Pastor's Column

Aug 1

Written by:
Sunday, August 01, 2010 

"Everywhere We Meet the Cross!"

Pastor’s Column

18^{th Sunday Ordinary Time}

August 1, 2010

 

All of us have periods of our lives where things just don’t seem to go the way we hope they will. We have to struggle with God’s permissive or active will… things he allows in our lives or chooses for us that we would not necessarily prefer!

Since returning from Rome, among other things, my laptop caught on fire (for the 2nd time), my PDA got caught in a door and broke that same week and my printer stopped working (it’s under warranty – a new one is being shipped...but took hours to resolve). Additionally, after 10 years of flawlessly using an electronic calendar, I lost all my appointments for the entire year (even though everything was triple backed up). This week, the lower half of the rectory refrigerator gave up, and I had to throw all my food out! Haven’t we all had months like this?! What does God have to say about it?

I turned to a wonderful little spiritual book called The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis. I want to share with you a few passages from Book 2, Chapter 12, that may help you as they have helped me! Some of the quotes below are a bit heavy, but profound nonetheless.

Father Gary

"No matter how you plan things and arrange them to your liking, you still will find something to suffer, either willingly or unwillingly, and so you will always find the cross."

"If you reject one cross, be sure that you will find another, perhaps a heavier one."

"Christ’s whole life was a suffering and martyrdom: and do you expect pleasure and enjoyment for yourself? You make a grave mistake if you look for anything other than suffering; for this mortal life of ours is full of misery and surrounded with crosses."

"If you trust in yourself, you will never accomplish this, but if you put your trust in God, you will be given strength from heaven."

"Prepare yourself, then, to suffer all kinds of adversities and inconveniences in this wretched life, for you cannot avoid them no matter where you go, and they will find you no matter where you hide. So it is in this life, and there is no avenue of escape except to keep yourself in patience."