Monday, November 30, 2015

Happy One Year to Us!


Happy Birthday to us!

On this day last year, we launched the Future of Charity blog.  It was the first day of the Year of Consecrated Life and the first step on a journey.  As the younger, newer members of the Charity Federation congregations, we felt called to share our lives and our reflections with each other and with you.  We didn't know how our blog would unfold, but we followed the Spirit's promptings to try it out...

One year later, we are filled with gratitude.  It has been a wonderful year!  Looking back through the many posts, we are inspired, challenged, and energized.  We are thankful to our blog contributors, to our congregations, and of course, to YOU for your support.  Please take a moment to offer us a birthday wish in the comments below!  What have you appreciated during our first year?

We look forward to the year ahead, but first, let's take a look back.  Here is the Future of Charity blog's first 365 days by the numbers...


23: Bloggers
107: Future of Charity blog posts during our first year
118: Email subscribers (sign up on the blog homepage to become one!)
270: Likes on our Future of Charity Blog Facebook page
29,745: Pageviews.  Yes, almost 30,000!!!!
and, it's all a part of the

Thanks for a great year!  And many moooore...



Sunday, November 29, 2015

Gratitude: The Whole Picture

By Sr. Tracy Kemme

In his book, The Holy Longing, Fr. Ronald Rohleiser writes, “Karl Rahner once said that in the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable we eventually realize that, here in this life, all symphonies remain unfinished.  He is right.  In this world there is no such thing as a fully consummate joy.”

As I grow older, gratitude becomes more about seeing the grace in all parts of this “unfinished symphony” of life and learning to say “thank you” no matter what.

I can often do that in retrospect.

In spiritual direction last week, I reflected on a tough conversation I had recently with a dear friend.  It was a rocky year in our relationship that caused hurt to both of us.  Through our phone call, we were able to sort things out.  I shared with my spiritual director that I am, of course, grateful for the forgiveness and reconciliation we experienced.  But I realized as I talked that I am strangely grateful for the difficult moments, because they led us to go deeper, be more honest, and choose friendship again with a renewed commitment.

It didn’t feel great while it was happening, but as I stepped back and looked at the whole picture, I was grateful for all of it.

I also found myself thinking about the last boyfriend I had before entering religious life.  It was painful to let such a beautiful romantic relationship go, and sometimes, the pain still surfaces.  But I am finally to a point where I can step back and look open-heartedly at the whole picture.  Can I imagine my life without that part of the journey?  I don’t want to.  I am thankful that I had the chance to experience such love with a truly good man.  I am thankful for the person he is and for his family, who touched my life.  I am grateful for the inner strength I discovered through the letting go.

Motherhouse chapel
I turned these reflections over in my heart during Thanksgiving Day Mass at our Motherhouse.  The priest began his homily inviting us to a broader, more profound kind of gratitude.  He offered that we all most likely know what we are thankful for, but that we could probably grow in our awareness of God’s generosity to us in all things and circumstances. I felt like he had eavesdropped on my spiritual direction session!

“I’m listening, God!” I thought.

Fr. Phil turned to Mary as an example of profound gratitude.  He had just finished proclaiming the Gospel passage of the Visitation, and he said that Mary’s joy in the Magnificat shows us true thanksgiving.  Mary’s pregnancy was not a peaceful, easy occurrence.  Her visit to Elizabeth took place in a tumultuous, uncertain time in her life.  Young and newly with child, unsure what it would mean to bear God’s son, there could have been much to fear and lament.

And yet, Mary praised God with her whole being for the wonders God has done.

I left Mass filled with quiet joy but also urged by the challenge I heard.  Mary’s example reminds us to step back and see the whole picture every day.  She did not look back and see the whole picture. She looked her current situation straight in the face and rejoiced.  In the mysterious human heart, we rarely have one isolated emotion.  Life is so often a mixed bag, swirling joy with pain, hope with fear, or sadness with thanksgiving.  When I focus in on one part of the story I am living, I might only see the struggle.  If I look on my life with the eyes of Eternal Love, I might find myself saying “thank you” when I least expect it.  The pain will not vanish, but gratitude may put it in perspective.

