“The darkness will vanish, vanquished by the light of Love. (Saint Josemaria, “Friends of God”, p.303).
I have been reflecting on the marks and signs of Christ in a person’s life. Sometimes truly terrible things happen and when they do most of us fall to pieces. Most human souls become overwhelmed by their troubles and seem unable to cope.
And yet – there are some souls who triumph despite the most terrible tragedies. There are some who understand that the tragedy has befallen them but at the same time they are not overcome by it, but rather, use it – like an oar with a life-raft – to navigate their lives and to redirect their course.
The Saints are those souls who use the calamities of their lives as oars in the water to redirect their craft. Those are the souls who are able to understand the merits of a life littered with suffering.
Saint Josemaria commented in “The Forge” at 772, that “the unmistakable signs of the true Cross of Christ: serenity, a deep feeling of peace, a love which is ready for any sacrifice, a great effectiveness which wells from Christ's own wounded Side. And always – and very evidently – cheerfulness: a cheerfulness which comes from knowing that those who truly give themselves are beside the Cross, and therefore beside Our Lord.”
For these souls understand that the only way to attain salvation is to take up our Cross and FOLLOW Him. For those souls who understand “‘We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not without hope,’ or sustenance; ‘we are persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; we carry about continually in our bodies the dying state of Jesus.’… The darkness will vanish, vanquished by the light of Love. (Saint Josemaria, “Friends of God”, 301-303).
And I have been thinking about that today. When I was a little girl, I went to school with a girl whose mother and sister were seriously affected by a terrible autoimmune disease. As a result of this disease their entire lives were riddled with excruciating pain and they spent many months in and out of hospital either being treated for their condition or operated on for it.
While it was terrible to see the mother so terribly affected by the disease, it was even more difficult to see a young girl – only a year older than me – literally crippled (physically) by this disease.
But despite all the suffering and the terrible pain that these two people experienced, I always saw them smile and I always saw them cheerful. And I often think about them – even now. And I often consider that they were not crushed, and were rather, serene despite all the aches and pains and the injustice of experiencing such a debilitating disease at such a young age, that serenity is the thing that I best remember about them both.
And I have been thinking about that today, as I feel the aches of my life. For it seems that I hav much work to do to merit the Grace to be serene…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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