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If you want your dream to be, build it slow and surely. Small beginning, greater and heartfelt work grows purely.

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Welcome. This is David Russell and your faith anew daily reflections guiding you to live in the divine will. Today's reflection is from the Book of Heaven by the servant of God Louisa Picaretta, october thirteenth, nineteen oh six, volume seven. Let us begin in the will and name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Jesus, before I ask you for anything this morning, let me receive the gift of being here with you. You know what has tired me, what has disappointed me, and what I have scarcely found words to express. I bring you all of it. Help me listen without preparing my own answer. Let your goodness reach the places in me that have become discouraged. Renew my affection for you and for the people you have entrusted to my care. Father, through your Son and in the Holy Spirit, make this time of prayer fruitful in whatever way pleases you. Amen. A reading from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians chapter three verses five through nine What is Apollos? After all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned each one. I planted Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who causes the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. For we are God's co workers. You are God's field, God's building. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in paragraph three hundred six. God is the sovereign master of his plan, but to carry it out, he also makes use of his creatures' cooperation. This use is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty God's greatness and goodness. For God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus of cooperating in that accomplishment of his plan. May we bring an attentive heart to the reading we are about to hear Louisa writes As I was in my usual state, my good Jesus made himself seen for a little while, and he told me My daughter, in order to know whether a soul is stripped of everything, it is enough to see this. If holy or even indifferent desire arise within her, and she is ready to sacrifice them to the divine volition with holy peace, it means that she is stripped. But if she becomes disturbed and upset, it means that she is keeping something for herself. Hearing the word desire, I said, My highest good, my desire is that I would rather not write any more. How it weighs on me If it wasn't for fear of going out of your will and of displeasing you, I would not do it. And he, breaking my words off, added You do not want it, and I want it. That which I say to you, and which you write out of obedience for now serves as a mirror for you and for those who take part in directing you. But the time will come when it will serve as a mirror for others. So that which you write spoken by me can be called divine mirror. And you would want to take this divine mirror away from my creatures? Watch it seriously, my daughter, and do not want to restrict this mirror of grace by not writing everything. On hearing this, I remained confused and humiliated with a great repugnance to write these last words of his, but obedience absolutely imposed it on me, and only to obey, I wrote Deo Gratius. Some of the people who helped you most may never know it. A teacher said something you remembered thirty years later. Someone continued to pray when you had stopped. A relative quietly practiced the faith, and long after that person died, you began to understand what had sustained them. They could not watch the whole story unfold, yet their part in it mattered. Saint Paul helps us understand why. In his letter to the Corinthians, he describes different servants contributing to a work whose life comes from God. Each has something real to do. None can claim to be the source of the life that follows. There is relief in that, especially when doing good has become exhausting. Perhaps you've tried to bring someone closer to Christ. You have listened, invited, encouraged, and prayed. The conversation still ends in the same place. You begin to wonder whether your love has accomplished anything. That question can quietly change the way you love. You start watching for results. Every conversation becomes an assessment. Even prayer can grow tense with the need for evidence. Jesus knows how much this person means to you. You can tell him honestly that waiting hurts. But the person you love is someone to accompany, someone whose freedom you must respect. Someone already loved by God with a depth you cannot measure. The catechism teaches that God gives his creature the dignity of cooperating with him. Think of that tenderness. The Almighty makes room for your contribution, your visit, your patience, your apology, your willingness to listen can become part of his providential care for another person. Your action is real. His grace is indispensable. You are permitted to serve without knowing everything your service will mean. At Mass, we are drawn into Christ's offering to the Father. There we learn to place our lives within His the work completed, the conversation left unfinished, the people we cannot reach. We ask that our love be purified and made fruitful through Him. Living in the divine will gives this ordinary faithfulness a deeply personal direction. We turn toward Jesus and ask Him to shape how we act, how we wait, and how we begin again. We remain attentive to the next good thing that is actually ours to do. Sometimes that will mean speaking. Sometimes it will mean seeking advice or changing our approach. Sometimes it will mean letting another person finish a sentence without being corrected. We can do all these things with care, even while our feelings remain unsettled. Trust can be present in a trembling heart. Tonight, you may still have no encouraging news. You may have nothing to report except that you tried to love someone well. When you come to prayer, bring Jesus that person's name. You don't have to bring em proof that you succeeded.

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Let us pray.

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Lord Jesus, a face comes to mind as I sit with you. You know this person's history more fully than I ever will. You know the wounds I cannot see, the fears that sound like anger, the longing hidden beneath indifference. Draw near to everything I don't understand. Thank you for allowing me to love this person. Forgive the moments when my impatience has made that love difficult to receive. Teach me to listen with tenderness and to speak with honesty. Help me recognize when I can be useful and when I need to give someone room. I ask you for the grace of conversion, for healing, and for a living faith. I place these petitions before you with confidence in your mercy, and I bring you my own tired heart. Let me rest in your presence without demanding an answer tonight. In your divine will, receive the good I've attempted and repair what I have done poorly. Keep discouragement from making me unavailable to the person before me. Bless those whose patient love helped bring me to you, especially those I never thought to thank. Jesus, Tomorrow, when I meet someone who needs kindness, help me remember how patiently you have loved me. Amen. Thank you for joining your faith anew today. Until tomorrow, stay in his will, and your faith will be made anew.