Carrying a Cross

 

Carrying a Cross

This powerful insight was in an Article by Mary Grace Mangono in America Magazine 6/25/2021, “In a recent guest blog post, Jane reflected that ‘I have had cancer three times now, and I have barely passed thirty. There are times when I wonder what I must have done to deserve such a story. I fear sometimes that when I die and meet with God, that He will say I disappointed Him, or offended Him, or failed Him. Maybe He’ll say I just never learned the lesson, or that I wasn’t grateful enough. But one thing I know for sure is this: He can never say that He did not know me.” 

Jane describes the pain she has experienced, the low places of despair where she has lived, and the tears that have become her prayers. And yet, with stunning wisdom, she professes that God has been with her in the low places. That’s where she met him. (And that’s where Augustine met him, too). She writes, “I have seen Him in rare form. I have felt His exhale, laid in His shadow, squinted to read the message He wrote for me in the grout: ‘I’m sad too.’”

At that moment, Jane softly said, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore until you decide to be happy.” Simon was visibly moved by her wise words, and yet he said he would not give her a “yes” for her audition. Instead, he gave her what is called a golden buzzer, which fast-tracks her straight to the show’s final performances….  Since the golden buzzer moment, Jane’s life has been transformed; her audition went viral, making her a household name. But in fact, her song and her message have transformed those who heard them. She understands that, while fans now know her name, God knew her name all along, as He knows each one of our names.

As Jane says in her Augustinian way, “I have heard it said that some people can’t see God because they won’t look low enough, and it’s true. Look lower. God is on the bathroom floor.”  We are a pilgrim people, lost and restless and wandering. But it’s all right. God walks next to us, with us. It’s O.K.  [America Magazine 6/25/2021, Article by Mary Grace Mangono]

Take a few minutes and listen carefully to this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF0GoEUuMoE

St. Joseph pray for us. 

St. Francis de Sales pray for us. 

May God Be Praised.