for his love endures for ever
who fixed the earthly firmly on the seas
for his love endures for ever..."

And it continues. But the refrain is what makes the psalm, it answers the question, why does God do what he does, "for his love endures forever."

He is love; he is everlasting; his love and himself are the same thing; thus love never fails.

The hinge of every vocation is love because this is our destiny; therefore it must be our calling; it must that which calls us forth into life.

Read Psalm 136 today as your morning offering, perhaps with a cup of coffee. Let it soak in. Look upon the world and listen for the refrain: his love endures forever and there you shall find renewed strength for today, regardless of what happened yesterday, for his love endures for ever and it calls each of us forth into newness of life.

St. Theresa pray for us!