Skip to main content
  • Vocations
  • Associates
  • Shrine
Society of the Sacred Heart, US – Canada Province
  • Home
  • Menu
    • RSCJ.org
    • Associates
    • Vocations
    • Shrine

    • Who We Are
      • Our guiding calls
      • Our internationality
      • Our mission
      • Our provincial leadership
      • Our related organizations
    • Our Mission Lived
      • Community
        • Welcoming communities
        • RSCJ retirement communities
      • Duchesne Fund
      • Education
      • Justice
        • Stuart Center
        • Ethical investing
      • Spirituality
        • Children of Mary
        • Spirituality Centers
    • Connect
      • Become an Associate
      • Become a Sister
      • Find an RSCJ
      • Join our mailing list
      • Request a prayer
    • Ways to give
    • Resources
      • Our spiritual library
      • Publications
      • Heart magazine
      • RSCJ Blogs
      • Quotes from RSCJ
      • Our podcast
    • Our History
      • Archives
      • Enslavement
      • Key figures
      • Our heritage and traditions
      • Key events
      • In Memoriam
    • News
    • Contact Us
  • Donate
  • Login

A series on millennials: Part four

By Laura Spinelli

February 9, 2021

Love is at the center of spirituality for me. To me, that means caring for others, being kind, looking out for people. It means holding people accountable, and being surrounded by people who will similarly hold me accountable. It means living for something other than ourselves. 
 
In many ways, it feels like it has been hard to put love into tangible action this past year, while being so isolated at a time when needs are so great. As a result, I’ve focused on how to spread love through small daily actions. I’m very much a “go out and change the world” idealist but, in the past year, I’ve tried to make sure that my everyday interactions reflect that desire to make a broader impact.
 
Drawing on the notion of “if you can’t be trusted with small things, how can you be trusted with big things,” putting love into action has meant trying to be more patient and attentive to the needs of family, friends and co-workers that I interact with on a regular basis. This has looked like being cheerful when walking a co-worker through the same thing for a second, third or tenth time; taking time to do a “Zoom dinner” for my parents’ birthdays, when normally all I would have done is call for a few minutes; and spending hours listening to a friend talk through options after losing a job. It feels cliché to say, but having those very same people extend their own compassion towards me highlighted the importance of how meaningful those small actions can be – their kindness kept me going this year!
 
Being blessed with the gift of time to reflect has also underscored the importance of refueling my spiritual tank through spending more time with the Gospels and other people’s perspectives on faith. I went through the “Bible in One Year” app, which I’d highly recommend! I had never gone cover-to-cover through the Bible before, and reading about how hard times were constantly followed by times of reprieve served as an important reminder that God’s love is constant, even when present circumstances are not ideal. 

 

Laura Spinelli is an alumna of Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Her views expressed in this article are her own and not that of the USC Province.

Other news from the Society

Photo by Cecilie Johnsen on Unsplash

Society of the Sacred Heart, USC Province endorses "God is On Your Side"

February 22, 2021

Catholic Sisters to launch yearlong social justice conversation series

February 22, 2021

Statement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 18, 2021

Follow us

Society of the Sacred Heart

4120 Forest Park Avenue | St. Louis, MO 63108
314.652.1500 | 314.534.6800 fax

© RSCJ.org | Email | Translate
Sitemap

Who We Are

Our guiding calls

Our internationality

Our mission

Our provincial leadership

Our related organizations

Our Mission Lived

Community

Welcoming communities
RSCJ retirement communities

Duchesne Fund

Education

Justice

Stuart Center
Ethical investing

Spirituality

Children of Mary
Spirituality Centers

Connect

Become an Associate

Become a Sister

Find an RSCJ

Join our mailing list

Request a prayer

Ways to give

Resources

Our spiritual library

Publications

Heart magazine

RSCJ Blogs

Quotes from RSCJ

Our podcast

Our History

Archives

Enslavement

Key figures

Our heritage and traditions

Key events

In Memoriam

News

Contact Us

Copyright © RSCJ.org | Web design