The Goal

Brothers and sisters:

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing

compared with the glory to be revealed for us.

                                                                                                        

There are tough times that come into everyone's life.  As Matthew Kelly says it is not an "if" but a "when" the next storm will befall us.  So often we try so very hard to make our way out of the raging storms with its roaring waves and flashes of lightning without any help.  To ask for help is seen as being cowardly or if you are a man, unmanly.  We are taught from early on to stand on our own two feet and to grit our teeth and bear it.   Asking for help in times of need does not feel good to our ego.  Asking for help is seen to put us under an obligation to the one that assisted us.  But we forget that the so-called obligation to that other person is already there because we are to help one another bear each other's burdens.  As Christians, we are there to serve, not to be served.  So, asking for help is what one Christian does to another Christian. 

What happens when even though you ask for help, it does not come?  Some burdens are ours alone to carry for reasons known only to God.  When everything seems to be going against us and we can find no one to share the burden with us then we have to remember that we will not be tested beyond our strength.  God loves us so deeply that He will help us if we let Him.  

In the end, the sufferings we encounter in this world will seem like nothing once we arrive in heaven.  Once there all knowledge will come to us and no subject will be too complex for us to understand.  We will see those things that we considered burdens in our former life, God considered stepping stones.  The storms of life we endured, God saw as passing spring showers that would make the seed of goodness inside of us grow.  The darkness that was in our life will be recognized for what it really was, an opportunity to search for the light. 

Our sufferings in this world will come, some of them will be intense, but none of them will be spiritually fatal if we trust in God and in His Son Jesus.  

Remember our brothers and sisters in purgatory.  They need your prayers and want your friendship.  Please take a moment and read about purgatory by clicking on the link at the right. Pray for them today in your spare time.  It will mean so much to them.