If you are person who puts any effort into your daily “beauty” or hygiene routine, you likely have heard the term “layering” regarding fragrance. It refers to using several products, rather than just one, to layer on a scent. Marketers emphasis this process when selling a particular brand to enhance customer loyalty. It works with my son anyway – we were shopping for his favorite body wash the other day, and we found the same scent in a shampoo and antiperspirant form. Of course he wanted to buy them all.
I use this example to illustrate how God sometimes works when giving us His grace. (At least He does with me.) He has sent me essentially the same insight through several different means, layering that message in my soul. And hopefully, the “scent” of that grace I’ve received will help enlighten others and even attract them to Him through me.
Following is a story of how God reinforced something I already knew – the importance of responding to His will with total faith and trust, in the same way his Mother Mary did.
If you’ve read my blogs before, you’ve likely noticed how much I like J.R.R. Tolkien and his great work, Lord of the Rings (LOTR). When the LOTR movies were released on DVD, my children were attending a Catholic school that was having an upcoming fundraising auction. One popular type of “item” to sell during these auctions was attendance at a “theme party” where people could sign up for the privilege to attend for a fee. One of my friends at the time owned a large house with a home theater, and she offered to let me use that theater for an auction theme party. So I planned a LOTR movie marathon party, for die-hard fans only. About 20 people signed up for the event. I remember it fondly — in the morning, we started with breakfast and “The Fellowship of the Ring.” Then, after a break for lunch, we watched “The Two Towers,” and following another break for dinner, “The Return of the King.” Throughout the day, we held trivia contests for LOTR prizes.
To make a long story short, one of the “die-hards” who attended asked me if I knew on what date Tolkien chose to have Frodo (the suffering-Christ figure) cast the ring (the symbol for sin) into the fires of Mount Doom.
Now there is very little trivia that I didn’t know about this trilogy, but I was stumped. He told me, “March 25. And do you know why?” I am ashamed to admit this, but I did not. He said, “It’s the feast day of the Annunciation.”
Oh. All was made clear.
If it is not clear to you, however, I want to share another grace-layering opportunity I discovered recently. I just finished downloading the newest Retreat Guide from www.RCSpirituality.org: Welcoming the Word: A Retreat Guide on the Annunciation. Considering the comments from participants who rave about the benefits of these online mini-retreats, I am really looking forward to participating, and this one has my name written all over it. I encourage everyone to join me in downloading this insightful journey into the heart of Jesus and His mother. (Just FYI – the Annunciation does not fall on March 25 this year, because this date is during Holy Week. The feast day for 2013 will be on April 8.)
God definitely has been layering his grace in my soul of late, and he likely is doing so for you too, calling us both to share that grace with others. In summary, I thought it might be worthwhile to offer the following, courtesy of St. Therese of Lisieux, from her autobiography The Story of a Soul:
One morning during my thanksgiving, Jesus gave me a simple means of accomplishing my mission. He made me understand these words of the Song of Songs: “Draw me, we shall run after you in the odor of your ointments.” O Jesus, it is not even necessary to say: “When drawing me, draw the souls that I love.” This simple statement: “Draw me” suffices. I understand, Lord, that when a soul allows herself to be captivated by the odor of your ointments, she cannot run alone: all the souls she loves run in her train.
