“When Mary holds you up, you will not fall; when she protects you, you need not fear; when she leads you, you will not tire yourself; when she is favorable to you, you will arrive at the harbor safely.” – St. Bernard

For The Grace To Accept Suffering


We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it.  It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it, and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love.

 Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

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He Was Not Off The Mark, Was He?