Here at the Redwood City Catholic Worker House, on Friday mornings a small corps of volunteers runs a program giving away food in our driveway. They give away fruit, vegetables, bread, desserts and whatever other food happens to be available to whomever shows up asking for food.
This past Friday morning, I was glad to see some of the homeless folks I know in front of the house here waiting to get some food. I was so pleased to see them.
As Jesus has told us, what we do for those who are the least among us, we do for Him.* Thus when these impoverished friends of mine show up here, I remember and rejoice that Jesus is at my doorstep.
I felt so joyous as I spoke with them. My spirit felt light and my mood upbeat as I talked with them and walked amongst them on the sidewalk as they waited to receive food from our volunteers.
After they had received food and were getting ready to go, one of them, who I've mentioned in a previous post, and who I'll call "Roslyn" again here, asked me a question. She said she has a relative who is suffering from stage four cancer. She asked me if a person can ask God that someone else pass away so that that other person can be relieved of their misery. Roslyn's boyfriend, who here I'll call "Sammy," said, "Sure. You can ask God for anything you want."
Sammy made a good point. We can ask God for anything we want. We are able to make whatever requests of God we wish. We face different questions regarding the propriety and value of those requests, and concerning the likelihood whether God will grant particular petitions we make of Him.
I replied to Roslyn, "Well, you can pray to God for a couple of things."
I explained that we can ask God to end someone's discomfort. Perhaps God wills that someone stop suffering; maybe God is just waiting for someone who is in distress to call out to Him, to ask Him to end the pain. We can petition God that, if it be His will, that a particular person no longer be sick.
I added that we can also ask God that He give us the grace and the strength to bear whatever difficulties may befall us. We might still be undergoing torment, but with the grace and strength from God to endure it, we can go through it without it bothering us as much. Sometimes, with grace and strength from God, we can weather intense tribulations almost without feeling strained at all.
Would it be best for a particular pain to end? Would we be better served living through that agony, with what we might learn from it?
Since God is infinitely loving, and is all-knowing, God knows how each one of us, at each particular moment, may best make progress on our spiritual journey back home to Him. If, at times, we wonder why God has not taken away our pain after we have persistently asked Him that He relieve us of it, perhaps we need to consider whether we are making the wrong request. Maybe God sees that we are at a point where we may advance on our spiritual walk by asking for grace and strength to endure hardships, rather than by asking that we be rescued from trials.
Thus one can ask God that if it be His will, that we be healed of particular ailments. Then we can add that in any event, we would like the grace and strength to handle the adversity we are facing. We might be encountering the apparent obstacle in front of us because God is allowing it to occur for our own good and for the benefit of others.
At every particular juncture in our spiritual journeys, we must have faith in God if we are to let Him to work wonders through us. We have to trust God if we want Him to deliver the best outcome in our lives. We must have the humility to realize that God knows infinitely better what is best for us than we know ourselves. To trust in ourselves is to turn away from God. To trust in God is to consent to the will of God, even when it seems that God is abandoning us. In such circumstances, we may be sanctified. Thus we may in fact be drawing closer to God, when to us it seems that all is lost. In reality, all may be found when all seems lost.
Without God's help, we drown in the turmoil of stormy weather, tossed about on a turbulent sea without a firm vessel holding us, without a safe course to follow. With our assent to God's loving direction, we rest secure in His loving arms, on our voyage back home to Him.
* Matthew 25:40
This past Friday morning, I was glad to see some of the homeless folks I know in front of the house here waiting to get some food. I was so pleased to see them.
As Jesus has told us, what we do for those who are the least among us, we do for Him.* Thus when these impoverished friends of mine show up here, I remember and rejoice that Jesus is at my doorstep.
I felt so joyous as I spoke with them. My spirit felt light and my mood upbeat as I talked with them and walked amongst them on the sidewalk as they waited to receive food from our volunteers.
After they had received food and were getting ready to go, one of them, who I've mentioned in a previous post, and who I'll call "Roslyn" again here, asked me a question. She said she has a relative who is suffering from stage four cancer. She asked me if a person can ask God that someone else pass away so that that other person can be relieved of their misery. Roslyn's boyfriend, who here I'll call "Sammy," said, "Sure. You can ask God for anything you want."
Sammy made a good point. We can ask God for anything we want. We are able to make whatever requests of God we wish. We face different questions regarding the propriety and value of those requests, and concerning the likelihood whether God will grant particular petitions we make of Him.
I replied to Roslyn, "Well, you can pray to God for a couple of things."
I explained that we can ask God to end someone's discomfort. Perhaps God wills that someone stop suffering; maybe God is just waiting for someone who is in distress to call out to Him, to ask Him to end the pain. We can petition God that, if it be His will, that a particular person no longer be sick.
I added that we can also ask God that He give us the grace and the strength to bear whatever difficulties may befall us. We might still be undergoing torment, but with the grace and strength from God to endure it, we can go through it without it bothering us as much. Sometimes, with grace and strength from God, we can weather intense tribulations almost without feeling strained at all.
Would it be best for a particular pain to end? Would we be better served living through that agony, with what we might learn from it?
Since God is infinitely loving, and is all-knowing, God knows how each one of us, at each particular moment, may best make progress on our spiritual journey back home to Him. If, at times, we wonder why God has not taken away our pain after we have persistently asked Him that He relieve us of it, perhaps we need to consider whether we are making the wrong request. Maybe God sees that we are at a point where we may advance on our spiritual walk by asking for grace and strength to endure hardships, rather than by asking that we be rescued from trials.
Thus one can ask God that if it be His will, that we be healed of particular ailments. Then we can add that in any event, we would like the grace and strength to handle the adversity we are facing. We might be encountering the apparent obstacle in front of us because God is allowing it to occur for our own good and for the benefit of others.
At every particular juncture in our spiritual journeys, we must have faith in God if we are to let Him to work wonders through us. We have to trust God if we want Him to deliver the best outcome in our lives. We must have the humility to realize that God knows infinitely better what is best for us than we know ourselves. To trust in ourselves is to turn away from God. To trust in God is to consent to the will of God, even when it seems that God is abandoning us. In such circumstances, we may be sanctified. Thus we may in fact be drawing closer to God, when to us it seems that all is lost. In reality, all may be found when all seems lost.
Without God's help, we drown in the turmoil of stormy weather, tossed about on a turbulent sea without a firm vessel holding us, without a safe course to follow. With our assent to God's loving direction, we rest secure in His loving arms, on our voyage back home to Him.
* Matthew 25:40
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