“Some suffering is given in order to chastise and correct a person for wrongful patterns of life (as in the case of Jonah imperiled by the storm), some suffering is given not to correct past wrongs but to prevent future ones (as in the case of Joseph sold into slavery), and some suffering has no purpose other than to lead a person to love God more ardently for himself alone and so discover the ultimate peace and freedom.”

Must you continue to be your own cross? No matter which way God leads you, you change everything into bitterness by constantly brooding over everything. For the love of God, replace all this self-scrutiny with a pure and simple glance at God's goodness. --Saint Jeanne Chantal: (1572 - 1641) is a Roman Catholic saint, who was beatified in 1751 and canonized in 1767. She founded the religious Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary

  

Gospel Text: (JN 17:1-11A)

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,
“Father, the hour has come.
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people,
so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with you,
with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,
because the words you gave to me I have given to them,
and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,
and they have believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be in the world,
but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”

The beauty of the Gospel is that every suffering we endure, every cross we carry, is an opportunity to manifest the Cross of Christ.  We are called, by Him, to constantly give Him glory by living His suffering and death in our lives.

Reflect, today, upon the hardships you endure.  And know that, in Christ, those hardships can share in His redeeming love if you let Him. 

“Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.”

“It is good for us to have trials and troubles at times, for they often remind us that we are on probation and ought not to hope in any worldly thing. It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradiction, to be misjudged by men even though we do well and mean well. These things help us to be humble and shield us from vainglory. When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God Who sees our hearts. Therefore, a man ought to root himself so firmly in God that he will not need the consolations of men.” ― Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

Gospel Text: (John 16:20-23)

In all truth I tell you, you will be weeping and wailing while the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.

A woman in childbirth suffers, because her time has come; but when she has given birth to the child she forgets the suffering in her joy that a human being has been born into the world. So it is with you: you are sad now, but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one shall take from you. When that day comes, you will not ask me any questions. In all truth I tell you, anything you ask from the Father he will grant in my name.

Reflect, today, upon your own trials in life.  The Scripture passage above reveals the promise that God makes to those who endure them with faith.  If you feel as though you have been dealt an unfair hand or have been treated unfairly, you are in good company.  The key is to walk through this life with grace and dignity.  Do not let the trials of this life or its pains get you down.  Know that as you remain faithful walking down the path God has set for you, the end result is that you will rejoice!  This is simply a fact.  Hold on to that hope and keep your eyes on the finish line.  It’s worth it in the end.

We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.

"We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope." St Paul

Gospel Text: (JN 16:16-20)

Jesus said to his disciples:
“A little while and you will no longer see me,
and again a little while later and you will see me.”
So some of his disciples said to one another,
“What does this mean that he is saying to us,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me,’
and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”
So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ of which he speaks?
We do not know what he means.”
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,
“Are you discussing with one another what I said,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me’?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

Reflect, today, upon these words of Jesus.  Know that He was not only speaking them to His Apostles, but also to you.  Do not be scandalized or shocked when life deals you some difficulty.  Do not despair when suffering is placed before you.  Surrender all things to our Lord and let Him transform it into the joy that He promises in the end.

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Call it what you want: relativism, constructivism, deconstruction, postmodernism, critique. The idea is the same: Truth is not found, but made, and making truth means exercising power.

It is hard to know what other way men can come to truth, to lay hold of it, if they do not dig and search for it as for gold and hid treasure; but he that does so, must have much earth and rubbish, before he gets the pure metal; sand, and pebbles, and dross usually lie blended with it, but the gold is nevertheless gold, and will enrich the man that employs his pains to seek and separate it. - JOHN LOCKE, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Gospel Text: (John 16:12-15)

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”

Reflect, today, upon the Truth as it resides in the mind of the Father in Heaven.  How open are you to the Truth?  How fully do you embrace all that God wants to reveal to you?  Open yourself more fully to the Holy Spirit and seek all that He wishes to reveal to you.