When the seas are rough let me remember …

All of us undergo difficult moments in our lives where we desperately look for help. And, as we all know, God is the one who steps in, provided that we welcome his help. Hence, here are some tips the Lord has been teaching through his angels of light, the saints!

 

When the seas are rough in my life let me remember:

 

Contradictions put us up at the foot of the Cross, and the Cross lifts us up to Heaven (St John Vianney, the Cure D’Ars).

 

Take what you must suffer out of necessity, and offer it to God, and it will become virtue and merit (St John Bosco).

 

God allows us to fail but doesn’t want us to be discouraged (St Teresa of Calcutta).

 

There is no adversity that can defeat someone whom prosperity has not managed to deceive (St Gregory the Great).

 

It is an excellent remedy, in times of tribulations and spiritual aridity, to imagine yourself as a beggar in the presence of God and the saints, to ask them for spiritual alms (St Philip Neri).

 

Learn to deny your own whims. Accept adversity without exaggerating it, without making a scene, without … hysterics. And you will make Jesus Cross lighter (St Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer).

 

Suffering, in fact, is always a trial – at times a fairly hard one – to which humanity is subjected (St Pope John Paul II).

 

God leaves you in that darkness for his glory; here’s a great opportunity for your spiritual progress (St Pio).

 

We must often feel weary and tired yet God brings us through all these things (St Mary MacKillop).

 

If God sends you many sufferings it is a sign that He has great plans for you, and certainly wants to make you a saint (St Ignatius of Loyola).

 

Courage, courage, trust in God who helps you in all things (St Mary MacKillop).

 

Do not fear what may happen tomorrow. The same loving Father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings (St Francis de Sales).

 

Trust in God’s Providence, interfering–as it always does–for our own good (St Mary MacKillop).

 

Lay all your cares about the future trustingly in God’s hands, and let yourself be guided by the Lord just like a little child (St Edith Stein).

 

Have courage, trust in God, St Joseph and our Blessed Mother, and you need have no fear (St Mary MacKillop).

 
Do not have any anxiety about the future. Leave everything in God’s hands for He will take care of you (St John the Baptist de La Salle).

 

Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayers (St Pio).

 

When I want something very much I thank God beforehand for I feel God will certainly grant what He has been thanked for (Saint Mary MacKillop).

 

I see that God never tries us beyond what we are able to suffer. Oh, I fear nothing; if God sends such great sufferings to a soul, He upholds it with an even greater grace, though we are not aware of it. One act of trust in such moments gives greater glory to God than whole hours passed in prayer filled with consolation (St Faustina).

 

Do not let your troubles disturb your trust in God” (St Mary MacKillop).

 
Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to Him. That is all the doing you have to worry about” (St Jeanne de Chantal).

 

I knew God would take care of all and make everything right in the end (St Mary MacKillop).

 

Anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall a soul except sin. God commands you to pray, but He forbids you to worry (St Francis de Sales).

 

Pray to be ever ready for God’s will even when it takes you by surprise (St Mary MacKillop).

 
God is full of compassion and never fails those who are afflicted and despised, if they trust in Him alone (St Teresa of Avila).

 

“The greater and more persistent your confidence in God, the more abundantly you will receive all that you ask (St Albert the Great).

 

The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day” (St Gianna Molla).

 

The Holy Spirit leads us like a mother. He leads His child by the hand…as a sighted person leads a blind person (St John Vianney).

 

Those whose hearts are enlarged by confidence in God run swiftly on the path of perfection. They not only run, they fly; because, having placed all their hope in the Lord, they are no longer weak as they once were. They become strong with the strength of God, which is given to all who put their trust in Him (St Alphonsus Liguori).

 

Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me (St Augustine).

 

God will provide (St John Bosco).

 

Finally, I want to encourage everyone, myself included with the inspiring words Pope Francis gave us in his catechesis he gave on Wednesday 9 December 2020, from the Library of the Apostolic Palace. In this eighteenth catechesis which speaks on prayer, and which is entitled, the prayer of petition, the Holy Father advises us:

 

Therefore, we should not be shocked if we feel the need to pray, we should not be ashamed. And, especially when we are in need, to ask. Jesus, in speaking of a dishonest man, who had to settle the accounts with his landlord, says this: “To ask, I am ashamed”. And many of us have this feeling: we are ashamed to ask, to ask for help, to ask something of someone who can help us, to reach our purpose, and also ashamed to ask God. One should not be ashamed to pray and to say: “Lord, I need this”, “Lord, I am in difficulty”, “Help me!”: It is the cry of the heart to God who is the Father. And we have to learn to do so also in happy moments, to thank God for everything that is given to us, and not to take anything for granted or as if it were owed to us: everything is grace. The Lord always gives to us, always, and everything is grace, everything. The grace of God. However, we must not suffocate the supplication that rises up in us spontaneously. Prayer of petition goes in step with acceptance of our limitations and our nature as creatures. One may even not reach the point of belief in God, but it is difficult not to believe in prayer: it simply exists, it presents itself to us as a cry; and we all know this inner voice that may remain silent for a long time, but one day awakens and cries out.

 

Brothers and sisters, we know that God will respond. There is no one at prayer in the Book of Psalms who raises a lament that remains unheard. God always answers: [it may be] today, tomorrow, but he always answers, in one way or another. He always answers. The Bible repeats it countless times: God listens to the cry of those who invoke him. Even our reluctant questions, those that remain in the depths of our heart, that we are ashamed to even express: the Father listens to them and wishes to give us the Holy Spirit, who inspires every prayer and transforms everything. It is always a question of patience, of withstanding the wait. 

 

Let us, in times of trouble, let God’s Word keep encouraging us with these words: For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation... For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him (Ps 62:1.5).

 

 

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap