The Mission of Saint Thorlak
  • Home
    • Website Walkthrough
  • Mission
    • Our Mission, Explained
    • Mission Statement
    • Mission Activities
    • Missionary Thoughts Archive
    • Daily Devotional Tweets
    • Downloadable Flyers
    • Downloads and Resources
    • Survey: Autism and Spirituality
  • St. Thorlak
    • The Life of St. Thorlak as a Novena
    • Who is St. Thorlak to you?
    • Patron of ASD?
    • The Way of Saint Thorlak
    • Child's Prayer to St. Thorlak
    • Prayer for Someone with ASD
    • Prayer During Autism Overload
    • Nine Days for Iceland
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Main Contact Information
    • About Aimee O'Connell
    • Volunteer As A Domestic Prayer Missionary
    • Request Prayer or Spiritual Direction
    • Donate
    • Testimonials >
      • Guest Thoughts


Contemplation
​in Action:

Missionary  
​Thoughts
​of the Week

Missionary Thought for the week of June 18, 2018: Who’s With Me?

6/17/2018

4 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Aimee O’Connell here again.  I do not want this space to be mistaken for a personal blog, as this is our website’s dedicated space for Missionary discussion and instruction.  I need, however, to speak as myself one more time before reverting back to more customary posts on Missionary instruction.

I need to talk numbers.
 
I need a headcount, a show of hands, a sense of how many of us are ready to call ourselves Missionaries.  Maybe not today, but very soon.  I need to take this idea to the streets, literally, and put it to work.
Picture
You already know that I believe there is something special about the Way of Saint Thorlak.  The principles of caritas, voluntary humility, a contemplative sense of wonder and living by example comprise a cohesive spiritual skills set for someone like me who does everything prescribed by social science but still feels spiritually hungry.  I do not know if I have a disproportionately insatiable appetite for love, or an inability to absorb the love I receive, or if I deprive myself of the love I need by the consequences of my social awkwardness.  It must be some measure of each.  What I do know is that the Way of Saint Thorlak takes familiar principles and applies them in a way that I can understand and manage and use day after day.  When I follow St. Thorlak’s way, I am nourished.  As often as I hunger, I turn to these principles and find satisfaction.  I no longer starve.
Picture

​I am one person.
 
I am a single-case design.
 
My testimony means nothing if I am the only one who experiences it.
​The discovery of this Way of Saint Thorlak has worked so consistently well that I am willing to bank everything on it.  I have made it my life’s work.  It is no longer an idea: it is a MISSION.
Picture
What convinced me?

  • It applies to anyone who is human.  No skill or background or certainty is necessary to begin; only a willingness to apply the principles of caritas, voluntary humility, a contemplative sense of wonder and living by example.
  • It works the same way social skills classes break down relationship behavior and expectations into modules to teach people like me how to conduct myself so that others will know me.
  • It is equally beneficial to people with autism as to those with no autism… because it is about being human.
  • It can be translated into any language, any culture, any circumstance.
  • It does not require money, travel or highly polished skills.  More importantly, it does not require extensive training, certification, therapy or burdensome commitments.  Anyone can do this within the ordinary doings of the day, wherever we are.
  • It transcends politics, ethnicity, age and gender… and anything else that subdivides the one prerequisite category, humanity.
 
The point I wish to emphasize the most:

  • The Way of Saint Thorlak does not propose anything new, drastic or unfamiliar.
 
This point is a big one for me.  Saint Thorlak did not reinvent or rebrand anything.  He lived a holy life according to the way of the earliest Christians and in the practical manner of the most ordinary people.  (Note: I have a difficult time calling twelfth-century Icelanders “ordinary,” since I find it remarkable to consider the grit and ingenuity required to live on an isolated island in the North Atlantic with sparse crops, few livestock, volatile climate, highly variable and dangerous terrain and few options for mercantile trade… but, I digress).
Picture
If anything at all is a shift from what we are used to, it is that people are typically taught to build fortresses, either to protect our self-esteem or to defend against others who antagonize us.  St. Thorlak’s way proposes to abandon our armor and fight our battles with the weapon of vulnerability – which is to say, we use our need as an instrument, not an excuse to avoid others.  I have always wanted to do this but have never known how.  Few social skills programs include “how to need” or “why be vulnerable.”  The Way of St. Thorlak accomplishes this, both in the how and in the why.
Picture
Each week’s Missionary Thoughts go into much depth to define and contemplate all of the concepts in our Mission Statement and Objectives.  I feel we have laid out a solid program, and now all that remains is to see how it works.
 
