Mysterious Crosses

‘If you wish to bear only ‘reasonable’ crosses, then perfection is not for you.’  I came across this quotation from St Teresa and it struck a chord with me.  Before I became a Catholic, I had begun my working life as an Anglican priest.  It was not a way of life that held much attraction to me but I thought the Good Lord was calling me that way.  Then when the invitation to join the Catholic Church grew more insistent, my confusion grew.  I had made the sacrifice of offering to be ordained, how could God want me to give up my ministry?  It was then that I began to understand Teresa’s point.  I wanted the call of God to ‘make sense’ to me but by their very essence crosses may entail mystery and incomprehensibility.  It may be an essential part of a cross that it seems not to make sense, and that’s what I experienced then.  I realise now that in throwing myself into the mystery I was actually on the way to God.  I was truly surrendering my will and accepting His, and this was what He wanted of me.

Intercessions

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Jacqui, Fr Jon Bielowski (Plymouth Diocese), Catherine, Alex (43 with five children), Sister Daranee Teapthong, Theresa K

Ivy – sick child

Brian (recovering from Pneumonia)

Kevin (heart attack)

William Gove (recovering from stroke)

Illness:  Katy Keeling

Siena, Elara – sick children

David OCDS – housebound

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Mark – brain infection

Michael, Kira – vulnerable youngsters

Defence of the unborn and the elderly

We are asked to pray for the Diocese of Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand, as the Northern Mission celebrates its centenary. The process of selecting a new bishop continues.