“True love of God consists in adhering perfectly to His holy will, not desiring to do or to be other than what God indicates for each of us, to the point of becoming, as it were, ‘a living will of God’. ~Father Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene, OCD

For Reflection: How does the Blessed Virgin Mary demonstrate true love of God according to the definition given to us in this quote? How and why is she the icon of “a living will of God”? To what extent am I the same? What one strategy in the coming new year can I employ to help me be more so? Add it to my list of resolutions.

In Conversation With God Vol 1 Advent/Christmas Francis Fernandez-Carvajal Pb 387 pgs

34. THE HOLY INNOCENTS                              MARTYRS 34.1 Suffering, reality in our life.  The sanctification of suffering.

Suffering is indeed a mystery. Yet, through faith, the Christian can discover in the darkness of his own or other people's suffering, the loving and provident hand of his Father God who knows so much more and sees so much further than he himself can. Then he begins to understand to some extent the words of St Paul to the first Christians in Rome:  We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, including everything that seems to us piercingly inexplicable or incomprehensible.