I pray to grow in the spiritual practice of gratitude.  Can I choose to look at the daily unfinished symphony of life with a heart of gratitude as Mary did?  Can I look at the whole picture now, no matter what, and rejoice?

The Almighty has done, and is doing, great things for us.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Lord, visit this vine

By Sr. Laura Coughlin

Lord, visit this vine your right hand has planted.  (Psalm 80)

Not long ago I took up the art of cultivating, inspired toward this end by a giant spikey vine that was growing out of a yam I hadn’t eaten.  A friend had suggested I could cut it away from its parent vegetable, grow its roots in water, and replant it to build a healthy ornamental vine.  I followed her advice and through the cultivation of several other yams, grew a very lovely set of vines which are perched attractively on the windowsill where I live.  After a few months in a small pot, I transplanted the vines into good soil in a big empty plastic spinach box.
 
And then……

….my vine just didn’t do anything. 

It did not die, a fact for which I was grateful.  But it also didn’t exactly go “on mission” if you get my meaning.  When I questioned its lack of effort, it seemed to say – “we’re hangin’ out, stop complaining!”

So since I had become disillusioned with those yam vines, I threw my energy into basil seedlings, and also into an ivy plant purchased at the grocery store.  The basil exploded from that grace-filled product called Miracle-Gro, and I’ve since learned how to grow new basil from an original plant (completely easy to do and makes great gifts).  The ivy grows two inches every day through some mysterious interior felicity.  My greedy need for results was satisfied by these two plants.


But about those yams I was sad.

Then one day I was speaking with my novice director who has an impressive green thumb.  I explained how disappointing that not-to-be missioned plant was.  She asked about how it was situated, to which I responded, “you know I even moved it from a small pot to a nice big one thinking it would appreciate more room – and then it just sits there – even after I give it Miracle-Gro.  What an ingrate!”  To this she answered that it probably needed to spread its roots out within the larger container. 

Never underestimate the wisdom of the novice director.
 
The yam vines, as it turned out, were not at rest, but were spreading their roots, seeking to fill the interior space within limits they could not breach without my help.  When the roots had reached those limits, assured my now mentor and friend, the vine would start to grow outwardly, and visibly.

Many theological questions can be raised from watching the “logic” implied in such a plant’s “results”.  On Thanksgiving, a communal feast in which we celebrate the abundance God has given our nation, we might consider the kingdom God is building through the consecrated life for which we were chosen.
 
God has planted each of us, and all of us, as a special cutting meant to contribute to a larger cultivation.  He has circled each one, as well as the whole, with a limit within which we set down roots through the help of grace, and from which we grow fruitfully outward.  My sense is that women religious remain eager to thrive and even to grow beyond the limits now constraining us.  But we must wait for the eternal vinedresser to accomplish this last feat for us.  In the meantime, may our interior lives be strongly rooted in the Lord, may we seek to fill the space in our hearts with love for Him and for one another, and may we sing a hymn of praise and thanksgiving to the God who loves us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joke of the Day:

What did God say to the sweet potato?

I Yam Who I Yam. 



The plant of charity in Boston (Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill)
Sister Yiyeon and myself with recent visitors, Sisters Louise Grundish and Barbara Einloth.




And the larger plant of lay and consecrated life – multi-charism, multi-cultural, collaborative…
A pre-Thanksgiving meal at my professor’s house.  Sister Meg Guider (Franciscan) teaches a class at Boston College on Consecrated Life in the 21st century.  She is pictured third from left.  The students surrounding her are both lay and religious.  They are from the U.S., Uganda, Lithuania, and Nigeria.  





Sunday, November 22, 2015

Don't just be thankful, but be grateful

By Sr. Jacqueline Aceto

"I ask God to give us a spirit of Prayer."  -St Vincent de Paul

Oh, give thanks to God for God is good: God's mercy endure forever. Psalm 136:1

Being thankful is appreciating something you already have, while being grateful is appreciating something you have not yet received but have faith it is coming. Living in a place of gratitude keeps us mental, emotionally, and spiritually connected.

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, let us take a moment to be grateful and thankful for all we have and all that is yet to be. In a world in turmoil let us prayer for all in need. In a world of hurt let us open our heart to accept and heal all.

