Fatima, Thanks for your words of encouragement. I found this prayer this morning: My Jesus, relieve me of my discouragement. My devotion has vanished; spiritual thoughts no longer soothe my troubled soul. Even the remembrances of Your passion and of Your Blessed Mother grow dim before my vision. O Jesus, do not forsake me. Help me, help me! I am resolved not to omit a single one of my devotions. Hear me, O my God, strengthen and increase my faith. Keep me from yielding to temptation. You said, “My yoke is sweet; my burden is light.” Have mercy on me, for wheresoever I turn I see only obstacles and difficulties. Were my faith strong I would accept my trials; but alas, I feel only impatience, doubt and discouragement. My soul, hold fast to Jesus. How faint-hearted and childish I am! All my comfort, all my joy must come from You. Bring me closer to You when temptations assail me. Help me not to fail. O Lord, my God, I cast myself entirely into Your Hands. Worn out by the struggle, I will rest beneath Your cross; pray for me in my desolation of soul. Jesus, be merciful to me. Amen. Saint John Neumann (1811-1860) Collected by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, in his book “Praying to Our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Just read that same passage Sunday nite and I know the Holy Spirit is so good to remind me of that. Thanks for that confirmation.
I hope you are feeling consoled, Padraig. Just think, that by your very presence in your workplace, you could have prevented worse evil. Sometimes all we have to do is to stand as believing Christians without saying a word and God can use us to illuminate situations. Try not to be dow- hearted. God is using your very presence in that workplace to bring His light.
I was taught a beautiful mantra to recite when I feel discontent about another....."Bless them, Change Me".....you know, it does make you feel better to pray for those in your life who cause your peace to be stirred.
I think Bella there is an increasing seperation of the sheep from the goats. Some people even say that seals have been placed on peoples foreheads to mark them. I was down at the super market a couple of weeks ago and it was a teller I never saw before behind the machine. It was clear to me he was Gay and was talking quite a lot. Often now when I look at people it is as though they are turned inside out ,as though i can see their spirit. Some people who are far away from God it is as though they were a desert with no water. As though they are all unsettled..as though they were a whole lot of flies buzzing in a bottle. As though there were a darkness , a permanent shadow around them. I don't know if others can see this but I can. What is very noticeable in our present days is how very dark and in shadow some of these people are, in fact downright evil, way over in the dark side. However some of these people have the ability to 'see' us as well. For as he was putting through my groceries he suddenly stopped what he was doing, froze and stared at me intently and I could see puzzlement and fear pass his eyes. He, or whoever or what ever was inside him 'saw' me clearly...spiritually and did not like it. I have seen this before. I will tell you one kind of person who is very good at 'Seeing' like this. Bad priests or nuns. When the good goes bad it just goes bad, but when the very good goes bad it goes very,very bad indeed. I have seen bad priests act like startled rabbits near me. There really is a war going on out there. All around us. A spiritual dimension we are really not often tuned in too. Happily few of the wicked have this power of inner sight. Most of them are blind, whereas all of Mary's Children see the writing on the wall. "But none of the wicked shall understand [that the End of the Age is upon them]." [Daniel 12:10]
A timely quote regarding my own life at the minute as I have taken a bit of a battering the last few days leaving me hurt and confused. Thank God we have a tender mother to turn to.
It's so true, life can be very hard. Althouh Padre Pio suffered like no one else and they say he was the most joyful person in the world.
One cannot get through life without encountering hurt. I talk here about the emotional/spiritual hurts and wounds of life. Some we inherit, others we inflict on ourselves, and others on us. But add to this mix the demonic influence of the destroyer who seeks our ruination and the ruination of every soul. his strategy is clear - the destruction of family life and ultimately the loss of human souls to perdition. he & his minions know our weakness and vulnerabilities and perhaps sense our hurts to exploit for our ruination. I know several alcoholics. The most gentle and kindest of souls when sober, sensitive and endearing but vulnerable emotionally, some deeply wounded by abuse. Trapped in a bottle in a spiral of addiction. They do not have peace when sober. They do not have peace when drunk. They drink in a futile attempt to escape their woundedness. They do not really understand why they drink. On recovery the sense of self-loathing is immense - they hate themselves for what they have done to themselves and to their families. They do not understand why they do it. The pain they feel is real, the sense of betrayal to their loved ones is torture to their minds. The accuser accuses and torments their lives. Living daily in woundedness is draining and eventually they drink again to escape the inner pain. A spiral of depression and torment most of us can never understand. We live in a deeply wounded world with many broken lives and broken hearts. Have pity and mercy for our wounded brothers and sisters. Have pity and mercy for all sinners for you do not know their life story (if you did you would not judge them but cry with them). Have pity for the abused, Have mercy for those suffering from the effects of betrayal, divorce and family breakdown. Have pity for the wounded adult who is a wounded child. I believe a day is coming when the Father will bring His healing love. He is not a God of anger. He is a God full of Mercy and compassion. A day is coming, a day of consolation and blessing, a day of rejoicing A day when the Spirit will touch and heal and restore. A day of restoration. A day when love will triumph. Come Holy Spirit, come through the intercession of the most Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Oh, that took my breath away in its beauty Garabanal. I would like to copy it and put it close to me to remember. When I first reverted, (I admit I still can a be at times) I was so harsh to others who were not "converted", so impatient. Now it is finally dawning on me we are all walking wounded. I had no patience with addicts because, I think in part, I linked them with drug pushers and thought drug pushers caused so much woe. Now I get that addicts are really just walking wounded and I really ached for their pain the way you described their hell on earth in your post. There are so many of them and it seems a fast growing part of humanity are addicts of one kind or another.
You just described my own ongoing struggles perfectly. My only remedy is to frequently recall this to mind: There is an account of Francis of Assisi tending to his garden where he is confronted by a friend, “Francis, if you knew the Lord was coming for you within the hour, what would you do?” Without any hesitation, Francis responded, “I would finish my gardening.” We just have to keep on doing our duty. Even if it sometimes seems pointless there is Grace in it.
