Here is a cool video.  A slightly different translation is attributed to Mother Teresa.

A Letter to my dear friend upon your difficult news…

Hello, my dear friend.  I’m very sorry to hear about your situation.  I prayed for you last night, and again today at Mass.  I asked that God would strengthen you with courage and faith so that you may get through this.  I also prayed that you would be healed and that you would not suffer.

Mt 9:20

I wondered what God might want you to know?  If I were a messenger, what would He have me tell you?  In my heart, I heard Him answer.  “Tell her I love her very much.  Let her know that I am with her always and that I’m with her now in the midst of all this.  Be not afraid.”

We don’t always know why we are to suffer.  Why would God allow this?  Sometimes (maybe) we might see the greater good that God has planned.  Other times, it’s just difficult and requires us to have lots of faith.

I have seen some people suffer and I have seen greater good.  I know that there is a purpose – and a benefit – when we allow our experience to glorify God.  You’ve maybe seen the incredible cancer patient who never complains, or the little child who was burned yet still smiles every day.  Those heroic people that seem to let God’s love shine through their suffering.

I got to thinking about you specifically …you, a much-loved woman with many friends and admirers.  How might God be asking you to show His power and love to others? Read the rest of this entry »

At what was probably the most challenging time in my life, God granted me an abundance of grace to get through it.  Surely as I live and breathe today, I would never have made it through without God’s gentle and caring touch.

No one likes to go through dark times, but sometimes – when we’re in the midst of the darkness, we see God’s hand at work in us.  We discover strength to endure, comfort in knowing that we’re never alone …He is always with us.  And for this special closeness that we feel with the Almighty, we can be grateful …even joyful, for this temporary darkness.

I have the fortune of having a terrific friend, Chris Malin, who found this note about “God’s Anvil”.  He shared it with me at just the right time.   Read the rest of this entry »

Statue of Jesus and Peter in Tabgha, near the Sea of Galilee

Welcome to my blog.  My name is Rick McHenry.

All humanity shares a common calling to be “good”.  For Christians, this calling is extended by Jesus Christ when He instructs us to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34).  Having been blessed throughout my life (and today) with many wonderful people …people who have shared the love of Christ with me in their words and their actions, I desire wholeheartedly to share God’s love and truth with as many people as I can.  I feel that is my own personal, albeit not uncommon, calling.  My hope is that, by God’s grace and despite my own personal weaknesses, this blog will allow me and others to humbly strive for that truth and love and share it with each other.

I am not a theologian or a Biblical scholar.  I am a life-long Catholic and expect to spend the rest of my life learning about Jesus through the lens of the Catholic Church.  I do study Sacred Scripture and I do teach religious education to junior high students, but Read the rest of this entry »