Meaningful not Easy

I shared this quote on Facebook from the Sisters of Life Founder. Cardinal O'Connor.

"O Lord Jesus…Did the pain shoot way past Your head and Your hands and Your feet deep, deep, deep into Your soul, so that You could no longer feel the touch of Your Father’s love in the numbness of it? …Is that why You understand how our faith falters and we’re not always sure of what we believe or why, and how much it hurts to be misunderstood or ridiculed or slandered or deserted or divorced or unwillingly pregnant or emptied by abortion? …You always knew Easter would come, even when it was almost impossible to believe and totally impossible to experience… What an absolutely marvelous wonder that You let us know, also, who You are, and about who we are in You, and about our own lives and sufferings and deaths, and that every bit of it can be meaningful even if not a single moment of it is easy."

- John Cardinal O’Connor

April 4, 1985 from The Catholic New York

There are a lot of hard things in life that we wish would be easy.

However, Life is not easy.

Life is often hard.

But Life also has meaning in the moments that are not easy.

The moments of difficulty are hard to describe. They are different for everyone. 

We all face challenges that are not easy. 

The meaning can be hard to find or difficult to accept. 

"Find a quiet place, sit down, close your eyes, acknowledge God's presence, breathe deeply, talk to him briefly about how life has left you empty, and ask God to fill you." Life is Messy, Matthew Kelly 

We still continue to want life to be easy. 

I want life to be easy. 

But again life is not always what we want and we know this from looking at the cross. 

Jesus, help us when life is not fair or easy. 

Help us to look at you on the cross and believe there is meaning for the hard things in life. 

Cardinal O'Connor said, "Easter is coming! Even if not a single moment of it is easy!" 

"Life is messy, but it isn’t just a mess. Life is also won­derful. But this is the perspective that departs us when we are in the thick of the mess. We lose sight of all the good and get consumed by the turmoil we are embroiled in. The whole truth is that life is messy, but it is also wonderful and beautiful and awe-inspiring." - Life is Messy