Orientation Part Three: Gratitude For Blessings

At Lasallian Volunteer (LV) Orientation at Lewis University during the last ten days of July, as LVs we had sessions on numerous topics.  Staff reviewed with us the organization's policies and procedures, with which we must comply as LVs.  One of the Brothers of the Christian Schools educated us about the life, work and times of Saint John Baptist de la Salle, who founded the order of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the order which in turn founded the staff organization named Lasallian Volunteers, which administers the LV program.  Later we were reminded of the many types of work which the Brothers perform in dozens of countries on five continents.  We went to multiple sessions during which we were trained in the tasks we will be doing as LVs, whether it be teaching, tutoring, working in campus ministry, doing social work, or serving in other ways.  Facilitators led us through discussions about social justice and about various kinds of diversity.  The presenter of one session spoke with us about becoming familiar with the neighborhoods in which we'll be living as LVs.  We received tips about beginning to live in community with others, in the intentionally faith-based community houses where we'll be living as LVs.  Insofar as we'll be living in community which is faith-based, we also received guidance on how to lead prayer sessions, a responsibility which generally all of us will have at multiple points during our service as LVs.

Since Lasallian Volunteers is a Catholic organization, and since it was founded by the Brothers, which is a Catholic order, and since it is affiliated with Catholic schools, the priest at Lewis University facilitated a session during which he fielded questions about the Catholic Mass.  While many LVs are Catholic, some are Protestant Christians.  Others might not identify with any particular denomination of Christianity.  Thus not all LVs are familiar with the Catholic Mass from having attended Mass for years.

By the end of the session during which the priest was answering questions about Mass, I was wondering if some LVs were not enthusiastic about attending Mass despite their Christian heritage.  Although we had already gone at least a few minutes longer than scheduled, and although we were thus overdue to head to the campus cafeteria for lunch, I raised my hand.  Acknowledging the time, I succinctly said that, as many of my fellow LVs already knew, at the end of last year, I finished living in an overwhelmingly Muslim country for two years: I had been living in Morocco in the Peace Corps.  I added that while I was living there, often I wasn't able to attend Mass, and consequently greatly missed spiritual community with other Christians.  I explained that when I returned to the U.S. and attended Mass, I felt so comforted by the spiritual community I felt by the other people singing around me in church that I began to cry out of gratitude for what I hadn't had, and for which I was now so grateful.  I pointed out that so often, we think nothing of singing in church, yet it can be profoundly supportive to others.  I suggested that they meditate upon these thoughts. 

The next day, late in the afternoon on Saturday, the priest said Mass for us in the chapel on campus there at Lewis University.  During communion, the hymn being sung was an adaptation of the Prayer of Peace, which is widely attributed to St. Francis, and which in this case was set to music.  For those of you who think you might not know it, the original prayer reads:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

I have appreciated this prayer for quite some time.  I find its message to be profoundly important, actually crucial, for spiritual development.

As I've noted, since living in Morocco, where I often did not enjoy spiritual community with other Christians, I have very much appreciated hearing other Christians sing when I go to church now.  Thus I certainly appreciated my fellow LVs as they sang the hymn version of the Prayer of Peace.

Yet not only hearing fellow Christians, but more specifically my fellow LVs, with whom I share a passion for helping not just poor persons, but impoverished youths, sing this hymn therefore affected me on additional levels.  Yet, knowing that they also share with me the aspiration to the ideals expressed in the hymn, goals which are demanding, in service of others, I was further comforted by this additional level of spiritual community with them.

They were singing the hymn softly and sweetly, a soft, comforting melody.  In their gentle, soothing tone, they auditorily aspired to the humility, modesty and care which the hymn expresses.  Knowing that I was surrounded by others who value this approach of serving others in life at one's own expense, I began to weep, in gratitude for the treasure, privilege and honor of being in their company.  Having sojourned alone many days in the past, I have so cherished the fellowship and support of those who share my values and ideals, as I did especially at that moment.  I saw my fellow LVs in that moment even more vividly than I had before, as the blessings which they truly are to me and to others.  I am blessed.  Thank you, God.