November 2023

Dear Friends –

Oh, how easy it is to spontaneously shout out a “Thank You God” when your heart is about to burst with joy over a miraculous occurrence that just happened for your benefit.  It can be one of those beautiful occasions we all encounter like the ecstasy of seeing your first-born safely arrive, or eventually watching them walk down the aisle to a happy marriage, and especially when they arrive home after avoiding death by inches in an accident.  You don’t have to even think about it – the “Thank You God” just erupts from your being automatically… even nonbelievers have been heard to spout out such unrestrained gratitude.  However, it is a much different story when tragedy enters your life, and the last thing you want to do is thank God for the disaster you are about to face.  The beautiful child you were hoping for is born with fatal deformities; the spouse of your child is abusive and a contentious divorce occurs, or an abrupt and painful loss of a child in a head-on collision… disaster brings all sorts of crosses to bear, and we are crying to God with anything but gratitude. And yet, we are told, in ALL things give thanks to God… how can that be?  In a moment of sorrow, we are to offer God our appreciation for the bad just as we would for a good?  That doesn’t make sense!  But it will eventually, if we take time to understand God’s love for us, even amidst shaky faith.

There have been many crosses in my long life, but never so tragic as the time began one year with the loss of my husband in May, then my uncle who was like a father to me in July, and next, my mother in November… in seven months I lost the three closest and dearest people to me in all the world.  I had two small children at the time that kept me from turning into that proverbial vegetable because for them I had to keep moving when I didn’t feel like it at all, while only surviving from one funeral to the next.  I would eventually stabilize after one blow, and then, wham bang along would come the next one to knock me down again, and again.  There was a saying in that era, and I guess it still exists for some to this day:  “Crosses are a gift from God.”  I told my parish Priest, “I wish God didn’t love me so much, His gifts hurt!”  With the Priest’s help, and much prayer and meditation, I came in time to understand, that crosses, which come in all shapes and sizes, generally arise from varied sources of ignorance, wrong, and evil which is the worst - NOT from God.  After Original Sin occurred, our world created pain, suffering, and death through the processes and products it generates - NOT God.  The Devil enters an ungodly person or group to bring about division, destruction, and death; he can also direct evil victimization to a Godly person in order to rob God of one of His precious souls.  Satan furiously hates God … it is his diabolical goal to steal away God’s children.  The Devil sets up your treacherous downfall - NOT God. Almighty God does not lead us into temptation, but delivers us from evil, consequently, you need to understand a tremendous difference --- GOD IS NOT THE ORIGINATOR OF CROSSES, HE ONLY ALLOWS THEM because of free will.  So don’t run away from God feeling rejected, rather, run right to Him for help, because that is exactly why He allowed the cross to enter your life.  He knows you, and yes, He wants to help you endure this cross, bless you, love you, reveal Himself to you, and bring you to the maturity and image of Christ, thus becoming another favored child in His family! 

Each baptized one of us is the creative work of Almighty God, and “For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” (Romans 8:29)  He has singled you out to have a special relationship with Him just like that detailed of He and Christ in the New Testament, they love each other. He wants that with you!  With His help, He knows you will survive this cross experience and recognize His Divine Intervention throughout the whole ordeal bringing you closer to Him.  For the surety experience provides, the reality of Almighty God and His tremendous love for you can no longer be doubted in your mind, heart, and soul… you have “seen” what few are privileged to experience and recognize… you have been personally loved by Almighty God The Father.  What an ecstatic thought to think and know – God loves me!  On the day of your deliverance, you spontaneously scream it out to the heavens above, “Thank You God” for loving me… for revealing to me Your all-powerful Supreme Being… you are my Beloved forever!