The Best Way To Work Through Any Trouble and Sorrow That Pushes It's Way Into Our Lives

With September winding down, let's consider the best way we can work through any trouble and sorrow that pushes its way into our lives. 

If you recall, we spent a slug of time warning of possible unhappy happenings that might descend on us during the fall.

These months of September and October have traditionally brought their fare share of troubles to our society, starting with such memorable events as the Stock Market Crash of 1929 that led directly into the Great Depression. Of more recent memory, we've got the Financial Crisis whose extreme impact hit during September-October 2008. These are the more dramatic instances, but there are many more not-so-dramatic. 

Whether or not you are seeing and or experiencing any of those sorts of widespread troubles at this moment, they will unfold, perhaps suddenly like the blast from a shotgun, perhaps slowly like so-called Chinese water torture. Such troubles will be shared by most if not all of us at some point. But meanwhile, each of us has personal troubles - or more accurately crosses - to bear.

The thing about crosses that befall us all is that they typically come in a steady stream, more or less abundantly, in varying degrees of intensity. They can be specific to our work life or our personal life. Whichever this or that cross might be, you likely know that personal crosses inevitably spill over into our work life; and work crosses do the same to our personal life. 

Crosses wouldn't be real crosses if they were easily contained or "handled."

Today we consider something we've referenced in the past, but certainly bears repeating: Crosses come from God. If you're not sure about that, or if it rattles you, let's make it simple: Everything comes from God. He has either willed it or He has permitted it. And crosses, as you may have logically concluded, fall neatly into the wider category of "everything."

Once we grasp the fundamental reality of crosses coming from God, we naturally must ask whether crosses therefore must be considered something positive, something that are in some way good for us. If you've spent any time studying your Catholic religion, if you have a grain of Faith, if you have struggled to solidify your relationship with God, you know the answer. If you're working your way toward a deeper knowledge of your Faith and your relationship with God, you likely have at least a glimmer of the answer. If you're a complete newbie, maybe it's not obvious, but with a smidgen of thought and prayer, you might certainly take a stab at the answer. 

The answer: Yes, crosses must be seen in a positive light and they are - always - good for us.

Now, being far down the scale of would-be saints, I personally have had my dose of trouble getting all this. And once I did finally get it, accepting it. God sending crosses? Why would he do this? Of course, we've discussed that in the past, so we'll move on.

Once accepted, all we've done is make a sort of mental assent to a fact. Reality recognized and accepted is good in itself, but we can't stop there. We need to dig deeper if we're to really both absorb and benefit from the reality behind the crosses we have to bear. Having brought us to the point of getting a taste, it's time to defer to one of our spiritual guides for the real meat of the matter - Father Willie Doyle.

(If you've read this blog to any extent, you'll know Father Willie. If not, it would behoove you to get to know him. The best place to start doing that would be at the website dedicated to furthering his cause for sainthood.)

We'll let Father guide us today and in our next post, starting with his letter to one of this spiritual children:

“May our dear Lord help you to bear the cross His love has sent you. Try to keep this one thought before you all through your trial: This is God’s doing. Hence do not indulge in useless regrets about want of care, etc. Even if there was negligence, God permitted it to give you this golden chance of being brave and generous under the cross. What has happened will bring you much grace and even happiness, if you take it in the right way. ‘Let Him act,’ must be your motto. Jesus will bring all things right in the end. The more I get to know God, the more inclined I feel to let Him work out things in His own way and time, and to go on peacefully, not troubling about anything. This cross is a sign of God’s love for you, and the surest way of increasing your love for Him. Though you indeed try to take courageously the crosses God sends you, still there seems to be a want of that complete submission to God’s wishes that He looks for and longs for in every detail of your life. Endeavor still more to give Him the desire of His heart…"

There's some tasty meat for our consumption. Next time we continue...