Our spiritual path is not dependant on great deeds but on the quotidian graces that God blesses us with on every step of our way. We just have to learn to be aware and manage to read the symbols with which He is trying to communicate- and this can only be done through prayer.

God is present in everything we do and say, even if our tasks seem superficial or mechanical; St Theresa of Avila said 500 years ago, "Don’t be sad when obedience draws you to involvement in exterior matters. Know that if it is in the kitchen, the Lord walks among the pots and pans helping you both interiorly and exteriorly" (Interior Castle, 3:119-20)

In my work, I've been inspired by writings of St Theresa of the XVI century, and have tried to understand them in a contemporary way. Our life is cluttered every day with information, junk mail, bills, with papers that eat us up and we only want to get rid of them as soon as possible. But one day I realized that a dentist's appointment note or the endless school letters which I through away so quickly, where to be valued - somebody had taken the time to write them, give them a thought and send them to me, so in a way they were part of my life and I thanked the Lord for that person that took the time to care for me. I started gathering all those papers that cluttered my life and at the same time were a map of my daily path and I prayed over them, to value and glorify all the people that had been involved in making them - the cashier at the super market who smiled giving me a load of coupons (now I didn't grump, I gathered them with joy because they had become material for my paintings!), that newspaper story that had jumped at me that morning, I would cut it out and pray for the person that was involved in the news, even for the journalist himself!... Nothing was superfluous, everything had a meaning and all was part of my personal path of prayer.

HOPE, never despair, even in darkness there is light, never loose trust and abandon yourself to the will of God. God will guide you through the dark night of the soul as He is the Light of the World.

"Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices."
(Bookmark found in St Theresa of Avila's prayer book after her death in 1582)