I am thankful for the God of my understanding who I call My Beloved, for my Community, for our founders, especially Mother Catherine Spaulding for her pioneer spirit.  For all the Sisters in my community who came before me and have the spirit of giving, hospitality, compassion and hope. For my family of origin and my family of choice who thought me and still teach me about faith, hope and love and all I am privileged to walk with each day.

I am grateful for all the learning I am experiencing currently in school and life. For my patients who teach me each day how to love more deeply. For the poor in spirit who teach me how to walk with them in a spirit of compassion and non-judgment. For my classmates who teach me that at any age we can go to school and learn from each other.

What are you grateful for?

What are you thankful for?


How do you walk with gratitude each day?

Friday, November 20, 2015

Konnisha Did Her Part

By Sr. Mary Ellen Lacy

I work in a legal clinic in East St Louis, Illinois which is, shamefully, a third world city in a first world country.  Justice occasionally happens in East St Louis but injustice is a way of life.  Konnisha came to me when the Public Housing Authority (HA) assessed her excessive move out charges after she realized the exceptional leap from public to private housing.  She was going to pay her own way and she was proud of that. We eventually negotiated, and agreed upon, a reasonable Settlement Agreement.  Shortly thereafter, we learned that the Housing Authority attorney had filed an eviction action against my client even though she had properly moved out and turned in the keys.
We obtained an order of dismissal.  Unfortunately,  even after a dismissal is ordered, the fact that a person was once sued for eviction remains on her public record.  Creditors and future landlords can see this on a record and assume the defendant got off on a technicality or cut a deal with the landlord before trial.  Indeed, they will typically and erroneously judge the accused to be a bad risk and refuse her credit or housing.  For impoverished folks, fair credit and decent housing is already difficult enough to obtain.  This scarring of her record gravely impacted the future she was working so hard to improve.

It was another injustice that disparately preys upon those who live in poverty.  Folks who have never been in public housing will not get erroneously stuck on a list of pending evictions, end up in court and have their public records sullied.  Providentially, I had just attended a task force in which someone said it was possible in some instances to seal housing records.  No one had yet tried it in our office ….but someone said it was possible.   And all things are truly possible with Jesus Christ who strengthens us, right?   So I offered, and she agreed, to let me try to get the record sealed.  We were hopeful.

First, we struck a deal with the Housing folks.  They would not oppose a motion to seal if we waited and Konnisha demonstrated her compliance with the Settlement Agreement for two months.  After that, they would let us file the motion, unopposed.   Now I knew I did not need their approval but I also knew that I was a novice to housing litigation and no one I knew had done this before.  So removing obstacles despite waiting 2 months to be certain of no opposition seemed like a good plan to both Konnisha and me.  Another lawyer may have completed this task more quickly or more impressively but I was all she had.

While we waited, I went about representing other clients until the motion would be ripe.  Two months passed and I was steeped in eviction cases where mothers and kids might lose their homes.  Konnisha called to tell me she had made her timely payments and asked if I had filed the motion yet.  Since her case was dismissed and she was in a house, the priority of sealing a record fell below those clients who needed help to stay in their home.  I let her know that I had not done so and other priorities were pressing right now.  She kindly but matter of factly said, “I get your priorities but this is my priority.  Look, I did my part, and I’ve waited.  Now you gotta do yours.”  I said, “You are right, I will make this my priority too.”

Shortly thereafter, I went to mass.  I had walked in and greeted my Jesus upon the cross as I always do.  I have been drawn to Jesus upon the cross since I was a child and the crucifix is the first thing I look for upon entering any church.  When I gaze upon Jesus with His arms spread open upon the cross, I usually hear “I love you this much.” And I fall in love with Him all over again.  On this day, however, I looked up at the cross and I heard, “Look, I did my part, and I’ve waited, now you gotta do yours."

What did that mean?  It was the second time my Jesus was telling me to step up today.   I thought about Konnisha, again.    Life had handed her some pretty tough blows.  But she was surviving in East St Louis, Illinois, moving out of public housing and fighting to get a tiny slice of that “future full of possibilities” pie.  She did, indeed, do her part.  I am inspired by her resilience and her desire to make the most of her blessings.

