This article is part of the Marian Mondays Series, a weekly reflection on the mysteries of the rosary by Jonathan Conrad, owner and founder of The Catholic Woodworker.
On a typical workday last week, I was preoccupied with my usual to-dos, running from one task to the next, when I was given the grace to notice something. Or really, a number of somethings.
It started when I walked by one of my boys that morning. Usually warm and upbeat, my son’s greeting was flat and distracted. His brow was furrowed and his head hung low.
I noted these things but brushed them off, heading to my home office and thinking instead of all my work ahead.
Then later on I realized that my son wasn’t immediately responding to text messages the way he usually does. Something was off and, even though my to-do list wasn’t growing any shorter, God gave me the grace to notice his need for companionship and respond charitably.
I set my work aside and spent 30 minutes with him. My son talked and I listened, trying my best to make sure he felt heard and understood.
After that half hour, we both went back to our day blessed and lighter. I was so grateful that I hadn’t been too caught up in my own agenda to notice the chance to help him.
My own small call to charity reminded me of another moment of grace: Mary’s visit to Elizabeth in the second Joyful Mystery, the Visitation. After Gabriel tells Mary that Elizabeth is pregnant, she rushes out through the hill country to be with and help her aging cousin. Gabriel didn’t tell her to do this. Mary simply perceived and responded to an opportunity to be charitable and show love.
While we may not walk a hundred miles to minister to another like Mary did here, we can absolutely exercise charity in small day-to-day ways. This can be as simple as praying an extra decade of a rosary for a buddy who is having a tough day. Or taking an extra minute to pray for a family member as soon as they’ve asked us for our prayers.
And when we’re struggling to grow in this virtue, we can always pray for the grace to recognize the needs of others and the courage to reach out with love.
Lord, help me to be receptive to the needs of those around me in big and small ways, in visible and invisible ways, just as Mary was for Elizabeth. Amen.
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