If we can learn to look, we will see love letters from The King.
For many many years now, some people who I know have been praying fervently for a very special intention that is very dear to their hearts. Over the last several months, while I have been praying for the multitude of intentions that come my way, I have also had the privilege of joining them in their prayers for their own very special intention.
This is the sort of intention that I may never see revealed with my mortal eyes. Perhaps, it will only be in eternity that I shall see the wonders of God who worked His power through this small matter.
And yet, it is no great trial for me to pray for this. It is a joy. Imagine the feeling of wonder if I shall be able to enter into my Father’s House and see the wonders He has done, while my mortal eyes were blind and could not see! Imagine the joy!
The other day, I received a message from one of these people praying with me. This person considered the message a signal that our prayers are working.
On another note…
I have written often of the family of Little Saint Baby Charbel who bear their Cross so bravely despite the terrible burden of their grief. I pray for these brave spiritual martyrs every day, and I live in the hope that I shall continue to pray for them even until my dying breath so that my prayers may in some way ease the burden of their heavy Cross.
They often think of their child – their little saint who went before them. During their day, going about their business, he comes to their mind. In speaking to my dear friend, his grandmother, I hear her feelings of becoming at times overwhelmed by her memories of her little saint and the realisation that he has gone ahead. One would think that when this terrible sadness and grief overwhelms, that we would wish to shut everything off and end the memories and the torment.
But that is not what happens in grief. For many who grieve, it is quite the opposite.
What really happens is far more wonderous… This grieving family, instead, surround themselves with the memories of this child.
I have long wondered why this is.
When I lost my own child before he was born many years ago, I thought of him all the time – despite the pain. I longed to think of him. I still do. He is always in my thoughts and under my prayers.
Why?
Am I sadistic that I long to increase my suffering?
Of course not!
I think of my little saint, as the family of Little Saint Baby Charbel think of him, because this – like the message that I received of the signal from the person with whom I am praying – is GRACE!
While the Catechism of the Catholic Church does not explicitly teach about signal graces, many people see these little signals as graces. They are messages from God that we are on the right track with our prayers – as though we saw a familiar landmark along a long road and now know that we are on the right track.
And yet, for me, even that definition is very dry and academic. It is like trying to explain emotion in a textbook – the explanation bears little resemblance to the reality of the experience.
I have felt these signal graces. And they are no LITTLE signs.... They are LOVE LETTERS from THE KING!
And just as a mortal King must sign, seal and deliver letters to His beloved, so too does God package up His Graces – signed and sealed for delivery to us.
This is why often people misunderstand the sadness tears and grief that they feel when they remember a loved one who has gone before, or they receive a message of hope rather than the final answer after years and years of praying…
It is the seal that makes it thus!
The seal ensures that the graces arrive at just the right time and just the right place to just the right soul.
After all – just as our Cross is carefully selected for us to be able to carry it – so too does our Beloved Heavenly Father choose our Graces for us.
So, the next time my eyes well up with tears of grief as I remember those who I love who have gone before, or an intention of the heart for which I pray, I will endeavour to see those tears for what they truly are – even blinded as I am with my mortal eyes… I shall endeavour to see them as the package in which my Grace is sealed.
They are Grace and Love. They are a message from my Beloved. They are love letters from THE KING!
And then, perhaps, my tears of grief will turn to tears of joy – for what a joy it is for such an unworthy soul as mine to be beloved of The King!
For with prayers and memories and tears, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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