Victorious

As of right now, I have no new rosaries to show you. Happily, I've been pretty busy with orders. I still need to get caught up with my "bulk" merchandise so that I don't need to make a new rosary every time someone orders. So those of you who have ordered a rosary and have to wait a few days for it to ship, I'm working on it, I promise!

In the meantime, I thought I would show some of the 'oldies but goodies' in my shop, as I write on an entirely different subject. Some of the photography isn't the greatest; I'm working on that too.






Well, needless to day the Elections was a huge disappointment. I really don't know much about politics and I'm always "lost" when people are discussing it in front of me. It's like watching a game of ping pong, back and forth, back and forth, keep your eye on the ball and you wont' get lost...the only blog that I really go to for politics is The Little Catholic Bubble; it's usually pretty easy for me to understand. I'm not a huge politics fan and yes, I find it a bit boring, but as I get older, I realize how important it is to understand your faith and politics so you can back it up if it should be attacked.

What did you do the day after the elections? I cried off and on, and spent a little time in self-pity. (Yes, I admit it.) All I could think about was how many people prayed, fasted, and worked hard to get Romney's votes. I'm not including myself with these hard workers; I didn't pray anywhere near as much as I should and I didn't fast. I didn't put any signs out on my lawn or put bumper stickers on my car. (Too afraid of getting "the finger". Yep, courageous. That's me!)

But every Mass I went to, we spent time as a congregation in prayer for the elections. And across my state of Minnesota, an ongoing rosary was being said once a week for just the elections. Our country (the Catholic side of it, and even those who weren't Catholic, but wanted to support us), worked so hard for an election of a good President. Why didn't God hear our prayers? Why would He want Obama to be our President? I felt bad questioning God, and my faith felt so weakened by this. I felt extremely human and vulnerable during this time.

But then I looked around and found people getting back on their feet. We were all devastated over this unexpected cross, but I saw people supporting each other, encouraging each other, that God would see us through this too. Reminders that suffering only brings about holiness and that God uses everything for our good.

Deep inside my heart, I too, knew and believed that God had not abandoned us, and that only good will come from this suffering. The luke-warm Catholics will become fervent, and the fervent Catholics will become holy. The holy Catholics will become saints. Because during these next four years and onward, we will be fighting even harder for what we believe in. Truly, since the elections, I have started praying harder and more faithfully to guard and keep my faith. I didn't do that before, because I didn't realize how precious my right to be fully Catholic is. And  before, I didn't feel threatened that someone would take that away from me.

There has been no saint out there that became a saint without suffering, and this even includes little St.Therese! And if we use our sufferings wisely, we can become saints too.

As iron is fashioned by fire and on the anvil, so in the fire of suffering and under the weight of trials, our souls receive that form which our Lord desires them to have.
--St. Madeline Sophie Barat

When it is all over you will not regret having suffered; rather you will regret having suffered so little, and suffered that little so badly.'
--St. Sebastian Valfre 

If God sends you many sufferings, it is a sign that He has great plans for you and certainly wants to make you a saint.
--St. Ignatius Loyola

One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much
more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer.
--St. Teresa of Avila

Blessed be He, Who came into the world for no other purpose than to suffer.
--St. Teresa of Avila   

Taken from whitelilyoftrinity.comhttp://whitelilyoftrinity.com/saints_quotes_suffering.htmlhttp://whitelilyoftrinity.com/saints_quotes_suffering.html