A note for a friend in a forum

[1) The following post I have adapted from one I put in a forum (sadly no longer available) a while ago which proved quite popular. It was written for a friend, also disabled, who had recently converted to the faith but hadn’t yet understood redemptive suffering well enough to apply it to her own life. By explaining the way it helps me to “offer (my suffering) up”, I hoped to help my friend. 2) To protect privacy, some names have been changed or omitted. 3) Thanks, as always (see below), to EWTN.]


Maggie, I am so sorry that last time we “spoke” I forgot to welcome you Home, into the Catholic Church. I was trying to say too much, too quickly, I think. Anyway, truly, I am so happy you have joined our family. And know how full of joy and passion you must be, because I was a convert – with Tom – in 1993 and know how I felt, and still do feel, in love with Mother Church. Welcome home!

The other thing, of course, was “redemptive suffering”, and where I’m sure others can (and probably did already) explain it better than I could, I will tell you what it means to me, and how it makes everything so much easier.

Credit for anything, and everything, I know though, really has to go to EWTN. After years of listening on satellite radio and now watching on Sky TV - especially from Mthr. Angelica. Fr. Mitch Pacwa and Dr. Scott Hahn - I have become quite knowledgable in our faith – well, at least moreso than when I started! I am so grateful to them all.

First of all I look to my two favourite scripture passages: Luke 9:23 and Paul to the Colossians 1:24.

In the first, Jesus is addressing His disciples: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (LK 9:23) He is instructing them, and us, that if we want to be with Him in Heaven we must follow His example, which is to take up our cross (i.e. suffering) and pray for the forgivenes of sins (for each sinner’s redemption). This can be for your own sins and those of your family but most of all, I think for those you are aware of taking place elsewhere, through strangers.

So, in my own way, I will perhaps be feeling a lot of pain, not sure I can go on, and then I picture Jesus in front of me with His cross and I, physically, do my best to keep up with Him (sometimes He takes my hand; He always helps). Other times I’ll meditate on being with our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26:36-46; Lk 22:40-46; Mk 14:32-42) sharing His Agony. Or with Him on the cross uniting with His suffering of the Crucifixion. At the same time I will be “offering up” my pain – as a sort-of sacrifice to God – and remembering in my thoughts (i.e. silent prayer) those people I wish God to forgive/help/convert – it can be any or all of these things or any you think of for yourself.

This is just how I understand it, and how I try to be faithful to Christ’s teaching but I’m sure, Maggie, you will find your way and it will be just as meaningful. The wonder then, is the peace which comes from knowing that it all does serve a purpose – it makes sense. And that’s when, by the grace of God, the miracle happens: you find yourself filled with a great joy. Which leads us to St. Paul and his epistle to the Colossians.

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is the Church [my caps.]…” (Col 1:24).

To my understanding, this is St. Paul realising that, certainly Jesus died for the forgiveness of sins, but original sin, not all sins forever more (as some Protestants would have it). No, Jesus died, that we, through our faith in Him, could be saved by following His example (see above). St. Paul has therefore learnt that to offer up our suffering in prayer for our own sins and others’, post-original sin, is to unite with our Saviour in His Passion. And that unity, that closenes brings a great peace and, finally, joy.

Well, there you go, Maggie. A couple of weeks of crashed computer, souping-up an old and better one, re-formatting and becoming a regular geek later, and here you have it: probably totally redundant by now, but my interpretation (with EWTN’s help) of redemptive suffering.

I’m going to close now and come over to the site (I’ve drafted this on Word – hope the paragraph-breaks and italics come out?!) because I’m really missing everyone on ***** and looking forward to catching up.

God bless you.

Love, Virginia

MS Bubble

[This poem/prayer also appears on my MS blog (MS - My Scene). I like re-reading it as, for me, it describes the consolation to be found in having a disease like MS (yes, there is one!). It's a "Thank you."]


There is something very special about being in an MS “bubble”.
Alone, untouched by voice or hand, or even presence of another.
Protected, enveloped, by what? By peace. There is no panic here. No stress.
Only the blessing and golden light of being alone,
yet loved, in communion with the Holy Family.
Through silence and physical solitude to feel the soul surrender its own wordless prayer.
Contemplation.
And grace.
Amen.

Creation!

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo


Oh, I’m so excited! This is great. A new blog and I wasn’t planning it, though I’d sometimes wondered about needing it, and it’s here. It came. All by itself (no, I know these things are Heaven-sent – thank you, God!). It was even easy – straight-forward – setting it up on Blogger (practice makes nearly-perfect folks!). So I’m thrilled. And, to use a much-used blogging cliché, it’s like having a new baby: I am pleased to announce the birth of…

Pure Catholic. So why the title? Well, in my other blogs – see sidebar), which I love dearly, I have to admit I’ve held back sometimes. On my Catholicism. Because I wanted to speak to everyone, be a witness and an evangelist but not a fanatic. I didn’t want to drive atheists, Protestants or anyone away by being too pedantic or dictatorial – though on occasion the way I felt was hardly hidden! I wanted to meet people on their own level, in their own walk of life. I still do and shall continue to try to do so.

Most of all though, I didn’t want to preach to the converted. Be cosseted by a cocoon of familiarity. And safety. I was a journalist and am used to causing controversy, ruffling a few feathers. I suppose I can enjoy a good argument.

However, with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) and it worsening gradually, constantly, I have to say, arguing isn’t quite the fun and the mental stimulation it used to be. One of the symptoms is chronic fatigue, it’s with you always and it isn’t conducive to any sort of heated debate.

No. I just want to be comfortable and at peace, that’s all. And to do what I can (e.g. prayer/herbal tips) to help others. I try each day to help someone, even if I don't actually talk to another human being - most are virtual now! (I’m so grateful, as yet, I can still type and have in the past year learnt to use the Web. [Thanks there, to my wonderful son, Tom, 28 – he just left home because this has got too much (live-in carer soon?). Without Tom I’d never have managed the computer stuff – nor very much really, in the past few years!])

Anyway, so all this (above) meant that I was trying to write blogs in a calm, charitable - Catholic but not obvious - way, on lots of different subjects.

But, let’s face it, to most people my most interesting claim to fame (?!) is that I have MS. There’s a huge community of MS bloggers out there and I’m very proud to be considered one of them, but that’s the thing: MS isn’t the most important part of my life. Being a Catholic is. My faith. Without it I couldn’t go on. Praise God for His graces, He has allowed me to use this time to get closer to Him

Yet I feel the need to tell about that, more than I do and so that’s why, first I joined 4marks, the Catholic social networking site with forums, and now I’ve come here.

And who do I think will read this blog? Me! It’ll be good for me to be free to write what I’m feeling and the prayers I’m praying and to thank Jesus and all our Holy Family in Heaven for their presence with me. Without worrying about who might be annoyed by it (some do not like hearing others’ “success stories”/recommendations, especially when they’re feeling bad - fair enough.). I want to be with them too.

Yes, it’s me who’ll be reading this blog, but who am I writing it for? Ah, primarily, predominantly and purely for Jesus.

Amen

P.S. That doesn’t mean, of course, I won’t be glad if anyone else does drop by!