Saint Maria, a woman who spent the entirety of her monasticism serving the impoverished, the downtrodden, and the persecuted of Paris, was hardly afraid to get her hands dirty. Throughout her years of service, she could be found smoking in the slums with the homeless, or ministering to prostitutes in the dark alleys of Paris. Her life reminds me that following Christ is messy and dirty and dangerous. If I want to take up my cross, I can’t be afraid to do something different, make people uncomfortable, or even to make myself uncomfortable. Saint Maria was not concerned about living by the rules as she smuggled Jews out of Nazi occupied Paris. She was not worried about the rules when she lied and told the Gestapo that she was not sheltering any Jews (except for the Mother of God).  Her life reminds me that Christ approached the most destitute and dismal and so must I.