“. I exhort you in advance to moderation and prudence… for you need both.[…] Does conscience require one to forsake one’s special task to embrace another, however better it be in appearance? […] No my dear friend, that is not the way to go about things. It is a poor concept of obedience to be always doing the opposite of what is prescribed. You cut a dash, you earn men’s plaudits, you may even do some good, but you fail to do your duty – and what profit can one expect in such circumstances from even the most brilliant of deeds.”  (Letter To Father Mille, at Billens  April 21, 1832:  420:VIII in Oblate Writings)

The words of a father speaking to his children, honest and direct, coming out of love.  So upon hearing them I need to consciously listen and then with great and utter honesty look at them and see how they might apply to me.

Obedience – with that I may not have fame or fortune, nor will I be noticed, lauded, held up for the world (small or big) to see and applaud.  I will instead be letting go of those parts of myself.  Obedient to whom – to God, to the Church, to my community, etc.  No standing out in front of, or ‘cutting a dash’ as Eugene put it, to earn peoples’ praise.  That would be nice but I actually want more than that.

Obedience  – it is here that the most vital parts of myself, my heart, my soul, will grow, develop, flourish.  Another part of my ‘letting go’ it would seem.  Don’t always know why.  My own sight is short but for God who knows every nook and cranny of my being nothing is a problem.