Fr. Max Behna is the parochial vicar at St. Michael’s Parish in Wheaton, IL. His parish’s goal is to form missionary disciples. In the audio above, he talks about how daunting the call of being missionary disciple can be. (It’s short, under 5 minutes long.) So, he focuses on the importance of starting small: the importance of learning how to be in that intimate relationship with Jesus as a disciple.
This concept — of starting small — is a mindset. And it’s this mindset that I want to inspire you today. In other words, why is this mindset so important? It’s important because starting small means your mind allows an objective to become achievable. It’s also through small steps — mini-habits of holiness — that allow people to grow in faith and as followers of Christ.
In this issue of the Missionary Discipleship newsletter, I am going to share with you some inspiring thoughts about the importance of starting small and also the small gestures that help form disciples on our roads to becoming missionary disciples. Notice how many times the words “small” is used.
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A mini habit is a very small positive behavior that you force yourself to do every day; its “too-small-to-fail” nature makes it weightless, deceptively powerful, and a superior habit-building strategy. You will have no choice but to believe in yourself when you’re always moving forward. The barrier to the first step is so low that even depressed or “stuck” people can find early success and begin to reverse their lives right away.
Aim For The First Step
They say when you aim for the moon, you’ll land among the stars. Well, that doesn’t make sense, as the moon is closer than the stars. I digress. The message is that you should aim very high and even if you fall short, you’ll still get somewhere. I’ve found the opposite to be true in regards to productivity and healthy behaviors. When you aim for the moon, you won’t shoot because it’s too far away. But when you aim for the step in front of you, you might just keep going and reach the moon.
— From the book called Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results by Stephen Guise
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This holiness to which the Lord calls you will grow through small gestures. Here is an example: a woman goes shopping, she meets a neighbor, and they begin to speak, and the gossip starts. But she says in her heart: “No, I will not speak badly of anyone.” This is a step forward in holiness. Later, at home, one of her children wants to talk to her about his hopes and dreams, and even though she is tired, she sits down and listens with patience and love. That is another sacrifice that brings holiness. Later she experiences some anxiety, but recalling the love of the Virgin Mary, she takes her rosary and prays with faith. Yet another path of holiness. Later still, she goes out onto the street, encounters a poor person and stops to say a kind word to him. One more step.
At times, life presents great challenges. Through them, the Lord calls us anew to a conversion that can make his grace more evident in our lives, “in order that we may share his holiness” (Heb 12:10). At other times, we need only find a more perfect way of doing what we are already doing: “There are inspirations that tend solely to perfect in an extraordinary way the ordinary things we do in life.” When Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyên van Thuân was imprisoned, he refused to waste time waiting for the day he would be set free. Instead, he chose “to live the present moment, filling it to the brim with love.” He decided: “I will seize the occasions that present themselves every day; I will accomplish ordinary actions in an extraordinary way.”
In this way, led by God’s grace, we shape by many small gestures the holiness God has willed for us, not as men and women sufficient unto ourselves but rather “as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Pet 4:10).
— From Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Rejoice and Be Glad
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In times of aridity when I am incapable of praying, of practicing virtue, I seek little opportunities [“mini habits”], mere trifles, to give pleasure to Jesus; for instance a smile, a pleasant word when inclined to be silent and to show weariness. If I find no opportunities, I at least tell Him again and again that I love Him; that is not difficult, and it keeps alive the fire in my heart. Even though this fire of love might seem extinct, I would still throw little straws upon the embers, and I am certain it would rekindle.
— St. Therese of Lisieux
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The lives of the saints abound with tiny, unsure steps. People who took them could never have predicted their outcome. But each did what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin describes: “Accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.” …
A seed is a tiny, barely noticeable speck on the dark earth. Yet what life springs from a seed! Ask Blessed Junipero Serra, the Franciscan priest who spread mustard seed along the California coast as he established missions, about a day’s walk from each other. He sowed mustard seed as he limped from south to north, for a path to follow back.
Today, that golden flower still blooms in California. The cities that have sprung from Serra’s foundations form a great arc, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Francisco. Serra would have known the comparison Jesus makes to the kingdom of God: “It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade” (Mark 4:31-32).
— From a blog posting in Franciscan Media
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If you want to be holy, start small. Start with the person right in front of you.
Holiness is not a destination. It’s a choice of how you do the things you do every day. It’s not something that happens faraway, “out there” in the world. It’s a change of heart that happens at home, with the people around you. And it’s something we will continue to work toward for the rest of our lives.
From a blog posting on the Grotto Network by Mary Clare Mazzocchi
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Evangelization can, and does, often start with a small, visible action. Catholics like to use [the quote attributed to] Saint Francis on evangelization: (“preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words”) to excuse us from the practice. But doing one of these small actions might cause someone to ask you a question, wherein words do become necessary as we attempt to answer the question to the best of our ability. Saint Francis, then, is actually inviting us to take agency over the spreading of our faith, starting with a small (verbal or non-verbal) action, and then encouraging us to step beyond that a bit as we can.
I share music playlists with friends; sometimes I add worship music to them. I have a sticker on my water bottle that says “the greatest good is what we do for one another,” a Mother Teresa quote. I got the sticker from a prayer group on my college campus — one of my friends asked me about the sticker, was interested, and came to the group’s next service event with me.
At a retreat once, I did a really interesting activity. Laid out on the ground were three massive, concentric circles. The center circle was “the comfort zone,” the middle circle “the learning zone,” and the outer circle “the panic zone.” The leaders read off a series of statements, and we were asked to visually rate our comfort within these circles. Evangelization, for many of us, might feel like it’s in the panic zone. Let’s start small together, working our own ways into the panic zone, and maybe, just maybe into the comfort zone.
— From a bulletin article written by Claire Kosewic on the website of St. Brendan’s Catholic Church, a parish in San Francisco, CA
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Take 40 days to ask God to set you free from an area of sinfulness or weakness in your life.
How the Freedom Prayer Works
Small Steps - Most things grow slowly. Choose something attainable when deciding in what area of your life to ask the Lord for freedom.
Virtue Begets Virtue - By gaining freedom in one small area of your life you will experience a positive “ripple effect” in many other areas of your life.
Ask the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit can help us pinpoint the one small change in our life that has the potential of impacting our whole life for the better. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what small change will best improve your life.
40 Days - 40 days is the perfect amount of time to break the power of a bad habit or to form a good habit in our lives.
The Freedom Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. You promised, Lord, that You would set the captives free. I confess that I am a slave, and only You can break the chains that bind me. I repent of relying on my own strength. Without You, Jesus, I can do nothing. I ask You, Lord Jesus, to set me free from (name area in your life where you need freedom). Come now, Holy Spirit, and clothe me with power from on high. (take a moment and allow the Holy Spirit to empower you). Give me the grace, Lord Jesus, to walk in faith today, confident in Your love and mercy. Amen.
— From Treasure in Heaven: A 40-Day, 10 Minutes a Day Prayer Guide by Fr. Mark Goring, a Companions of the Cross priest
Small Steps Add Up in Missionary Discipleship