I considered that I, too, had been having a very tough time lately.  I was feeling misunderstood and unwanted.  I was kind of on the pity pot and I was not making the most of my blessings.  Then, I came across a copy of a homily I had acquired when I was missioned in Brooklyn.  It was about the Maryknoll martyr, Sr. Ita Ford.  The priest spoke about serving in a place that makes you feel unwelcomed and scared.   You do it anyway, because when you look into the hollow and hungry eyes of the poor, you see the beautiful face of Christ. And you love them. And you want them to feel loved. And so you open your arms for them, like Christ on the cross. And in that way, the gospel is lived, and Christ’s love is known.  And for that, you will sacrifice anything, and everything.

The priest was saying, If you love Him, you will love Them and you will do your part.  Nothing else matters.  My Jesus, to whom I had given my heart, seemed so far away but I knew my salvation lied in getting back into His arms.  For me, the road to Jesus has always been through His mother and His Poor.    I had been begging Blessed Mother to bring me back to Him. While I waited for her to straighten everything out, I worked in ESL and I looked into the hungry, searching eyes of the Konnishas, Tequilas and LaQuishas so I could see His beautiful face.  I spread my arms and I embraced Them with all I had.  Somehow, I have always known that loving Them was MY part, my special gift.  And to protect and incarnate that gift, I will sacrifice anything, and everything. 
So, I laid my worries at the foot of His cross and on the lap of Blessed Mother and I promised to do whatever He deemed was my part. I am to serve His Poor and live His gospel. They have waited long enough.


In the time that would follow, Konnisha’s motion would be granted, her record was sealed and a modicum of justice was restored in a community where justice was an irregular visitor.  That’s what happens when we all do our part.  Amen.  

Monday, November 16, 2015

Seasons of Love

By Sr. Sandy Howe

When reflecting on the change of seasons, I was reminded just how very important and what a gift and blessing each one is.  They all have their beauty.  For me personally my favorite is fall, it is a reminder of the great beauty this season brings with the beautiful colors of all the foliage, the abundance of leaves and the brisk and crisp air.  I truly feel God's presence in the beautiful fall days, but then I think of the next season to come, winter.  Winter too has is beauty and the presence of God in this season can also bring so much  so much beauty with snow, and ice but it also brings peace, and quiet, and awesomeness.

As with each season, the season comes to an end but new life comes.  The leaves fall, and the trees become bare, the winter snow and ice bring so much stillness; after winter comes the spring, so many new buds, new grass, a richness and beauty of simplicity coming to life.  And then we greet summer with the warmth of the sunshine,and beautiful luscious trees and flower beds.  

In our spiritual lives, we, too, pass through seasons.  Most of us tend to experience, winter, spring, summer and fall.  Sometimes, we have newness, new life, and the warmth of Christ as our center.  Maybe sometimes we encounter the coldness of our hearts, emptiness, or the dying to self to bring new life within ourselves.

We encounter our Advents, longing for the birth of Jesus, and our Lenten seasons which follow with the death and resurrection of Christ.  We have our times when we journey to Pentecost, and of course, we all experience "ordinary time."  In all of these seasons, Christ is present and here with us. 

Again I am reminded just how very important and what a gift and blessing each one of these spiritual experiences are in my life.  As we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, may we all appreciate and give thanks to our God for all the seasons of our lives, and may the love we share with God and one another continue to be a blessings for all.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Veteran’s Day

By Sr. Carlette Gentle

As we close today, let’s take a minute to pause and bring to mind those soldiers who willingly give of themselves to serve in the forces to protect our nation.  As I stopped to reflect about this day, I thought to myself, “How did Veteran’s Day come about?” A little research answered my question.

I found that ‘On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, a temporary end of hostilities was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in the First World War, then known as “the Great War.” Commemorated as Armistice Day beginning the following year, November 11th became a legal federal holiday in the United States in 1938. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day, a holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars.’

So as we focus on Veteran’s Day today and the true meaning behind it, let us reflect that we as human beings can help our nations to cease war.  We can help our community to cease violence. We can be a voice to cease negativity.  We can lend a hand to lift up a sister or brother.  We can give a shoulder to lean on, and we can open our hearts beyond ourselves to reach out to the hearts of others.  In this way, we too can become veterans in our surroundings where we help to build up our nations to the best it can be.


