Your Grace is sufficient for me.
I know it’s been awhile since I posted something here and I do apologize but I’ve been busy vacationing with my family, writing music, and and getting set to be part of Cursillo 100, a short course in Christianity or a walk with Christ that challenges oneself to live their faith through daily piety, study and action.
That being said, here is this week’s blog (and yes, I’ll get into a weekly schedule now that school is underway for my kids and my family is in some semblance of consistency!
This past Sunday was the feast day of St. Lawrence and what a wonderful day to celebrate the feast of an incredible saint so convicted in serving Christ completely that his martyrdom brought the conversion of many. St. Lawrence’s was tied on top of an iron grill over a slow fire, but it is said that St. Lawrence was burning with so much love of God that he did not feel the flames.
How often do we do we look to God in times of trouble and say to Him, “Lord, Your Grace is enough”. In those dark times of our lives, does our love for God light up our hearts and give us hope? True we don’t have to burn on an iron grill, but there are times in our lives where we have experienced the burning, the pain of resentment, dissolution, of confusion.
And yet.
Our Lord is present.
Ready to shower us with His Grace.
In Conversatoins with God, Francis Fernandez writes about suffering:
A holy soul once experienced difficult trials. One calamity after another befell her, and each succeeding disaster seemed worse than the one before. Finally, that soul turned affectionately to our Lord and asked, “But Lord, what have aI done to you?” And in the depths of her heart came the reply, “You have loved me.” She thought of Calvary and understood a little better how our Lord wanted to purify her and her close to the salvation of many who were lost, far from God.
She was then filled with peace and joy.
(-from Conversations with God, (c) 1989 Fomento de Fudaciones, Daily Meditations Volume 4 p. 323
How many times are we filled with so much stress in our lives that we forget that our Lord is greater than anything that causes us pain, suffering, grief, and stress. All too often, we try to take on the world by ourselves thinking that if we just “project management it,”, “Kaizen it” ”Prioritize it”, “Six Sigma” it, even “Delegate it”, it ultimately will go away… But still, the burden lingers on.
John 16:33 states, “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” And while we hear those words in church or in Bible study, we still cower in fear when faced with our day to day stresses. It’s no wonder God has to keep on saying to us over 300 times in the Bible, “Do Not Be Afraid”…hmm… don’t you think it’s about time we read His memo to us 
Only when we have fully surrendered to the will of God and ask Him to take over our lives…completely… will we be able to experience the Grace that flows from trusting in Him. And though the fires that St. Lawrence experienced through his martyrdom maybe different than the fires that try to consume us, the fact remains. GOD IS BIGGER THAN ALL THAT!
Be not afraid, He has overcome the world.
…and His Grace is sufficient for you and me.
Be blessed this week, folks, and remember, God is on our side!
Peace.
Tony
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