Less We Forget

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“God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me, which He has not committed to another.  I have my mission – I never may know it in this life, but I should be told it in the next.  Somehow, I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his – if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham.  Yet, I have a part in this great work; I am a link in the chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught.  I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.

Therefore, I will trust Him.  Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away.  If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.  My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us.  He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about; He may take away my friends; He may throw me among strangers; He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me - still He knows what He is about.”  

Saint John Cardinal Newman