Small Drops of Oil

Last week Maria Shriver spoke to the graduates of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. In an article in USA Today, she was quoted as suggesting the graduates needed to learn how to pause because, she said, “I believe the state of our communication is out of control. And you? I believe you have the incredible opportunity to fix it.”

She went on to say, “You have the power, each and every one of you, to change the way we as a nation speak to one another.  I truly believe you can change our national discourse for the better...Change it from criticism and fault-finding to understanding and compassion. Change it from nay-saying and name calling to acceptance and appreciation.  Change it from dissembling and dishonesty to openness and explanation. Change from screaming to speaking.” The article went on to report that many graduates were moved to tears. I can see why.

While I was contemplating how to work the above into this week’s post, I received an email from a friend. The subject line was “Pastoral Thought for the Day.” What followed is the quotation from Mother Teresa which I have included below.

“Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. How does a lamp burn? Through the continuous input of small drops of oil. If the drops of oil run out, the light of the lamp will cease. What are these drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things of daily life: faithfulness, punctuality, small words of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being silent, of looking, of speaking, and of acting. These are the true drops of love. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”

This was not something I’d seen previously, but I immediately loved it. I suppose each of these things said by Maria and Teresa fit in nicely with my conclusions of last week. Both put flesh on the bones of the command to love that seems to me to be the heart of what following Jesus is about. 

I’ve been re-reading a history of the papacy. Such reading is not for the faint of heart or those whose faith is shaky. The evils and horrors done to others in the name of the Church, inspired by and/or supported by pope after pope were couched in terms of heresy. Heresy was ultimately defined as disobedience to the Church and the papacy and was essentially removed from the realm of faith per se. Rome, throughout its history, has dealt in what is called propositional faith--belief in a certain set of ideas or statements. Rome, of course, is not alone in this approach. Other Churches and denominations have fallen into the same pattern, making a set of derived ideas as the essential element of faith and, in effect, replacing faith in Jesus as the essential of salvation.

My reading of Scripture and my understanding of history leads me in another way. Candidly, I sometimes have to do some mental finger crossing when I say a creed--a propositional statement of faith. I justify saying it because it is historic and there are those things in it that speak to me. But, I have never had to cross my fingers when I speak of the theme of love that seems to me to permeate the Old Testament and the words of Jesus remembered in the New. Love is always an action and both Maria and Teresa affirm that in ways I endorse, applaud, and try to live.

I hope you find meaning and inspiration in their words too.

Peace,

Jerry