Friday of the 7th Week in Ordinary Time
February 28, 2014 8:30am
In the popular book The Road Less Travelled, Scott Peck starts
off by saying: “Life is difficult.”
Scott Peck says that many of us
assume that life should be easy and this makes it difficult for us when we
encounter hardship.
If we would accept the fact that
life is difficult, he says we would be healthier and happier.
In fact, it is through life’s
difficulties that we grow in those qualities that make us better human beings:
patience, compassion, understanding, and humility.
I think we would add to Scott Peck’s
comments that yes, life is difficult, but it also beautiful and blessed.
Life’s difficulties go hand in
hand with life’s blessings.
Saint James implies this in
today’s first reading.
He tells us to take as our
example the prophets who persevered through many hardships.
What enabled them to do this?
They believed that God, who is “compassionate and merciful”, was with
them through it all.
We too have difficulties:
v
patiently trying to work through marriage
troubles instead of throwing in the towel right away
v
enduring illness or assisting a loved one
through an illness
v
raising children and struggling to make the
right decisions in guiding them as they grow
v
just working hard at our jobs and trying to make
ends meet.
Saint James calls us to embrace
the perseverance of the prophets and to maintain our faith in the love and
presence of God.
If we do this, we can find
blessings in the midst of our hardships and challenges.
Then life may be difficult but it
will also be beautiful and blessed for us.
