Dear Madge,<\/p>\n
I think your dilemma may be less thorny than you suspect, for two reasons.\u00a0 First, even though your foresight is commendable, there\u2019s no reason you have to make a final decision on career\/vocation right now.\u00a0 Junior year went well, you\u2019re looking forward to a productive senior year and have plenty of worthwhile things on the agenda \u2013 there\u2019s no rush.\u00a0 Don\u2019t use this as an excuse to procrastinate or hem and haw, but don\u2019t let yourself fret unnecessarily.\u00a0 Second, and this is the more important reason, the issue is less \u201cWhere can my talents be better used?\u201d as you put it in your last email, and more \u201cWhat is God asking of me?\u201d\u00a0 Maybe today\u2019s saint can clarify my point.<\/p>\n
According to the Roman liturgy (that\u2019s the one that we Roman Catholics follow, the one the Pope follows), today\u2019s saint appears under three guises in the New Testament: the woman who was a public sinner (Luke 8) and a public penitent, whose sins Jesus forgave as she washed his feet with her hair, much to the scandal of his Pharisee host; Mary Magdalene the Lord\u2019s disciple, who was present at the crucifixion and was the first to see Jesus after his resurrection (John 20); and Mary of Bethany (Luke 10, John 12), sister to Martha and Lazarus.\u00a0 Though identifying these three personages as one person is still challenged by Christians in the east (and even some Catholics), it coheres with one of those ancient traditions that are difficult to refute.\u00a0 Mary was a public sinner whose heart was moved to repentance by the Lord.\u00a0 From then on, she devoted herself to following him, serving him, and living out his doctrine.\u00a0 Most ancient writers agree that after the Lord\u2019s resurrection and ascension, she went with St John the Evangelist and the Virgin Mary to Ephesus, where she dedicated herself to prayer and works of charity until she died.\u00a0 Through the centuries she has become the archetypal Christian figure of conversion, and also of contemplation \u2013 she is one who \u201cloved much\u201d since she had been \u201cforgiven much\u201d.<\/p>\n
You may remember the scene from Luke 8, when Mary came bursting in to Simon the Pharisee\u2019s villa, where he and his guests (Jesus included) were eating.\u00a0 Everyone knew that she was a far from exemplary woman (this doesn\u2019t necessarily mean she was a prostitute, she may have simply been someone who abandoned her Jewish customs and faith in order to make progress with the wealthy, pagan upper class).\u00a0 She goes right to Jesus, does him homage, and begins to anoint and wash his feet with her tears and her hair.\u00a0 It was a scene repeated later in the Gospels, when Jesus was dining in Bethany the week of his Passion, though on this occasion Mary didn\u2019t use her tears but a costly perfume \u2013 she broke the alabaster jar that contained it and poured it out generously to honor her Lord and Savior.\u00a0 And Judas complained.<\/p>\n
The Church has always seen that gesture as an eloquent expression of the kind of love we ought to have for Jesus \u2013 uncalculated, unlimited, generous love.\u00a0 Judas was the calculating one, and we know where he ended up.<\/p>\n
I suggest that you pray the way Mary Magdalene did: pour out all your love before the Lord, break the alabaster jar of your talents and give them to him without reserve, trusting that he will know how to make the best use of them.\u00a0 If you can cultivate this attitude of total surrender, I have no doubt that your life will spread the beautiful aroma of Christ throughout the world, just at St Mary Magdalene\u2019s has.<\/p>\n
Your loving uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Madge, I think your dilemma may be less thorny than you suspect, for two reasons.\u00a0 First, even though your foresight is commendable, there\u2019s no reason you have to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n