Holy Martyr Charitina.
2 Corinthians 1:8-11. Luke 5:27-32.
Read 2 Corinthians 1:8-11
| Have you ever reached rock bottom? If you have, you are in good company! We don’t know the details of the difficulties that St. Paul experienced in Asia during his missionary journey, but we do know that it was so difficult that he was despairing of life itself. Instead of leading to an ungodly despair, or as we call in our spiritual tradition; dejection, St Paul took this opportunity to learn to rely more on the Lord. So often, when we are confronted with something that inhibits us or limits our freedom etc., we are tempted to despair and lean away from the Lord, instead of towards Him. During his pontificate, St. John Paul II visited a parish where the pastor showed the Holy Father his broken and casted arm. Without missing a beat, St. John Paul said to him “don’t waste your suffering.” St. John Paul II would later “offer up” the sufferings he would experience from a botched hip surgery (which would end his beloved skiing outings) for the sufferings of families. When we suffer brothers and sisters, let us suffer well, in and for the Lord who strengthens us in all that is good if we will but turn to Him! |