(Part of the trail up to the Cave of Mary Magdalene in France)

Here is yesterday's Words of Encouragement.... from the dear St. Frances Xavier Cabrini:

"We may have to suffer a long time on the road to the Mount of Perfection, but we should not be frightened, for, what does she who ignores Christian suffering know of what is grand and wonderful? The science of suffering is the science of the saints."

Grand and wonderful...how often do we think of our sufferings as 'grand and wonderful'?

"Let us rejoice when an unexpected cross visits us, when a sorrow afflicts us, because these are the precious fruits of the mystical vine, destined to produce inestimable merits unto Eternity. Then, when you have suffered...do not go round sighing, as one who knows not the privilege of the Cross, but raise your eyes and smile sweetly at suffering...Learn how to unite your sufferings sweetly with those of Jesus Christ, and, then, your sufferings endured for Jesus and for His Adorable Heart, will be as so many drops immersed in the immense ocean of the Most Holy Passion of Jesus Christ."

Hmmm...when was the last time I rejoiced when an unexpected cross visited me? When was the last time that I thought, "What great news! I have a new suffering or sorrow that I can unite to the Passion of my Jesus!"

"Be wise then, and do not squander your sufferings, but submit to them without murmuring and with supernatural motives, remembering that in every sorrow a wonderfully secret work of grace is revolving within the wheels of our predestination."

~ St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Ahhh...I think I will paste those words over my desk - "every sorrow a wonderfully secret work of grace"...."a wonderfully secret work of grace"!