Suffering has power
"Suffering...does not lead us away from God but toward God."
It's what we do with our suffering that determines whether we want to be led closer to God.
With that being said, one has the key to offer up his or her suffering to the Lord. What do I mean by "offer up" suffering? By that I mean tell your Father in Heaven, "What I am going through I give to you to do good with."
Your suffering or pain can be handed to God the Father in heaven as a present. I call it a present because you are gifting someone else by thinking of others before yourself.
"I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth." St. Therese the Little Flower
I've heard this quote by St. Therese over and over. I always told myself, "I am going to spend my heaven enjoying heaven."
Now rereading this today I smile because I want to follow St. Therese in her little ways. "Trust and trust alone should lead us to love." Therese de Lisieux
Trust God with your whole heart. Trust Him with your suffering. He will provide.
"Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be." St. Therese
God has a plan for each of our lives. We have freewill to decide if we are going to follow Him though. If suffering and struggling is part of our cross to carry then so be it. However some burdens are too heavy to carry by ourselves. So ask Jesus to carry your cross. He'll never fail you.
'When it is all over you will not regret having suffered; rather you will regret having suffered so little, and suffered that little so badly."-St. Sebastian Valfre
Teach me to have the same outlook on life, Lord. To take what is burdening and to turn it into something beautiful.
"I do not desire to die soon, because in Heaven there is no suffering. I desire to live a long time because I yearn to suffer much for the love of my Spouse." -St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi
Father, I pray for this love that St. Mary Magdalene has for you. Her words speak to my heart. Give me that same discipline and a burning strong love for You.
"Suffering...does not lead us away from God but toward God."
It's what we do with our suffering that determines whether we want to be led closer to God.
With that being said, one has the key to offer up his or her suffering to the Lord. What do I mean by "offer up" suffering? By that I mean tell your Father in Heaven, "What I am going through I give to you to do good with."
Your suffering or pain can be handed to God the Father in heaven as a present. I call it a present because you are gifting someone else by thinking of others before yourself.
"I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth." St. Therese the Little Flower
I've heard this quote by St. Therese over and over. I always told myself, "I am going to spend my heaven enjoying heaven."
Now rereading this today I smile because I want to follow St. Therese in her little ways. "Trust and trust alone should lead us to love." Therese de Lisieux
Trust God with your whole heart. Trust Him with your suffering. He will provide.
"Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be." St. Therese
God has a plan for each of our lives. We have freewill to decide if we are going to follow Him though. If suffering and struggling is part of our cross to carry then so be it. However some burdens are too heavy to carry by ourselves. So ask Jesus to carry your cross. He'll never fail you.
'When it is all over you will not regret having suffered; rather you will regret having suffered so little, and suffered that little so badly."-St. Sebastian Valfre
Teach me to have the same outlook on life, Lord. To take what is burdening and to turn it into something beautiful.
"I do not desire to die soon, because in Heaven there is no suffering. I desire to live a long time because I yearn to suffer much for the love of my Spouse." -St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi
Father, I pray for this love that St. Mary Magdalene has for you. Her words speak to my heart. Give me that same discipline and a burning strong love for You.
"Suffering...does not lead us away from God but toward God."
Hi, Gabbie! Stm Therese also said (my favorite of all her quotes): "L'abandon, mon unique loi": "Self-surrender (abandonnement): it is my only law". Your writing and spirituality are superb... Where did you learn all that? With my daily prayer, Fr Bruce
ReplyDeleteP.S. Can you tell your Mom I have posted a few comments on her blog, but they always says "your comment is waiting moderation"... Now, what does that mean??!!
ReplyDeleteFr. Bruce, I have to admit google really helped me out with the quotes. ;-) I am so glad you shared those words from St. Therese with me! I love learning new things from the saints. Mom did get your comments and responded. Hope you got them!
ReplyDelete