Thankfulness: Sufficient Grace made Perfect in Weakness
Autumn seems like a logical time to think about thankfulness in the United States of America.
We have Thanksgiving after all as a national holiday that inspires people to decorate their homes with pumpkins and decor stating gratitude, thankfulness that eating savory foods is supposed to inspire within us. It is the season of bounty. What about drought? And weakness? And pain and sorrow? Can we give thanks then? Absolutely we can!
I've been thinking about thankfulness today especially. A special person I know and love flew with the angels to heaven today. I cried for a few short minutes and munched on chocolate till a verse came out of my soul, "My grace is sufficient for my strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 2:9. This was a Bible verse from St. Paul where he was in prison and was talking about being given a thorn in his flesh. What kinds of thorns do we have in our flesh? The thorn in my flesh today was so real.
I think St. Paul can really help us see how to suffer through trials with a thankful heart. St. Paul wasn't a privileged saint floating around with a halo and daffodils. He was a beautiful follower of Christ back when it was illegal and rebellious to be a Christian. He was thrown into prison for his illegal faith and was beaten, dragged to Rome from Jerusalem and eventually beheaded in Rome for his faith. However, from prison where he probably didn't eat enough and stank from lack of hygiene, he wrote these thirteen letters, love letters shall we, to fellow brothers and sisters who were living the rebellious life of faith in Christ. In these letters St. Paul thanked God over and over and over again for everything. It seems ludicrous and even fanatical that someone chained and beaten could give thanks for anything. If it were me, I would probably be drenching the ground into mud with my tears and telling Mother Mary what a bunch of idiots the prison guards were and beg her to get me out. But not St. Paul. Not only did he not complain, he actually gave thanks in his suffering. He was truly living a holy life.
I have thought about St. Paul's suffering, and prison today. And how our bodies and experiences here on earth are sometimes a prison or a trial that enchain us to an earthly reality that has pain and suffering. However there is really great news and I get it. In the middle of that pain and suffering and injustice that St. Paul experienced he was joyful because of Christ's sacrificial love for us and heaven. Without Christ, all we would have guaranteed on our existence would be earthly experiences of pain, some joy, and plugging along one day to the next with ups and downs. But something so incredibly supernatural happened that shook all of the darkness away like thunder. Christ redeemed us from pain. He redeemed us with His life by dying and that act of sacrificing Himself for us made it possible for us to be thankful for this life being temporary. Life is a passage in a long road trip so to speak and isn't the end. When we are cold in the ground, or burned into dust sitting in an urn our soul will still be alive. Christ longs for us to join Him in Heaven and wants us to live lives as saints loving Him and each other.
St. Paul understood that eternal life and love so profoundly that each sorrow became an opportunity for thanking God. His trials brought him to encourage other people who wanted to believe and were growing in faith to be thankful. This gratitude isn't just blind gratitude to show that we are not spoiled ungrateful brats. No, it is a gratitude that realizes that this is life temporary because there is so much more, and there is a God who is sustaining us in the trials of life.
On that note, be uplifted. Today a dear one passed away for me but thanks to St. Paul being in prison and thanking God I can see that it is the way to pass through this trial. It isn't a day of sorrow, it is like St. Paul said, a thorn in my flesh and God's grace is sufficient for me because in my weakness I can ask Him to sustain me through His perfect strength. Thank you, St. Paul...for these words "I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
A few more verses by St. Paul on thankfulness to God. He was the thankful saint:
Colossians 4:2 "Devote yourselves to prayer. Be watchful and thankful."
1 Thessalonians 5:18 "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God, in Christ Jesus concerning you."
Philemon 1:4 "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers."
We have Thanksgiving after all as a national holiday that inspires people to decorate their homes with pumpkins and decor stating gratitude, thankfulness that eating savory foods is supposed to inspire within us. It is the season of bounty. What about drought? And weakness? And pain and sorrow? Can we give thanks then? Absolutely we can!
I've been thinking about thankfulness today especially. A special person I know and love flew with the angels to heaven today. I cried for a few short minutes and munched on chocolate till a verse came out of my soul, "My grace is sufficient for my strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 2:9. This was a Bible verse from St. Paul where he was in prison and was talking about being given a thorn in his flesh. What kinds of thorns do we have in our flesh? The thorn in my flesh today was so real.
I think St. Paul can really help us see how to suffer through trials with a thankful heart. St. Paul wasn't a privileged saint floating around with a halo and daffodils. He was a beautiful follower of Christ back when it was illegal and rebellious to be a Christian. He was thrown into prison for his illegal faith and was beaten, dragged to Rome from Jerusalem and eventually beheaded in Rome for his faith. However, from prison where he probably didn't eat enough and stank from lack of hygiene, he wrote these thirteen letters, love letters shall we, to fellow brothers and sisters who were living the rebellious life of faith in Christ. In these letters St. Paul thanked God over and over and over again for everything. It seems ludicrous and even fanatical that someone chained and beaten could give thanks for anything. If it were me, I would probably be drenching the ground into mud with my tears and telling Mother Mary what a bunch of idiots the prison guards were and beg her to get me out. But not St. Paul. Not only did he not complain, he actually gave thanks in his suffering. He was truly living a holy life.
I have thought about St. Paul's suffering, and prison today. And how our bodies and experiences here on earth are sometimes a prison or a trial that enchain us to an earthly reality that has pain and suffering. However there is really great news and I get it. In the middle of that pain and suffering and injustice that St. Paul experienced he was joyful because of Christ's sacrificial love for us and heaven. Without Christ, all we would have guaranteed on our existence would be earthly experiences of pain, some joy, and plugging along one day to the next with ups and downs. But something so incredibly supernatural happened that shook all of the darkness away like thunder. Christ redeemed us from pain. He redeemed us with His life by dying and that act of sacrificing Himself for us made it possible for us to be thankful for this life being temporary. Life is a passage in a long road trip so to speak and isn't the end. When we are cold in the ground, or burned into dust sitting in an urn our soul will still be alive. Christ longs for us to join Him in Heaven and wants us to live lives as saints loving Him and each other.
St. Paul understood that eternal life and love so profoundly that each sorrow became an opportunity for thanking God. His trials brought him to encourage other people who wanted to believe and were growing in faith to be thankful. This gratitude isn't just blind gratitude to show that we are not spoiled ungrateful brats. No, it is a gratitude that realizes that this is life temporary because there is so much more, and there is a God who is sustaining us in the trials of life.
On that note, be uplifted. Today a dear one passed away for me but thanks to St. Paul being in prison and thanking God I can see that it is the way to pass through this trial. It isn't a day of sorrow, it is like St. Paul said, a thorn in my flesh and God's grace is sufficient for me because in my weakness I can ask Him to sustain me through His perfect strength. Thank you, St. Paul...for these words "I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
A few more verses by St. Paul on thankfulness to God. He was the thankful saint:
Colossians 4:2 "Devote yourselves to prayer. Be watchful and thankful."
1 Thessalonians 5:18 "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God, in Christ Jesus concerning you."
Philemon 1:4 "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers."
Mother Mary, Queen of patriarchs and Queen of Angels, pray for us. Comforter of the afflicted, pray for us. Mother of Sorrows, pray for us.
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