Many of us are familiar with the Salesian phrase “Let us do little things with great love” which is found in both the Introduction to the Devout Life (Part III, chapter 35) and the Treatise on the Love of God (Book 12, chapter 6). At my parish, Holy Family in Adrian, MI, we made this our Lenten theme and invited all parishioners to fill out a Lenten commitment card listing one “little thing” that they will do (or ‘give up’) in order to grow in their love of God and others. On Ash Wednesday we collected all these cards and placed them in front of the altars in our two campus churches as a reminder of what we have sacrificed this Lent.
Over the past four weeks, parishioners have been coming to me and telling me how this simple practice of writing down a commitment and keeping it has helped them enter more deeply into this season of Lent.
One such parishioner is Carmelo. He is 10 years old and one of our parish altar servers. His mother, Fulana, works on our parish maintenance team. Carmelo served at our evening Mass on Ash Wednesday and after Mass, he was washing the vessels and wanted to share with me what he wrote on his card. He said, “I wanted to give up fast food but I’m not doing that.” I smiled inwardly, not surprised as he loves Culvers, Chick-Fil-A and, in fact, all fast food. Then he continued, “I’m giving up my PlayStation instead. Because fasting is all about giving up stuff we are addicted to and I think I have that. I’m addicted to my PlayStation. So for Lent I need to give that up to get a little more God.”
I was blown away by his statement as Carmelo had just revealed not only his Lenten commitment but something much deeper about his life and behavior. In that moment we truly were on holy ground.
The following day we, like most of Michigan had an ice storm. Many places were without power, school was canceled and it was dangerous to be out on the road. Despite all this, the parish had a funeral that day and I was trying to get volunteers in to help with the funeral Mass. As I was thinking about this, I received a text from Fulana. The text said: “Hi Father this is Carmelo, texting on my mom’s phone. Do you need help with the funeral?”
I texted his mom’s phone: “Yes, most of my funeral servers can’t make it.”
Then his mom replied: “I will bring him in today with me when I come into work.” And, just like that, Carmelo came into work with his mom. She worked on cleaning the grounds for the funeral and Carmelo helped me by serving the funeral Mass.
After the Mass ended and we were again in the sacristy I asked him why he came to help. He said: “I gave up my PlayStation so that I would have more time. So I thought I should use it to serve other people.”
This Lent, I have thought about what Carmelo did quite often. As I write this (during the 4th week of Lent) he has not touched his PlayStation and refuses to do so until Easter Monday, April 10. And when I see him on Sundays he often tells me about the people he has helped. His helping is in little ways, with his mom, his dad, his sister and friends, but he does it with great love since he now has the time to serve other people.
Saint Francis de Sales asks us to follow God by “doing little things with great love.” As we continue our Lenten journey may we, like Carmelo, use the ordinary activities of our daily lives as a means to love God by helping others.
May God be praised!
Pastor of Holy Family Parish, Adrian, MI
Assistant Provincial, Toledo-Detroit Province
Please note that I have not used Carmelo or Fulana’s real names. Carmelo’s parents (as well as Carmelo himself) gave me permission to write this article about his faith journey.