Today we ask God to guide us and be with us as we strive to witness to a non-violent way of living.  O God, continue to show us that you are present, that you are our hands, our feet, our eyes, our ears, our nose and our hearts.  You are our whole being O God.  Remain with us as we strive every day to be like you. Show us that we can exist to contribute positively to the growth and development of our nation using our individual gifts. God, we thank you for all these things.  AMEN    

Thursday, November 5, 2015

God's Beloved Daughter, behind the mask

By: Sr. Annie Klapheke, SC

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘prostitute’?

Most likely, it is a list of unflattering words, which judge and criticize the moral character of a woman.  At a recent Violence Against Woman Symposium, Edwina Gateley described these women as God’s beloved daughters, hidden behind masks. 

The symposium was presented by the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati’s Office of Peace, Justice and Care for Creation.  Gateley, author and theologian, shared about her life’s work of intimately getting to know prostitutes on the streets of Chicago and empowering them to change their lives.  Gateley admits that at the beginning of her ministry, she was met by gruff and aggressive personalities.  But as she spent years sitting with and listening to the stories of these women, she said their masks began to peel away, revealing wounded women whose lives were ravaged by deceit, violence and manipulation.  They were victims of human trafficking.

The Polaris Project defines human trafficking as a form of modern slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of others.  There are several types of human trafficking including labor trafficking, sex trafficking, organ harvesting, and child soldiers.  Sex traffickers use manipulation, coercion, violence and threats to force individuals (including women, men and children) to perform sex acts against their will.  Human trafficking is a highly profitable, criminal industry that is driven by the principles of supply and demand – this nonchalant, business-minded statement becomes deeply disturbing when you recall that the “product” being demanded in this industry is human beings.

The symposium also featured speaker Brenda Myers-Powell.  Myers-Powell is the co-founder and executive director of The Dream Catcher Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to end human trafficking in the city of Chicago.  More importantly, Brenda is a survivor of human trafficking.  She told her compelling story of survivorship with courage, raw emotion, and even a bit of humor.  She painted a picture of the root causes which lead a woman to prostitution and keep her there:  manipulative relationships beginning at a very early age (often in the home), desperation for acceptance and love, feelings of worthlessness, and the abuse of drugs as an attempt to numb those feelings of worthlessness.  No woman freely chooses to sell her body.  Brenda reiterated this by stating that no little girl dreams of growing up to be a prostitute and a drug addict.  To be fair, the same can probably be said for the men involved in these crimes.  I imagine that no little boy dreams of growing up to be a trafficker or abuser.  What happened to these abusers in their young, formative years?  Like Brenda, I wonder if they also had a childhood marked by broken trust and abuse.  Human trafficking is a heartbreaking, complex web of broken lives.

If the root cause of this problem is wrong relationships, those based on deceit, manipulation, and violence; then the solution must be right relationships, those based on unconditional love, acceptance and mercy.  Women religious, called to go to those on the margins, can be a source of these right relationships.  As part of her healing process, Brenda shared that she, along with other recovering women, attended a retreat at a Motherhouse in Pennsylvania.  They prayed with the Sisters and received the healing balm of mercy and love.  As women religious, what can we do to offer healing to God’s beloved daughters?

In October 2015, the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, with the support of their Associates in Mission, adopted the following congregational stand against human trafficking:

As a Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, we believe that the practice of human trafficking should be abolished in law and practice.  The Associates in Mission of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati strongly support this stand to abolish human trafficking in law and in practice.


Many of our Sisters are already involved in the fight against human trafficking.  I hope and pray that our public statement will further propel us into action.  As a first step, let us all pray unceasingly for the victims and perpetrators of human trafficking, and for an end to this horrific crime.  

