Tag Archives: suffering

Always optimistic

As we go through life we often find ourselves tossed on the stormy seas and we can become discouraged, sad, and even depressed. The Covid pandemic adds to those troubles. In a situation like this, we need an attitude not of pessimism and sadness but of optimism and happiness. In this meditation we consider how:

  • Christ is always with us, no matter how bad the situation is, and he can calm every storm
  • Nothing is impossible for God
  • There is a bright side to every dark situation
  • God has a plan for our life, including our suffering, which we will see only at the end
  • We should give thanks for what we have instead of lamenting what we have not
  • Many people are far worse off than we are
  • God always brings good out of evil
  • In the end the eternal joy of heaven awaits us

Faith and joy in the Resurrection

The Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday fills us with faith and joy. In this meditation we consider:

  • The sadness and sorrow of Christ’s disciples after his death on the Cross
  • The various accounts in the Gospels of Christ’s appearances after his Resurrection
  • The faith and joy of the holy women and the apostles when they see Christ risen from the dead
  • We too go through crosses in life and can draw strength from them, knowing that God allows them for our greater good and that we will have a resurrection to eternal life

Calming the storm

St Matthew relates in his gospel how Christ, after multiplying the loaves and fish to feed the multitude, went up onto the hillside to pray. Before dawn the following day he walked on the water to the apostles who were in the boat and calmed the storm. In this meditation we consider how:

  • Prayer is very important in our life, especially when we are going through storms
  • Sometimes works of charity take precedence over our prayer
  • As a result of original sin, there will always be suffering in various forms
  • Christ does not abandon us; he always comes to our aid
  • We should continue praying with faith, confident that Christ always hears us

Growing in hope

We all have situations in which we wish something were different but we are not in a position to change it by ourselves: our job, finances, health, relationships, etc. In these circumstances we can sometimes become discouraged. It is then that we need to grow in hope, to trust more in God. In this meditation we pray about this important virtue, drawing on Scripture, the Catechism, Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi  and St Josemaria’s book The Way to consider:

  • The nature of hope
  • How God is always with us and will give us what is best
  • How we should know that God is close to us especially when we are suffering
  • How we can grow in hope especially through prayer

God is my Father

god-the-father

Our loving father God watches over us.

As we go through life with its darkness as well as its light, its turbulence as well as its calm, its suffering as well as its joys,  we find great consolation in the fact that watching over us and guiding us always is our loving Father God. In this meditation we use the writings of St Josemaria Escriva, Bonaventure Perquin and the Catechism of the Catholic Church to consider how:

  • Jesus has revealed to us that God is not just a far off creator of the universe but truly a loving Father
  • God reveals himself as our Father in many ways
  • The knowledge that God is our Father should move us to strive to become more like him
  • This knowledge leads us to trust in our Father God at all times, especially in suffering and difficulties

 

Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted

mary-at-the-cross

Our holy mother, Mary, comforted our Lord at the foot of the cross.

In the Litany of Loreto we call Our Lady “Comforter of the afflicted”. With unspeakable love she comforted Jesus on the Cross at Calvary and she accompanies us in our afflictions. In this meditation we consider how:

  • Because of her freedom from sin Mary was able to love like no other
  • As prophesied by Simeon, Mary was destined to suffer much because she loved much
  • Mary suffered in her heart when Jesus was lost in the temple, at the wedding feast of Cana and especially at Calvary
  • Mary suffered intensely at Calvary, to the point where St Bernard calls her truly a martyr
  • The Sequence of the Mass of Our Lady of Sorrrows records this suffering in a moving way
  • As our mother, Mary loves us and comforts us in our afflictions

 

Meditation “Love for the cross”

The cross, in the sense of the trials and sufferings that life brings, is part and parcel of everyone’s life. But what many don’t realise is that these crosses can have great spiritual and human value if we accept them in the right spirit and learn to love them. In this meditation we consider how:

Meditation on suffering

Suffering is part and parcel of life on earth, yet it will always remain in some way a mystery. It is charged with value and meaning and indeed it can even be a blessing when it is received with the proper dispositions. This meditation deals with the blessing of suffering. Click on the icon below.