Mother Cabrini's Venn diagram with God

"Great was my pleasure ...

that the Sacred Heart would ... facilitate ... virtues which give ...

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart ...

energy to make them zealous for the salvation of souls."

~St Frances Xavier Cabrini, feast 11/13

By the numbers.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, also known as Mother Cabrini, was an Italian-born Roman Catholic nun who accomplished more than is listed in her resume below.

In 1880, this immigrant founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to aid orphans and provide a daytime school.

Over her 27 active years--23 times--she crossed the Atlantic Ocean. She used travel time to write hundreds of letters, some of which, exist today.

>60 schools, hospitals & orphanage were established in New Orleans, Brooklyn, Denver, Newark, Philadelphia, Scranton, Chicago, Seattle & Los Angeles.

67 houses were created in Buenos Aires, Paris, Madrid, Nicaragua, France, England and Rio de Janeiro. These houses went on to found multitudes of schools, hospitals, and orphanages.

9 years after her death, China and other Asian houses sprouted.

In 1945, she became the 1st U.S. citizen canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1950, she was named the "Universal Patron of Immigrants."

The Venn diagram.

How did she do it? Consider the 1880's, John Venn graph that employs 2 closed circles that intersect where functions overlap.

Picture our circle as blue as we swim our earthly "sea" and face waves of demonic temptations that test us on our journey to Jesus. This arched pie chart represents our free will, control and limited human boundaries.

Picture God's circle as yellow. He represents "sunshine," love, joy, happiness and everything warm. Granted, He is infinite and cannot be contained within a circle. But we are finite. Through free will, He intersects into us when our heart cedes its boundaries.

With greater surrender, a lush, fertile green pasture appears. We become holy, attract souls and begin to harvest lasting fruit, giving glory to God.

Mother Cabrini's Venn diagram with God.

Through her humility, suffering and compassion offered to Jesus’ Sacred Heart, He engaged circles with her. As she became His hands and feet, she received God's warm, unselfish love for His poor, sick, abandoned and destitute. Full surrender of heart, mind, body and soul resulted in Divine levels of spiritual and capital assets. In Mother Cabrini's Venn diagram, God fused an almost perfect circle with a penniless immigrant. Proof is the real-estate square-footage and expanse of souls over which her influence is felt today.

Our Venn diagram with God.

Using a 0-100 percentage, estimate surrender to God's will. At the next examen of conscience, review attachments. Attachments are people, places, things, hobbies, vices or idols that we overprioritize i.e. the 7 deadly sins. One example is, Holy Mass overlaps NFL football games. Do we complete 1st and 3rd commandment obligations or leave early for the opening kick-off? How does God count partial-attendance--if at all?