Day 26

What Makes God's Work Shine

Brother Masseo asked Saint Francis of Assisi why all the world should go running after him, who was neither handsome nor learned nor even of noble birth. At this, Francis was overjoyed, and after kneeling to thank God, said, "Why me? Why me? The all-seeing God, looking down and finding nothing viler on Earth, quite naturally fixed His gaze on me. For to make His work shine forth in men's eyes, the Lord takes what is learned, strong, and noble, so that the glory may go to the sole Author of all good."

We are only pots--common ones of clay--so that the splendid power may belong to God and not to us (see 2 Cor 4:7).

{From Elisabeth Elliot's A Lamp Unto My Feet}