Today we read about Blessed Marie-Anne Blondin in the book In Caelo et in Terra. And what we read is very reassuring. I'll tell you why.
She was born Esther Blondin in Quebec. She did not learn to read growing up, and it wasn't until she was 22 years old that she was taught to read. She was thrilled with this new ability, and wanted to teach others. So, long story short, she started schools in her religious community where she taught boys and girls together. This was an innovation at the time. A priest was sent to her area to supervise the work being done, and he highly disapproved of Esther, who by then had taken the religious name of Marie-Anne. She was forced to leave the teaching work she'd been doing and spent the remainder of her days doing laundry and other menial tasks in obscurity. But she wrote in her journal that she happily accepted God's will for her, even if it meant never teaching again but only serving Him in other ways, and finding Him in the Eucharist. You can read more about her here.
I can tell you from repeated personal experience that there are times when God calls us to this type of obscurity. To being humble and quiet, doing menial work and finding joy in the simple things and in Jesus Himself. It can be confusing at times, especially when others who are close to you do amazing, high profile and fun things with their lives, but God calls YOU to do simple, mundane, and boring things. It feels like you've made a wrong turn somewhere, or that life is treating you unfairly. But God is teaching you. He's working in your heart, and sometimes the best classroom is the humdrum, mundane, menial day-to-day repetition of boring work. That's where humility really grows in our hearts and we learn to do WHATEVER He asks, whether it's spectacular.... or just folding clothes.
God, thank You for teaching us what we need to learn... even when the method is a little confusing. Blessed Marie-Anne Blondin, pray for us.
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