Bearing Burdens, Surrendering in Love
Today's Office of Readings—once again—reminds me that true charity is not found in grand gestures but in the quiet, often-overlooked surrender to love those right in front of us.
Blessed Isaac of Stella calls us to carry the burdens of others, no matter what they are. Not to judge them, not to assess whether they are deserved—just to carry them. Love does not measure; it moves.
We often think surrendering in love requires us to step into the unfamiliar—to seek out the poor, the lost, the suffering. But what about the ones right in front of us? The phrase “familiarity breeds contempt” is like cold water to the face. We forget the burdens of those closest to us. Our spouse, our children, our co-workers—the ones we see every day.
Elisabeth Leseur lived in perfect surrender. Confined to her home due to illness, she had no mission field beyond her own family. Yet, through her quiet acts of love, her atheist husband later converted and became a priest. She simply loved those around her.
St. Charles de Foucauld understood this well: "It is not necessary to teach others, to cure them or to improve them; it is only necessary to live among them, sharing the human condition and being present to them in love."
The call to charity is not a search; it is an awakening. Jesus is already here. In the face of the tired spouse, the demanding child, the frustrating co-worker. Love, true love, does not wait for the extraordinary—it surrenders to the ordinary.
Lord, give me the grace to see what is right in front of me and to love without hesitation.
© 2025, Lawain McNeil, Mission Surrender, LLC.
Love wins 💖