Perhaps as we climb to Mother Cabrini's Shrine on the annual pilgrimage, nearing the top of the mountain in the summer heat, we can remember that in a few months it will look like this again!!

I don't know about you, but I have found that sometimes a mental, emotional, sometimes even spiritual, cloud comes upon us. Life's trials weigh us down, we feel discouraged, we feel that no one is hearing us (on earth or in Heaven), and we look for something to lift us out of it. Mother Cabrini offers this explanation for the cloud of darkness:

"Let us learn to become humble, because God loves the humble, while He resists the proud. If we elevate ourselves through pride, God will withdraw from us, with the result that we fall into dense darkness. If we are humble, He will approach us, console us and hear our prayer, and He will send us away justified."

Perhaps if we follow her advice and try to humble ourselves, we will find our minds, hearts, souls and even emotions becoming as clear as that Colorado blue sky!

She continues, "No, God does not make the humble wait long. He runs, flies to satisfy their holy and most excellent desires. It often happens that, drawn by a humble soul, He gives what He has not been asked for....Be humble, His graces are hanging on a thread only. If we are truly humble and simple, these graces will be showered upon us. If we are proud, full of ourselves, He will withdraw His graces. In vain shall we then ask -- for He withdraws Himself from the proud and haughty."

The 8th station on Mother Cabrini's mountain...donated by the Denver Fire Department. :)