Thomas Droleskey:  

endurance of the crosses that God Himself has fashioned for each of us from all eternity, therefore, will be the more that we are likely to lose chances for eternal merit, if not seek to anesthetize it altogether. An embrace of the Cross of the Divine Redeemer is thus meant to fortify us, especially as the Sacrifice of the Cross is re-presented in an unbloody manner clearly and unambiguously in the Immemorial Mass of Tradition. An embrace of the Cross is meant to have us forget--and I mean absolutely forget--the travails of this life in order to focus on the crown of glory that awaits us if we persevere until our dying breaths in states of sanctifying grace. An irony of fallen human nature is that it is sometimes easier to endure larger crosses than smaller ones. It is sometimes easier to deal with a terminal disease or a chronic, debilitating illness than it is to suffer the barbs of calumny and misunderstanding directed at us by friends or associates, no less than by absolute strangers who have never met us but think that they are qualified to speak about our own lives. It is, though, in the patient endurance of these lesser, although certainly painful, crosses, that we can find a special union with Our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who was calumniated and misunderstood throughout His life, yes, even in His home town of Nazareth itself. Climbing the ladder of sanctity, which involves a lot of backsliding for those of us still stuck in the Purgative Stage of the spiritual life, involves coming to this important realization: the intentions of all hearts and the circumstances of all lives will be made manifest only on the Last Day at the General Judgment of the Living and the Dead. We must be content to wait until then for an "understanding" of our lives. It will be at that time and that time alone that all of the souls of the just will be reconciled one unto the other. The disputes and contentions and envies of the past will be wiped away. Growing in the spiritual life requires us to want to be misunderstood and calumniated, to be patient in the face of false accusations and humiliations, to pray fervently for those who misunderstand us and to forgive right readily just as we are forgiven by Our Lord in the Sacrament of Penance through the words and actions of an alter Christus, acting in persona Christi. There is, of course, a much simpler way to put all of this: Our Lord loved us so much that He was willing to endure the scandal of the Holy Cross, heedless of Its shame, as Saint Paul teaches us, in order to pay back in His Sacred Humanity the debt of our own sins that was owed to Him in His Infinity as God. We must show our love for God by enduring the just suffering that He sends to us as a means to purify us and as a means of uniting us more fully with His own Holy Cross, giving more and more and more by means of His ineffable graces to His Blessed Mother's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. If we say we love God, you see, we must prove it by our willingness to accept with absolute serenity and equanimity each and every cross, whether great or small, we encounter in our daily lives. It is in this spirit that I accept the sufferings of the present moment. There will never be perfect health in this passing, mortal vale of tears. Try as the social engineers of Modernity have done in the past and are doing at this time, the dystopian world without disease or suffering is a myth that empowers elitists who desire to mock God and to arrogate unto themselves an omnipotence that is His alone. As I have written on my website, sin is more dangerous than any virus. As a sinner who has much for which to make reparation, I must embrace my cross with love and gratitude as suffering is the path to eternal glory if only we persevere by the graces won for us by Our Lord on the wood of the Holy Cross and that flow into our hearts and souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, she who is the Mediatrix of All Graces. A blessed Christmas Octave and Season to you all! Tom Droleskey