Hello my friends! Well I thought I'd get tomorrow's thread out early because we're going out tonight and then I won't have to do it later - today's blessing is the sun - Ollie is here and behaving - Ann, my friend, came over for a visit - we are going out tonight with Ann and Ray, our best friends - another blessing! May God grant you all your hearts desires is my prayer for you,
We don't choose how or when we will die, but we do decide how we will live.
Lord, forgive my frequent drifting and help me to see clearly the best path
for me.
Scripture for the day:
"The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to
sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens-- wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught." ~Isaiah 50:4
Meditation for the day:
My five senses are my means of communication with the material world.
They are the links between my physical life and the material manifestations
around me. But I can sever all connections with the material world when I
wish to hold communion with God. I can hush my mind and bid all my senses
be still, before I can become attuned to communicate with the God who
created me and loves me so much.
Prayer for the day:
I pray that I may get my spirit in tune with the Spirit of God. I pray that
through faith and communion with God I may receive all the strength I need.
Lenten Prayer
Father, you have taught us to overcome our sins by prayer, fasting and works
of mercy.
When we are discouraged by our weakness, give us confidence in your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns
with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
SUFFERING
How to Make the Greatest Evil in
Our Lives Our Greatest Happiness
by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan, O.P.
Suffering is the great problem of human life. We all have to suffer.
Sometimes small sorrows, sometimes greater ones fall to our share. We shall
now tell our readers how to avoid much of this suffering, how to lessen all
suffering and how to derive great benefits from every suffering we may have
to bear.
The reason why suffering appears so hard is that, first of all, we are not
taught what suffering is. Secondly, we are not taught how to bear it.
Thirdly, we are not taught the priceless value of suffering.
This is due to the incomprehensible neglect on the part of our teachers.
It is surprising how easily some people bear great sufferings; whereas,
others get excited even at the smallest trouble.
The simple reason is that some have been taught all about suffering; others
have not.
SUFFERING IS NOT THE EVIL
WE THINK IT IS
First of all, then, suffering is not simply an evil, for no one suffered
more than the Son of God Himself, more than His Blessed Mother or more than
the Saints. Every suffering comes from God. It may appear to come to us by
chance or accident or from someone else, but in reality, every suffering
comes to us from God. Nothing happens to us without His wish or permission.
Not even a hair falls from our heads without His consent.
Why does God allow us to suffer? Simply because He is asking us to take a
little share in His Passion. What appears to come by chance or from someone
else always comes because God allows it.
Every act in Our Lord's Life was a lesson for us. The greatest act in His
life was His Passion. This, then, is the greatest lesson for us. It teaches
us that we too must suffer.
God suffered all the dreadful pains of His Passion for each one of us. How
can we refuse to suffer a little for love of Him?
SUFFERING IS THE GOLD
IN OUR LIVES
Secondly, if we accept the suffering He sends us and offer them in union
with His sufferings, we receive the greatest rewards. Five minutes'
suffering borne for love of Jesus is of greater value to us than years and
years of pleasure and joy. The Saints tell us that if we patiently bear our
sufferings, we merit the crown of martyrdom.
Moreover, suffering borne patiently brings out all that is good in us. Those
who have suffered are usually the most charming people.
If we bear these facts clearly in mind, it certainly becomes much easier to
suffer.
GOD ALWAYS GIVES STRENGTH
TO BEAR OUR SUFFERINGS
Thirdly, when God gives us any suffering, He always gives us strength to
bear it, if we only ask Him. Many, instead of asking for His help, get
excited and revolt. It is this excitement and impatience that really make
suffering hard to bear.
Consider that we are now speaking of all suffering, even the most trifling
ones. All of us have little troubles, pains, disappointments, every day of
our lives. All these, if borne for love of God, obtain for us, as we have
said, the greatest rewards.
HOW TO BEAR SUFFERING
Even the greater sufferings that may fall to our share from time to time
become easy to bear if we accept them with serenity and patience. What
really makes suffering difficult to bear is our own impatience,our revolt,
our refusal to accept it. This irritation increases our sufferings a hundred
fold and, besides, robs us of all the merit we could have gained thereby.
We see some people pass through a tempest of suffering with the greatest
calm and serenity; whereas, others get irritated at the slightest annoyance
or disappointment. We can all learn this calm and patience. It is the secret
of happiness.
An eminent physician, in a conference which he gave to distinguished
scientists and fellow doctors, told them that he owed all his great success
in life to the simple fact that he had corrected his habit of impatience and
annoyance, which had been destroying all his energy and activity.
Everyone, we repeat, without exception, can learn this calm and serenity.
PENANCE
We must all do penance for our sins. If we do not, we shall have long years
of suffering in the awful fires of Purgatory. This fire is just the same as
the fire of H ell.
Now, if we offer our sufferings the very little ones as well as the greater
ones-in union with the sufferings of Jesus Christ, we are doing the easiest
and best penance we can perform. We may thus deliver ourselves entirely from
Purgatory, While at the same time gaining the greatest graces and blessings.
Let us remember clearly that:
1) Sufferings come from God for our benefit.
2) When we are in the state of grace, we derive immense merit from every
suffering borne patiently, even the little sufferings of our daily lives.
3) God will give us abundant strength to bear our sufferings if we only ask
Him.
4) If we bear our sufferings patiently, they lose their sting and
bitterness.
5) Above all, every suffering is a share in the Passion of Our Lord.
6) By our sufferings, we can free ourselves in great part, or entirely, from
the pains of Purgatory.
7) By bearing our sufferings patiently, we win the glorious crown of
martyrdom.
Of course, we may do all in our power to avoid or lessen our sufferings, but
we cannot avoid all suffering. Therefore, it is clearly necessary for us to
learn how to bear them.
In a word, we must understand clearly that if we remain calm, serene and
patient, suffering loses all its sting, but the moment we get excited, the
smallest suffering increases a hundred fold.
It is just as if we had a sore arm or leg and rubbed it violently; it would
become irritated and painful; whereas, if we touch it gently, we soothe the
irritation.
We suffer from ill-health, from pains, headaches, rheumatism, arthritis,
from accidents, from enemies. We may have financial difficulties. Some
suffer for weeks in their homes, some in hospitals or nursing homes. In a
word, we are in a vale of tears. Almighty God could have saved us from all
suffering, but He did not do so because He knows in His infinite goodness
that suffering is good for us.
PRAYER
We have a great, great remedy in our hands, that is, prayer. We should pray
earnestly and constantly asking God to help us to suffer, to console us. or
if it pleases Him. to deliver us from suffering. This is all, all important.
A very eminent doctor, in an able article he recently published in the
secular press, says that "Prayer is the greatest power in the world."
He says, "I and my colleagues frequently see that many of our patients, whom
we have failed to cure or whose pains we have failed to alleviate, have
cured themselves by prayer. I speak now not of the prayers of holy people,
but the prayers of ordinary Christians."
We should above all pray to Our Lady of Sorrows in all our troubles. We
should ask her, by the oceans of sorrow she felt during the Passion of Our
Lord, to help us.
God gave her all the immense graces necessary to make her the perfect Mother
of God, but He also gave her all the graces, the tenderness, the love
necessary to be our most perfect and loving Mother. No mother on earth ever
loved a child as Our Blessed Lady loves us. Therefore, in all our troubles
and sorrows, let us go to Our Blessed Lady with unbounded confidence.
THE MEMORARE
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone
who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession
was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin
of virgins, my mother. To thee do I come, before thee I kneel, sinful and
sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in
thy mercy hear and answer them. Amen.
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