All Things Work for Good

My apologies for failing to inform you all that I was going to be away this past week with no access to a computer. When I finished the last entry, I barely had time to post it and forgot to include a little PS. In case this happens again this week, I will be away from Wednesday until next Monday, but might have occasional access to a computer.

When St. Paul says, "We know that all things work for the good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose," (Rm 8:28) he is assuming, he is asking for a huge leap of faith. All things? Even sickness, memory loss, misunderstandings, forclosures, evictions, wars, massive killings in Norway? All things? The question has been asked for centuries; St. Marcellin dealt with it in the "Terrible Year" of 1826, when he was ill, vocations were not coming, morale was low, money was owed, and Fr. Courveille, who had caused all kinds of problems at the Hermitage, had to be dismissed. St. Marcellin's faith was strengthened by all of this and by spring of 1827, his health was better, postulants arrived and someone offered to pay his debts. He held on in faith and as in westerns of old, "the cavalry appeared over the hill sounding the trumpet of rescue." So often in our lives that mysterious relief comes, almost as a reward for our faith, it seems, and we can look back saying that what seemed unbearable, of beyond our comprehension, was really part of a plan that ultimately worked for a good that we could not see at the time. On this sabbath day, may we find encouragement by looking back at our past "crises" and their resolutions, and be assured that indeed "all things work for the good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose."
Bro. Rene