(Church of Mary Immaculate in Stranorlar/Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, Ireland)

Maybe you're feeling sick today...maybe the business deal you put together with a great deal of effort fell apart...maybe despite your best efforts, your children aren't behaving the way you'd hoped they would...maybe you're missing a loved one who has died...

I'd like to offer these words about "inescapable circumstance" today and how it can sanctify us....

"We are so used to being masters of our affairs that it does us the world of good to be for a time subjects of inescapable circumstance. The inescapable circumstance, however, is only a supernatural value to us when we accept it as the will of God. There are many who love God, but not so many who love His will...This acceptance of His inescapable will, is far more sanctifying, because less showy, than any spectacular heroics of our own choosing."

~ Dom Hubert Van Zeller, OSB, We Die Standing Up, imprimatur 1948.