Reflections of a beloved son

In one of his letters, St. Boniface writes, “ In her voyage across the ocean of this world, the Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life’s different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship but to keep her on her course .” At the time of St. Boniface, the missionaries in Germany had a difficult time evangelizing because the pagans were worshipping an oak tree. When St. Boniface arrived, he saw that the tree was in the way, so he cut it down. He got rid of the obstacle that prevented the people from getting closer to God and knowing the Truth. We are told in the Psalms that those who love the law of God will have no stumbling blocks but will rather have great peace. But some may say, well that’s not true. Some devout Christians have difficult lives. True but difficulties are not necessarily stumbling blocks. If we come to see our difficulties as crosses and means of deepening our faith and growing closer to God, then there are no stumbling blocks but only a faith ...

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.

The world is in the midst of a battle.  The Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic has taken over the world.  It started in a small part of a country and then it spread.  People who may have contracted it did not know they were infected and then they travel and meet family and friends, and by doing so, those they met may have been infected. This silent agent brought our world to a standstill.  Countries closed their borders.  School are closed.  Stores are closed.  Churches are closed.  Public masses and services are cancelled.  This microscopic agent wreaked havoc on the world.  But it does not have the last word. At the surface, the battle that we are in the midst of is a physical one.  People are getting sick. People are dying.  But we are simultaneously fighting a spiritual battle.  People are turning on each other.  One race discriminates against another.  People turn inward and put their own needs above others....

I think it is safe to say that most people, if not all, have experienced some sort of challenge or difficulty in their lives.  For us Christians, we may call them "crosses."  Each person's cross(es) is different.  It is so because each person is unique and is different from the next.  In the Gospel, Jesus shares with His disciples the conditions of discipleship: denying oneself, taking up our cross daily, and follow Him.  Our Lord told His disciples that they must take up their cross daily. Our crosses do not define us. Rather, what we do about them and how we carry them may.  Jesus asked them to take up their crosses daily.  But He didn't say they'd be doing it by themselves.  The last condition after taking up our cross daily is to follow Him.  In following Him, He will be our strength.  And when He sat down with His Apostles and broke bread at the Last Supper, He became our nourishment.  After laying down His life for us on the...