I want to help

[Epistemes]

but I don’t know how.

I’m tired of sitting comfortably on the sidelines in this one horse town donating money from each paycheck wondering if it’s being used properly when there is so much suffering happening in the world.

I wish God would speak to me, part the Red Sea of the future, and show what lies ahead. It just seems like you can do nothing if you’re not a religious or of the medical profession or a celebrity or some other philanthropist. We common folk are bound to give $5 here, $5 there, fill the tithing basket, or perhaps spend a weekend at the soup kitchen.

If I can never become a religious, then I want to help bring about Our Lord’s Kingdom some other way. I just don’t know how. Maybe He doesn’t think I’m ready. I’m probably not…

I hope no one thinks I’m trying to act particularly holy, because I’m not. I’m confident there is as much selfish motive in what I say as there is any true intention to do this for the good of those who suffer, for the sake of the Lord.

 

[Newbie2]

Ah, never underestimate the plans of the Almighty or the power of prayer.

Throughout history, there are many examples of those who the Lord has called simply to pray, and not necessarily act. That may be where he wants you to be right now.

I empathize with your situation…I feel like I’m being called to a specific ministry, but it’s a sort of “just be ready, you’re not ready to start it yet” situation I find myself in presently. Definitely frustrating, to not know where and when and if he wants us to act.

Hang in there. Pray. Answers will come.

 

[Epistemes]

Ah, never underestimate the plans of the Almighty or the power of prayer.

Throughout history, there are many examples of those who the Lord has called simply to pray, and not necessarily act. That may be where he wants you to be right now.

I empathize with your situation…I feel like I’m being called to a specific ministry, but it’s a sort of “just be ready, you’re not ready to start it yet” situation I find myself in presently. Definitely frustrating, to not know where and when and if he wants us to act.

Hang in there. Pray. Answers will come.

Thank you for your kind, helpful words, brother.

My spirit and mind are restless and anxious, but, you are right, we must remain vigilant through our prayers.

 

[Newbie2]

And just watch, the Almighty will find a way to put that anxious, restless energy to use.

 

[AveSantaMaria]

Have you ever thought about spreading devotion to the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet? According to St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, public group prayers is more powerful than individual prayer.

**Secret of the Rosary ** montfort.org.uk/Writings/Rosary.html

Wasn’t there a great battle where public prayer of the Rosary helped change the outcome? Lepanto(sp?) I forget the name! Didn’t the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Fatima say that the Rosary could solve all problems?

 

[RedGecko]

I’m tired of sitting comfortably on the sidelines in this one horse town donating money from each paycheck wondering if it’s being used properly when there is so much suffering happening in the world.

I wish God would speak to me, part the Red Sea of the future, and show what lies ahead. It just seems like you can do nothing if you’re not a religious or of the medical profession or a celebrity or some other philanthropist. We common folk are bound to give $5 here, $5 there, fill the tithing basket, or perhaps spend a weekend at the soup kitchen.

I wonder if what you are describing wouldn’t qualify as a white martyrdom? You are sacrificing, continually, without reward but for the greater good.

Yes, it is frustrating. I have volunteered and even worked full time, in homeless shelters. But my experience is that God makes whole - what we do is just providing the means to achieve his will. I honestly can’t say that I ever had a feeling of satisfaction from doing what I did or whom I helped. I could only offer it up to God and submit to his will. And truly, I don’t know the outcome in the lives of the persons I “helped.” I suppose medical work has the advantage of being cut and dried - you are healing and see the physical result. The same would be true of providing food to a starving person. But very few of us get to see such results, we can only do what seems right to us and let God take it from there.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Frankly, I don’t think it’s given to most of us to do spectacular things and even less is it given to us to know when we do.

I remember one time, as I was doing my job, thinking how it was really not serving humanity and certainly not aiding souls. Then it suddenly struck me that people pay me to do it, and people are very reluctant to turn loose of money, as we know. So, I thought, well, surely then, I am doing something very useful if that’s what people do. It benefits them in ways I can’t really quite know, or they wouldn’t do that.

After awhile, I began to realize there were “stories” in all of the people I served. I just wasn’t paying attention to them. I wasn’t “hearing” the part of the conversation where people had needs; sometimes very desperate needs, and hoped somehow that I could make it better. People lay hints all around, you know. I slowly, then, came to actually love those people. One of my favorite questions (what I do is work out problems) became “What do you want your life to be like when this is finally resolved?” Almost always, then, people would tell me the truth; sometimes I would hear some of the most profound things. Sometimes awful things. Many times I came to believe that question was the one thing they most needed to hear but did not know to ask themselves. Most of the time, I knew, I was just filling a function. But I came to realize I can no more know how my acts affect others than I can know where all the ripples end up when I throw a rock into a lake.

One of the greatest saints near our own time, St. Therese of Lisieux, never did anything of significance, and she knew it. Yet, she prayed a great deal; actually stormed heaven once for the conversion of a man condemned to death, and won it. She had her “little way” of serving God and His people. Her story burst like a bombshell on the Catholic world after heer death and moves people to this very day.

I like the biblical story of when God was not in the whirlwind or the firestorm, but was in the tiny whisper. I think maybe we are told what to do all the time, but it’s in a whisper. Maybe that’s the thing. Maybe sometimes we strain so hard to hear that all we hear is the roaring of our own auditory canals. I think it will come to you.

 

[AveSantaMaria]

Have you ever considered volunteering at a hospice? In the Diary of St. Maria Faustina Divine Mercy in My Soul saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS1.shtml , St. Maria Faustina said that the Divine Mercy Chaplet is especially powerful at the hour of death and even gives some examples of people who were being tormented by demons that were soothed by her praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for them as they died. (I think… Its been a long time since I read that book. ) As far as I know, hospices are almost always lacking in volunteers. I think that our disabled and our elderly are often sadly neglected. So many times with disabled people, I think that their primary caregivers often tire of caring for them and could use some sort of relief by loving people and our elderly are very lonely. Especially if you go to a Veterans’ Hospital or nursing home, some people don’t even have guests. Its especially great for both males and females to go since I have heard that elderly males can sometimes be inappropriate towards females and females might be uncomfortable ministering to males so they may benefit from a more male targetted visiting approach and male kindness.

 

[Tigg]

Oh, I have an absolutely wonderful book to recommend to you, “Abandonment to Divine Providence” by Jean-Pierre de Caussade that speaks in detail with all you have written in your OP.

This book helped me so much because I am a “do-er” and oftentimes judge myself on my accomplishments. And I can be quite scrupulous in determining whether or not I have truly fed the hungry, clothed the naked, etc. This book is about complete submission to God’s will even in the exercise of our talents and our efforts to bring about good and noble things. Here is a sampling:

They who live in God perform countless good works for His glory, but those in whom God lives are often flung into a corner like a useless bit of broken pottery. There they lie, forsaken by everyone, but yet enjoying God’s very real and active love and knowing they have to do nothing but stay in His hands and be used as He wishes. Often they have no idea how they will be used, but He knows. The world thinks them useless, and it seems as if they are.

The whole concept was foreign to me at first and very distasteful, but eventually I tried to apply the principles and it honestly opened up for me a new world and a new spirituality.

I honestly can’t say that I ever had a feeling of satisfaction from doing what I did or whom I helped

Perhaps, RedGecko, this is really what true service to your Lord is all about.