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by Rev. Fr. V.V. Paulose, Toronto, Canada
"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation." (Romans 5:3-5)
Could you believe adversity could be turned in to advantage?
'A monkey on a tree hurled a coconut at the head of a saint. The man picked it up, drank the milk, ate the flesh and made a bowl from the shell.'
Life is with ups and downs and we have to walk in the hills and valleys. We have to tread upon stones and thorns. Take all hurdles are opportunities to live and proceed to the destination. It’s a fight with surmounting challenges that we have to face with full preparation as a soldier of Christ. Poverty, abuse, mockery, shame etc should not frighten us to withdraw from the life struggle. Crown is only to the victor.
Sen. Scott Brown, 51 years old from Massachusetts, is a living example of how an abused life cab be shaped to one of the brilliant saga of life for good. In his memoir ' Against all Odds,' he has written about struggling with poverty and hunger, shop lifting to feed his younger sister and himself, enduring beatings by 2 step fathers and fighting back against 2 separate sexual predators are all part of what he calls the "the spider Webb" of his life, each thread building on the last. He writes, "it’s something that made me who I’m. It made me the protector of the family - whether it was true or not, that‘s how I felt."
"And the lesson here is that I did fight back and did push back and I did have good people around me. And I was able to brake out of that cycle.." When he was 7 ½, a teenage boy had taken him to a wooded area, pulled a knife and ordered him to perform a sex act. Brown managed to grab a rock, smash it in to tormentor’s face and ran free.
We should not be passive. God is with those who are willing to act. Don’t be afraid of dying, die as a fighter for good. "Even if you have to suffer for doing good things, God will bless you. So stop being afraid and don’t worry about what people might do."(1 Peter 3:14)
Jesus, we pray for all the poor and abused. Let all those who are suffering in sickness, temptations, exploitations and ill treatment should get the strength to endure it.. Let the tormentors to be tormented and be in abyss . All we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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