Reaching Outside of Ourselves to Serve. Saturday, March 15. Lent 2014.

The more I am reading about Montfort,

the more I am finding that he was not really a people person.

He didn’t have much interest in relationships,

only in serving God.

This is really intriguing to me.

I also think it’s relevant.

Our personalities and preferences seem to be a way out.

A way out of doing things we don’t want to;

of excusing ourselves from uncomfortable situations.

I’m not the biggest people person by any means.

And I let that notion weasel its way into my life.

Then there are the people who constantly need to be surrounded by others.

As well as everything in between.

These terms

and conceptions

and ways that we view ourselves are by no means false,

but they can be a hindrance,

and a blockage.

Montfort was not a people person,

but he did not allow that to take away from him serving God.

In fact, he had a deep love for serving the poor.

I’m not a people person

but sometimes (often) I do let that take away from serving God.

I’d much rather stay in my anti-social bubble.

Maybe I can serve the Lord from there sometimes,

but not always.

We are called to serve God.

He has given us unique personalities and traits to do so.

However, He also challenges us.

We have our distinct personalities for a purpose

but what is on the outside of our comfort zone?

In what new ways can we serve Him?

How can we share His love today?

“They will be ministers of the Lord, who, like a flaming fire, will enkindle everywhere the fires of divine love.”

This Lenten blog series is based upon St. Louis de Montfort's writings. Unless otherwise noted, all the phrases in quotation marks are taken from the book Jesus Living in Mary.