Reflections of a beloved son

Trials and difficulties in life are inevitable. What we can decide is how we face them. Do we escape and retreat in the face of struggles or do we follow the lead of the Lord in embracing and carrying our crosses? At first we may see our trials and difficulties as annoyances and curses, but if and when we come to embrace them and face them with the Lord they will become blessings. Through our trials, God can give us many graces. We only need to want them and receive them. There will be pain and suffering, yes, but the joys and peace that comes will be greater.

Every year we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November.  Families and friends gather together and enjoy one another.  It's a day of conversations, food, entertainment - a day to get away from the busyness of the world and to just be. If we really think about it, there is so much to be thankful for.  Thankful for the gift to see another day.  The gift of our family and friends.  Our blessings.  The gift of forgiveness and reconciliation.  And, yes, even thankful for the gift  of our struggles.  It is easy to see God's hands in the good things and the joys, but sometimes it is hard to see God amidst the difficulties.  However, those are the times when God is closest to us.  Jesus suffered.  He felt alone and abandoned on the Cross. Yet, when He looked up, He must have remembered His Father will never leave Him.  And, when He looked down and saw His Mother, He must have been comfor...