Thought of the Day



Sunday, 26 April 2009

Humility and simplicity.

I've been thinking a lot about education lately. I don't have any. Well, I went through high school and received my diploma but that's it. Then I got married and had two kids. Then I got divorced and when I wanted to go back to school I couldn't afford it. I sought help from two agencies who were very unhelpful. (This was 20 years ago when we were still being punished for letting our husbands walk out on us.) Now I work in an office where my fellow employees have more degrees than a thermometer. How did I get my job? Good work ethic, a bit of charm and great baking skills.

Anyway, I am feeling more than a little humiliated lately by my lack of formal education. Ordinarily I try to convince myself that God wants me humble and simple. That got me thinking about nuns. Specifically holy and simple nuns like St. Faustina and St. Therese of Lisieux. They had little education. Nowadays if a woman wants to enter an order she has to have some sort of degree. What happened to the simple nuns who worked in the kitchen and the gardens and the laundry? I know there are many labor saving devices available now that didn't exist in Faustina and Therese's day but what if a simple uneducated women really has a vocation to the religious life?

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