The message of Heaven is very near in Georgia right now. Last week, a sudden tragedy occurred whereby four young, Christian college women at the University of Georgia were killed in an automobile accident. The fifth companion, Agnes, lies in a coma.
Tears and prayers flow like a river.
Even at this moment, I cannot go on writing without a prayer. My heart reaches for His Peace; and, I think of the prayer I found framed long ago in the effects of my dear, paternal grandmother, Sara Evelyn Gott Cohron. It was the “Serenity Prayer.”
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time. Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as he did, the sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.
Trusting that he will make all things right if I surrender to His will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever.
My grandmother died the month before Jerry and I were married. Unlike her closest sibling, my “Aunt Teen,” (Christine) my grandmother was not a churchgoer. In her drawer, my dad found her Bible, a small framed picture of Jesus carrying a lamb and the larger framed Serenity Prayer. My dad thought I should have these treasures. The prayer above is from this version found on the internet, as I am not sure where the framed one is right now.
Though we may know deep in our hearts that Heaven is real, death is always painful. Some deaths are more painful than others; in fact, some may catapult us down and tempt us to despair. This is the devils’ plan for death. He, and his armies, want death to destroy us body, mind, soul and spirit.
Christ in us pulls us up and out of this unholy pit. In the second letter to the Corinthians, as elsewhere, St. Paul encourages us to be ambassadors of the living God. Our Savior lives and reigns in the hearts of his pilgrim brothers and sisters. St. Paul says (2 Cor 1:4-5) that “we can offer others, in their sorrows, the consolation that we have received from God ourselves. Indeed, as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, through Christ,
DOES OUR CONSOLATION OVERFLOW…
This strengthening is real. It is oriented toward the Life to come, on earth as it is in Heaven. We may be in Heaven’s Peace now. Also, last week, a young, Christian woman who blogs from Texas wrote this blog post.
I read it and wept and wept. I had already cried a lot. I pushed my recliner chair back and caught my breath and thought of one of my favorite verses in all of Sacred Scripture. What came to mind was the reaction of our Lord when he was told that his friend Lazarus had died. For me, it elucidates the humanity of Christ like no other moment,
AND JESUS WEPT…
Unlike the machinations for worldly diplomacy and power politics, power for the Christian is an interior power, a power of soul. The Christian faces sin and death as a pilgrim travelling toward a warm, golden Light the glows forth from the Holy Trinity. The Christian believes that God is a family, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Love between the Father and His only begotten Son overflows through Christians to the world.
FATHER FORGIVE THEM, THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO…
The cry from the Holy Cross.
May we be ever forgiving of ourselves and others. Grace and Forgiveness are like our two hands touching each other pointing upward in prayer to the God Whose plan it was to save us from the beginning of time. May we be Christ’s ambassadors telling a story that counteracts the three enemies of the soul: the world, the flesh and the devil. It is a story for little ones. It begins,
GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE SENT HIS ONLY SON…
In the midst of our tearful days in Georgia, may Christ be allowed to rise up in us causing us to reach out to all giving the message of true and abiding hope: Heaven is real. Heaven is now as well as later. We are only pilgrims here for a time. Death is a door, not a wall. Amen. Alleluia!
A number of years ago the Legionaries began a program of Adoration for Vocations. As we here at Maryknoll also need to receive the gift of more vocations, I was inspired to begin a daily hour of adoration. It has been running for several years, and I was trying to remember when it began. Thanks for the inspiration, and we continue to pray for more vocations. Can you tell me when you began your program? Thanks and God’s blessings. Fr. Brunelle
Suffering can be considered a gift of God when we unite it with the self-giving love of Jesus, especially in Holy Mass. Jesus continually offers Himself through the hands of the priest to the Father, in reparation for the sins of the world. Without the Mass, it is difficult to understand the meaning and value of suffering and loss. Catholics need the Mass. But without priests to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice, many people both here and in Mission lands are left without the Mass and the Eucharist. People die without access to the Eucharist. The best thing we can do for those whose lives are lost suddenly and without warning is to pray for them, especially offering Mass for them. We need to go before the Lord in the Eucharist to pray for more vocations to the priesthood.
Adoration for vocations has been around more than a decade. You can read about it here: http://www.vocation.com/about.aspx?id=782