Retire the Fairy Godmother and Watch your Mailbox for the Invitation

Do you sometimes wish you had a fairy godmother who could wave her magic wand and sprinkle her fairy dust to resolve all your problems? I've been thinking about my own challenges (Mother Teresa would never let her nuns talk about "problems;" everything was a challenge or an opportunity.) and it occurred to me that everything, every single thing, is a gift! The alarm on the septic going off, the water in the basement during a heavy thunderstorm, the tick disease that puts you in the hospital -- all those challenges are opportunities. 

As my mom always said, "Offer it up for the poor souls in Purgatory." What an opportunity to put my sufferings to work! Why waste them when they can do so much good?

And if people fail you or condemn you or treat you with disrespect or shun you, or persecute you, those are the gilded invitations, the special ones that take you directly to the feet of the King where you can say, "My Lord, I trust in You. In Your wisdom and love, take care of everything!"

I'm learning to imagine all my challenges and sufferings as invitations in my mailbox from the Blessed Mother:

"You are invited to a closer union with my Son, the King. Will you accept my invitation? He longs for your presence. Please RSVP?" 

And so I do during my daily prayer time. Sometimes my soul is flooded with peace. Other times I raise my eyes to heaven and cry, "Are You really there? Do You really care? Is that invitation really for me?" And then I sit in the silence and try to listen for that still, small voice of encouragement. "Come to Me all you who labor and I will refresh you." And so I soldier on for another day in the land of the Lord.

Some people embrace worldly solutions. They turn to drugs or alcohol or sex. Francis Thompson described all that in The Hound of Heaven. But the real invitation is to stop running away and turn to the cross -- to stop careening down all the empty roads that seem to offer solace, but end at a sign that says, ROAD OUT!

Friends and family may fail us, but there is one forever friend who never will. Jesus! And he gave us special friends who will never fail us either: a guardian angel and, in fact, all the angels and saints of heaven. What a crowd of supporters we have if we will only turn to them and listen and be confident of their assistance.

Some of my challenges, as Scripture says, can only be resolved through prayer and fasting and waiting patiently on the Lord. Of course, I can do things, and sometimes those things help, but often they don't and may even make things worse. But the most helpful thing, I believe, is to simply stop running and stand still and listen, because often I'm running around in circles. To sit still and listen and let the peace that passes understanding fill me to the brim is my hope. I pray the humility prayer and recognize that I've asked for the suffering I'm enduring. Thank you, Lord for answering my prayer.

Silence and suffering united to the cross of Christ filled the cup the angel brought Jesus in the Garden of Eden. What a comfort that is when I think of it and embrace whatever challenges face me in this Valley of Tears and say, "Help me to comfort you, Jesus, by embracing every suffering and offering it in union with Yours." Then when the priest raises the chalice at the Consecration of the Mass, I know I am truly united to Him in love. My sufferings are in that chalice with His.

We all need to retire the fairy godmother and realize that there is no fairy dust. Something greater awaits those who turn to the Lord -- grace  in "good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over." [Luke 6:38] We just need to ask and pay it forward.

May we all meet merrily in heaven!