Reflect: We live in a world that wants to complete eradicate suffering because it sees no purpose or value. But as followers of Jesus, who himself suffered the torture of the passion and even death, we have the gift of a different perspective. The love that Jesus shows us is not only in the ultimate sacrifice and gift of his life that he offers, but in the constancy of his remaining in suffering with us. He suffers when we suffer and when we recognize that and allow him to accompany us in the pain, it consoles his heart and our own as well. It doesn’t mean that suffering disappears or goes away, but his consolation is solace in the midst of it. I once heard the account of a group of women who were martyred while holding their babies and was asked to consider what the deepest reality was for the children. Was it that they were being put to death or that they were being held by their mothers? Because of their age, they likely didn’t understand what was going on, but the fact that they were being held was the reality about which they were most aware. In moments of suffering, let us allow ourselves to be with Jesus and held by the Father so that we would embrace suffering not as a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived and a means to deeper intimacy with the Lord.
Share: Reach out to someone you know that is suffering physically, emotionally, or spiritually, and simply be with them. Don’t try to solve their pain, but offer them companionship and compassion by the gift of presence.
Pray: Pray the Litany of Trust. Download it here.
God bless,
Sr. M. Karolyn
Reflect: Being worried and anxious about the future is a common part of human nature. We try to prepare for the unknown, and try to have some control over its outcome. Why does God want us to stop having anxiety about the future? Because God wants us to trust Him. He wants us to trust and believe the truth that He will take care of our every need. Trusting the future to His providence frees us from looking ahead, and focuses us on God’s presence here and now. God wants to bless and love us in the present moment, and always looking to the future robs us (and God) of the gift He wants to give us.
Reflect: Forgiveness can be challenging for all of us. It was for Saint Peter our first Pope, who was challenged by Jesus to forgive always at all times. Following the example of Jesus, we want to learn to forgive from the Cross as Jesus did.
Reflect: “Lay all your cares about the future trustingly in God’s hands, and let yourself be guided by the Lord just like a little child…” – St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Today, try to surrender every fear and worry you have to the Lord. Children are carefree because they trust and love. Let the Lord you in a new way today.
Reflect: Let’s be honest… we may sometimes struggle with a sneaking fear that “God loves me because He has to love me, and not because I am actually lovable or because He actually finds me delightful.” But God willed us for our own sake (CCC 356), choosing to make us in His image, a unique and unrepeatable reflection of His glory. God is, as St. Catherine of Siena put it, “crazy-in-love with us”. Jesus, the Adorable One, took on human flesh to reveal to us our worth and lovableness. He freely chose to become human – to feel what we do, to experience what we experience, even to look like us – to save us from believing the lie that we are unlovable.