Are You Suffering?

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Is today one of those days that you wonder how you are going to get through?  Your fear is overtaking your joy and your endurance is limited?

To help us through such challenging days, we can turn to scripture, where God speaks into our situations, bringing us comfort and hope.  

St. Francis de Sales wrote:

"Let us frequently call to mind that as our Lord has saved us by patient suffering, so we also ought to work out our salvation by sufferings and afflictions; enduring injuries and contradictions with all possible meekness."

If we take a moment to reflect on what it means to give ourselves completely to God, then we cannot help but see that while our lives may not be playing out as we imagined they would, that is not the most important thing.  

Most helpful is to remember that our lives are not our own.  They were freely given to us through the Creator, and one day, when he calls us home, we will, indeed, find greater joy and happiness than we could ever find on this earth. Suffering is a part of our existence here on earth, and we must endure it in imitation of Jesus, knowing that it is not all there is.

I repeat - we must return to God what he has given us, and that means living for him.

In the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 21, we read about a poor widow who put her last two coins into the treasury.  Read this with understanding.

Perhaps your last two coins are not money at all.  Perhaps they are your energy.  Perhaps they are your patience.  Perhaps the poverty you are experiencing is that your dearest dreams are not being fulfilled.

No matter what your "two small coins" happen to be, put them in the treasury.  Give them over to God today and face with patient endurance whatever comes.  The happiness you seek, the leisure you desire, the plans you make, can only truly be found in acceptance, love, service and self-giving.

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.blogspot.com



Comments

  1. grams ramblings3:23 am, January 04, 2022

    A lovely article Jenny. I totally agree. I will put my own "two small coins" in the treasury today. Everything for you, Lord Jesus. We are very fortunate this week to be starting Eucharistic Adoration again in our Parish after many months of Covid fear. On Thursday, The Feast of The Epiphany ( what better timing could there be?), we will have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from after the 10.00 am Mass in the morning till 10.00 pm in the evening. It's not been easy to get the hours covered and it's a bit flimsy, but myself and my husband are going to be around so that Our Lord is not left alone.

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