Opening Prayer
Lord, I petition for the grace to be faithful in little things, recognizing that You rarely ask for grand heroic sacrifices but often for the endurance of the chaos of the temporal vocation. Help me to cultivate The Little Flowers of Love in the garden of my family and workplace, tending to them with professional patience and care. Let my service to others be marked by a gentleness that reflects Your own kindness toward me.
I offer up my daily frustrations—the spiritual paper cuts of a busy life—as tokens of my desire to be patient and loving. Whether facing domestic disorder or the disordinate social frictions of the workplace, let me accept these moments as real chances to give You my whole heart. May these tiny sacrifices become the daily currency with which I buy immense spiritual growth for my soul and for the salvation of those I serve.
Amen.
Matthew 17:22-26
22And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall rise again. And they were troubled exceedingly. 23And when they were come to Capharnaum, they that received the didrachmas, came to Peter and said to him: Doth not your master pay the didrachmas? 24He said: Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying: What is thy opinion, Simon? The kings of the earth, of whom do they receive tribute or custom? of their own children, or of strangers? 25And he said: Of strangers. Jesus said to him: Then the children are free. 26But that we may not scandalize them, go to the sea, and cast in a hook: and that fish which shall first come up, take: and when thou hast opened its mouth, thou shalt find a stater: take that, and give it to them for me and thee.
St. Jane Frances de Chantal
St. Jane Frances de Chantal, mentored by St. Francis de Sales, highly regards the daily currency of holiness. Jane Frances lived by the belief of the “Little Flowers of Love“. The Gospel narrative of the “temple tax” shows Christ’s humility and subjection to common customs. Frances’s Visitation order was a clinical attempt to live this “easy yoke” through “fidelity in little things”. We must reflect on Jane Frances’s “total abandonment”. She gave all to Christ. Jane Frances was well disposed by her “humble subjection”.
Spiritual advancement is rarely found in grand heroic deeds, but rather in the “petty abrasions of the spirit” encountered in daily life. These minor daily mortifications—misplaced items, tiresome family quirks, or physical discomforts—should be used as “daily currency” to purchase immense spiritual growth. By accepting these “little flowers of love” with patience, we offer tokens of our desire to be faithful in all things.
“Fidelity toward God consists in being perfectly resigned to his holy will, in enduring everything that his goodness allows in our lives, and in carrying out all our duties, especially that of prayer, with love and for love.”
— St. Jane Frances de Chantal
Mary and the Magisterium
Spiritual growth is often found in the “little flowers of love” offered in daily duty. This path requires the same submission of the human mind that Mary displayed in her total “yes” to God.
- Am I "escaping the chaos" of my daily life instead of "embracing its tiniest frustrations"?
- Do I believe that "fidelity in little things" is the path to "perfection of virtue"?
Closing Prayer
Lord, I offer You today all the little things that irritate or burden me.
Amen.
