More times then not, its through the “cracks” that the “light” enters…Nothing is wasted…God is the “master builder” - So take heart and trust the process - God will finish what he started

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the first reading taken from a Letter to the Hebrews how Catholics are to view trials, as opposed to how the secular world views them….The difference in world view makes all the difference!…..”My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges. Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as his sons. For what "son” is there whom his father does not discipline? At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it”………..No matter who you are….No matter how rich you are….No matter how intelligent you are…..There will be a certain amount of suffering that accompanies your life…Its built into what it means to be human…And the secular world has no answer for this!……This is why a life that is not centered on Jesus Christ ultimately leads one into a dead end…Why?…Because when you suffer - And you will - There is no answer for it…However, as Catholics when times of sorrow, hardship and suffering come…We view those times as periods of sanctification…God uses those times to make us more like himself because in those periods of suffering, more times then not….We change…We modify our behavior….We view the world differently….We grow…..Nothing is wasted in life and God uses all the events of our life to bring us closer to himself…This way of looking at hardships only comes to us when we ground our life in our Catholic faith….Because our Catholic faith teaches us that we are all a “work in progress”…That God is the “master builder” and he is forming us with his own hands

“So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed”

A priest once told me a story….He once knew a man in the Middle East who worked as a shepherd of sheep - Yes, such people do exist in today’s world…And this one shepherd had this one sheep who would always stray from the rest of the flock…The shepherd was concerned for this sheep’s safety…There were many wolves in the fields, especially at night and the sheep did not realize the danger it was in when it strayed…So this is what the shepherd did…He took the one sheep into his hands that kept wandering away and snapped his leg in two…The sheep cried and cried….The shepherd then bound up the leg of the sheep and placed it upon his shoulders for the next ten weeks, carrying it everywhere he went…When the sheep’s leg was fully healed, the sheep realized that the shepherd loved him because of all the care he gave to him when his leg was broken and he could not walk…Once fully healed, that sheep never left the shepherd's side again!…….This is how God teaches us sometimes when no words can penetrate our minds and hearts….God wants nothing but the best for us and what is best for us is heaven…But in order for us to “arrive” in our heaven home…We must be sanctified…..This is a unique Catholic world view of heaven…Protestants believe if you “Believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior” you go straight to heaven…..Not the case….Catholics believe we must be sanctified before we enter our heavenly home and sanctification is a process…….And part of that process includes enduring suffering, trials and the hardships of life…All of which work towards a greater good…To make us a holy people worthy of Our Lord

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him, For he knows how we are formed; he remembers that we are dust”

Today we are reminded in a Letter to the Hebrews at Mass something my own father told me when I was young…”Joe - No one goes through this life unscathed”….Suffering is apart of the human condition and the secular world has no answer for it…Only through our Catholic belief in Jesus Christ does suffering take on signifcant meaning and makes sense to us…Suffering forms us, it molds us and guides us - If we let it - To become the people we were all born to be!…There is an old saying when trials and hardships enter into our life….”You either become bitter or better”…..….More times then not, its through the “cracks” that the “light” enters…Nothing is wasted…God is the “master builder” - So take heart and trust the process - God will finish what he started