The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
In Today’s Gospel, Jesus gave us the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, which tells us that the afflicted are in fact blessed. A hard pill to swallow, if you ask me.
Two months ago, my husband Kevin and I packed our bags, left our family and friends, and left Milton (my home for the last decade), and moved to the other side of the country. We heeded the call to cast our nets out into the deep, but now that we are in the deep, we are left grasping in the dark. And while I know that questioning God’s plan is an exercise in futility, still in our despair, I sometimes find myself asking, Lord, why am I here? What is your plan for us here?
As part of our transition checklist, we did a routine checkup with our new doctor a couple of weeks ago. After a series of tests, we found out that Kevin has hypothyroidism, and a cluster of nodules on his thyroid and lymph nodes. It is the most difficult thing sometimes, to see the blessing in our affliction, especially when they seem to pile up. But we wouldn’t have discovered Kevin’s ails had we stayed in Milton, that is a blessing. At least for the moment, it seems that is why we’re here.
The afflicted is blessed; the affliction is a blessing. Today on the Solemnity of All Saints, we all but have to look at our friends in high places for example. They were the ones who mourned, they were meek, they hungered and thirsted for righteousness, they were merciful, they were pure of heart, they were peacemakers, they were persecuted, and they were ultimately, blessed. The Beatitudes provide us a way of life that promises us the Kingdom not of this world, but of the next. And if i is the ladder by which the saints ascend to Heaven, then it is a ladder we should also aim to climb on the daily.
While we wait for further tests, and results that will tell us whether the nodules on Kevin’s thyroid and lymph nodes are cancerous or not, it’s hard to find peace in the midst of our trials. But if the Beatitudes teach us anything, it is to carry our crosses with full resignation to the will of God, and to rejoice in it – for we know that our cross, like the saints’, will lead us to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Lord, we thank you for all the trials and tribulations. For the things that challenge us to be better Christians, for people that allow us to grow in love. May in all things that we are going through, we recognize that all things lead us closer to you. May we, through the inspiration and intercession of the Saints, enjoy complete happiness that can only be found in You. Amen.
Tisa Muico is an illustrator and a wife to a lay missionary, currently living out her calling serving Christ through her art. Inspired by the lives of the saints, she co-founded Friends in High Places - a small Catholic stationery business - with her husband Kevin. She is in an endless pursuit of good coffee, and the true, good, and beautiful. You can find her on Instagram or on her website.