The seventh objective of the Mission of Saint Thorlak is to teach everything we have talked about through the way we adopt and express these principles in our daily lives.  Teach it by living it.  Teach it by applying it in our relationships, letting it permeate the ways we connect with others. Then, in the natural flow of things, talk or write about it.
 
I have done just this.  I have road tested St.Thorlak’s way for myself, have built stronger relationships because of it, and am now dedicating my time to writing, speaking, posting and Tweeting about it.
 
But it can’t just be an idea.  The Mission of Saint Thorlak needs a roll call.  We invite the spiritually hungry to adopt this Mission to relieve their yearning… and, we call out for spiritually well-fed people to be Missionaries along with us, to help lead the hungry to nourishment.
 
We will continue to talk more about this next week. 
​For right now, I need to know: Who’s with me?
Picture

​Comment below the post, use one of our contact forms, or send us an email. 
This is the time to be counted.
 
Thank you.
 
Pray: God, Our Father: Gather us together in this common Mission, under the patronage and way of Saint Thorlak, to bring spiritual nourishment to everyone in our path, as we ourselves receive Your nourishment!
 
Contemplate: Why is this a Mission and not just an idea? 
 
Relate: Two words: ROAD TEST!
4 Comments
Nicole Corrado link
6/18/2018 11:01:45 am

I would like to be part of the Mission! Happy Autism Pride Day!

Reply
Barry Schoedel link
6/18/2018 01:32:14 pm

Hi Aimee,

This is a good post and I am glad you are reaching out to see who is interested. I think I have your email but would you give it to me again?

I want to see if I can coordinate an appt with you and a couple folks here by Zoom mtg.

One thing in terms of input and I am making this public just to see if there is other input but the name of the patron saint saint and inspiration of the mission doesn't exactly role off the tongue.

I have wondered if there were a way to maintain the centrality of devotion to and inspiration from St. Thorlak while naming the mission in such a way that it communicates better what St. Thorlak represents to you.

Is that question/input helpful for consideration? I am trying to think from the perspective of someone who comes across this work without knowing anything about it.

pax

Barry

Reply
Aimee OConnell
6/18/2018 01:58:54 pm

How it pleases me to see comments and hope for public discussion! Feel free to use the Mission email,

mission.of.st.thorlak@gmail.com

As far as names go, I am very interested to see what others think. The story behind the name we use has a solid context which I would find interesting to contrast with the more conventional principles of branding and memorability.

All thoughts considered!

Aimee

Reply
Barry Schoedel link
6/20/2018 02:54:02 pm

Thanks for your response Aimee. I don't have a lot of knowledge about branding and memorability but it is interesting to me too. I will contact you at the mission email. Peace, Barry




Leave a Reply.

    Picture

      Receive Our
      "Missionary Thoughts
      of the Week"
      in your inbox!

    Subscribe

      What topics
      ​are important to you?

    Submit

      Be Our Guest
      We gladly welcome guest writers!

    Submit

    Archive

    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • Website Walkthrough
  • Mission
    • Our Mission, Explained
    • Mission Statement
    • Mission Activities
    • Missionary Thoughts Archive
    • Daily Devotional Tweets
    • Downloadable Flyers
    • Downloads and Resources
    • Survey: Autism and Spirituality
  • St. Thorlak
    • The Life of St. Thorlak as a Novena
    • Who is St. Thorlak to you?
    • Patron of ASD?
    • The Way of Saint Thorlak
    • Child's Prayer to St. Thorlak
    • Prayer for Someone with ASD
    • Prayer During Autism Overload
    • Nine Days for Iceland
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Main Contact Information
    • About Aimee O'Connell
    • Volunteer As A Domestic Prayer Missionary
    • Request Prayer or Spiritual Direction
    • Donate
    • Testimonials >
      • Guest Thoughts