tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3801517556954327024.post3880135428324531842..comments2021-04-29T12:07:28.231-04:00Comments on A Mom for Life-the unconventional family: offering our sufferings to GodKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10847572866285311259noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3801517556954327024.post-74440119914570529192010-12-15T08:45:47.333-05:002010-12-15T08:45:47.333-05:00Here is an excellent comment on another blog of th...Here is an excellent comment on another blog of the same topic (Conversion Diary--a very good read) that I thought was so fitting to some of my thoughts--so I borrowed it. Hope Anon. doesn't mind!<br /><br /><br />Anonymous says:<br />December 8, 2010 at 6:15 pm<br /><br />Just a couple of thoughts — though with all of these coming in, one more is probably a bit overwhelming.<br /><br />When I was younger and some thing bad happened (i.e. something I didn’t like) I’d be told to “offer it up”. I understood in theory, but not in reality. (I really thought it meant to shut up and stop whining). I thought that if I “offered it up”, if I gave it over to God the suffering would disappear.<br />But that’s not what “offering it up” means.<br />Jesus didn’t come to take away the Cross, but to change it’s meaning.<br />Many people were crucified. Only One Crucifixion changed the world.<br />The difference between a cross and a Crucifix, is that a Crucifix has Christ on it. He offered Himself to the Father. This didn’t make the suffering end, but let it be transformed. His Death isn’t simply suffering and punishment, but the means of our Salvation and the Glorification of God. The suffering of the world is still a nasty reality — because God honored Adam’s choice and position among the human race — but God has changed its meaning. It’s no longer punishment, but a way to come to God. We want to take up our crosses and bring them to Christ — and that means following Him to Calvary, not trying to lead Him to a place where we can get rid of them.<br />Just as He asked Adam and Eve to help Him till the Garden and keep it, He asks us to help Him with the work of Redemption. He chooses to make us have a real part in the salvation of the world. When He created the world, He left it unfinished: He wanted us to help Him make it Beautiful. He left our souls “unfinished”: He wants us to help Him make us and each other saints. [Cf. PP Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi, 44) Even in the Crucifixion He asks us to bear our crosses and follow Him to Calvary, to "complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church" [1 Coll. 1:24]. This isn’t because He needs it, or because we can do anything apart from Him, but because He has chosen to let us have a real part in this.<br />Unfortunately, our pride gets in the way.<br />We don’t want to RECEIVE anything, we want to OWN it. I want it to be MINE, and often I’m not content to be what God has asked me to be — a Creature who receives from God the grace to unite himself to his Father. It’s like a pilot who wants to fly without the plane, and feels slighted when people insist on the need for one. Unless I am mistaken, Paul is saying that we need to feel our need for God, to let Him transform not just our sufferings, but our glories as well. When I see that I am weak — a creature who needs his Creator, a child who needs his Father — then I have true strength, since the strength I lean on is not my own.<br />[Do I get this in practice? Unfortunately not. I'd be in heaven then...or at least really, really holy.]<br />God bless and congratulations on child number 5 (helping God bring new life into the world)!Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10847572866285311259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3801517556954327024.post-62984613795786231822010-12-13T20:34:07.758-05:002010-12-13T20:34:07.758-05:00I'll never forget Father Corapi joking that &q...I'll never forget Father Corapi joking that "maybe your cross is sleeping next to you at night." Sometimes, family life can feel like that, even though we love our spouses and our children. It's just human nature, and I wonder about the sanity of anyone who says otherwise. I'm glad you're doing better with depression. I know it gets worse in winter for some people. When the night seems heavy, I like to sing the hymn "Creator of the Stars of Night" to myself, because it's not only beautiful but helps me look at the night as something other than sad and interminable. As I get older, the long nights of winter don't bother me at all - they're just part of God's creation with a beauty all their own. God Bless!TLWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05699746979019393620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3801517556954327024.post-12127946209965488762010-12-13T13:37:59.842-05:002010-12-13T13:37:59.842-05:00Okay the bird in my bike spokes is awesome!Okay the bird in my bike spokes is awesome!Corrie McCoolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17656406045353805585noreply@blogger.com