Sunday, November 1, 2015

RESULTS

By: Denise Morris

I want to do something big for God.
If I’m honest, this desire has been at the root of my vocational discernment for as long as I can remember. And I’ve realized in talking with others that this desire is not unique to me. It seems that on some level, we all share in a similar human quest: we pray that our lives are significant, and that we’re making a difference. In the end, we want to know that we matter.
Unfortunately, I often measure my contribution or significance by tangible results. I am, after all, a product of my data-driven, results-oriented culture and a task-ticking DO-er by nature. I guess my pride needs proof that I’ve accomplished something or made a difference. At the very least, I want to know that I’m doing my part.
But as I’ve stepped away from full-time responsibilities as a classroom teacher and delved deeper into discernment during my Affiliate year with the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, tangible results have been harder to come by. No longer in charge of 20-25 students, their quarterly and annual progress, and their social and emotional well-being, I sometimes find myself selfishly questioning whether I’m doing anything substantial. Here at the Texas-Mexico border where I minister and work part-time, I can’t tick the boxes on a to-do list at the end of the day demonstrating that I’ve accomplished this task or that.
But that’s a good thing, because I’m learning to measure my contribution and success in quite different ways. As Thomas Merton says:
“Do not depend on the hope of results. When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on … you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no results at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.

“And there, too, a great deal has to be gone through, as gradually you struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. The range tends to narrow down, but it gets much more real. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationships that saves everything.” 
In God’s own humble way, God is gently reminding me that it’s not about results or accomplishment, but encounter. It’s not about doing something BIG, but something personal. And maybe it’s not even about DOing anything at all, but about BEing in relationship.
Perhaps, then, our most significant contribution—but also our biggest challenge—is the authentic gift of self, of time, and of being truly present. Maybe that comes in the form of a smile, a phone call, a handwritten letter, or 20 minutes of complete, undivided listening. Maybe it’s agreeing to accompany someone to a court trial, the doctor, the airport, a funeral, or some other place we’d rather not go or hadn’t planned on. Perhaps it’s sitting with a child as they finish their assignment or homework, just to encourage or reassure them that they are capable. Maybe it’s remaining in a difficult conversation with someone. Or maybe it’s simply putting aside our own agenda when someone stops by or calls unexpectedly. That’s usually how God breaks through, if we just allow it.

Whatever the situation, when we agree to enter wholeheartedly into an encounter with another—to just BE with them—then we create a space in which God can work and through which real ‘mission’ and conversion can happen … for both people. My former Maryknoll Immersion Program director liked to remind volunteers that’s why they’re called “The BEatitudes” and not “The DOatitudes.” And to that, one of the volunteers added: “Your presence is sufficient, because people have to react to it.” True presence is immeasurable. 
I’ve experienced the grace of presence at the Sisters’ clinic for kids with special needs in Anapra, Mexico, where I spend 2-3 mornings a week playing with the kids and their siblings. It usually happens when I’m reading a book to one of them, or playing Memory or some other creatively concocted game of their imaginations. Though few of them can communicate or fully express what they want or need, Jesus is profoundly palpable. Through silliness, smiles, and shared laughter, or just a look of love that needs no words, I experience God in a way that is deeply intimate—all because I engaged. Though I have nothing tangible to show for the time I spend at the clinic, the kids and their families gift me with something far greater: the space and vulnerability to be truly present, which allows God to be, too.
When I think about it, presence is how Jesus affected and changed the world in His time. He didn’t keep a database of how many people He converted or develop a marketing plan that detailed his target markets, unique selling proposition, and recruiting goals. He didn’t start a soup kitchen, build a homeless shelter, join a political movement, or fire up a nonprofit (all wonderful ventures and much needed in our day!) Instead, Jesus engaged and was completely present to those with whom he crossed paths and had daily contact—often one person, one relationship at a time. He sat with the woman at the well and stood with the woman caught in adultery in all their pain, embarrassment, and frustration. He made time to dine and discuss with his close friends as well as with the Pharisees and tax collectors. And He always modified His plans when someone along the way requested healing or just wanted to chat. Jesus made it a priority to be present when people needed Him. … and look at the results He’s achieved!
And so, my humble prayer as I continue in this year of deeper discernment is that of Cincinnati Charity Sister and Servant of God Blandina Segale:

“I will do what presents itself, and never omit anything because of hardship or repugnance...”

And may I also add, “…because of a lack of tangible results.”