Seeing the flowers through the thorns.

Our family has taken a good number of "hits" over the last 9 months or so. It just seemed like one big crisis or tragedy after another. Right now the old clan is- as Chesterton put it about the Church- "reeling but erect." My mom and I were talking about how we suffer a lot in this life because of how much we love people; and my mom passed along a marvelous little quote from St. Frances de Sales (her favorite saint and spiritual guide) that said "if you want to have roses in your garden, you will also have thorns."

A lot of us work hard at trying to be holy, loving people; and that is a hard thing. It's hard because we fail often- but it's also hard when we succeed! In this world of so many beautiful people, places, and things mixed up with so much evil and suffering- it's unavoidable that the roses we cherish in the garden of our lives will also be accompanied with the thorns or loss, death, pain, sin, disappointment, etc...

Gain encouragement from Our Lady- that Mystical Rose whose heart was pierced by the thorns around the head of her Divine Son. She, and Her God know the meaning of living with roses and thorns in this world- and that's a comforting thought.