Hajja Salesjana

I pray for God’s will in my life and in my family’s life. I entrust my children to God and know they are His children before they are my husband’s, before they are mine. I ask Him to lead us according to His will. Now I am given the opportunity to mean what I pray, to have childlike confidence in my Father, to let Him lead us according to His will. Learning to have confidence and peaceful surrender to God’s care and will hasn’t come easily and certainly I have moments of struggle but no longer days or weeks of despair, which I have felt in the past. I have learned that faith and hope are gifts of grace from God, gifts that begin to be opened to us with the act of our will. It’s all about synergy with God. We give our little mustard seed or widow’s mite of will and in turn He gives us the grace we need. Then we can say with St. Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12: 9-10). The Christian life isn’t easy.  Jesus told us, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it (Mt. 10: 38-39).” I know these trials are part of the daily cross we must bear, and that means it is what is best for us and will lead to eternal life. I look back on life and see moments and trials that seemed devastating and hopeless as great times of growth, healing, and resurrection . Already I see God answering recent prayers (like the one for more faith)! I know this doesn’t mean everything will turn out like I hope (even Jesus didn’t want to endure crucifixion and the sorrow the Theotokos  went through seeing her son tortured and killed was soul piercing (Lk. 2: 35). Yet, we know that what seemed like Satan’s great triumph, what appeared to be a meaningless end to a short innocent life, was the greatest hour and victory, the last darkness before Photo by Francesco Ungaro - Unsplash.com 14 Ottubru-Diċembru 2024 hajja