Granted, it was Lent. And I have a host of deadlines to meet. And then, just two weeks ago, a close family member was diagnosed with cancer. One of those cancers that doesn't have symptoms until it reaches a nasty stage. And boy did it get nasty fast. Still, the surgeon was optimistic that it had not advanced too, too far.
The day of the diagnosis, the pastor made a house call for Anointing of the Sick. I brought Communion on Easter. The surgery was on Easter Tuesday. They got most of it, but some areas had to be left for chemo (and prayer) to handle.
Do you remember that before Lent I invited you to join our online book study? The final session was last night. The book was Finding God in Suffering. And while my relative has been suffering in one way, I have been suffering in another: being unable to "do something" to either make the problem go away or at least make things better. But even that suffering can be "commended into the hands" of the Heavenly Father in union with Jesus for a multitude of special intentions.
So if you have some suffering (or some powerlessness) to bear, I am right there with you. Don't let a bit of it go to waste! Even the annoyance, the time "lost," the boredom, can be valuable: you are part of the Body of Christ, so everything that is yours is also His: his experience of annoyance, of delays, of waiting... Fill them with special intentions for the needs of the world; for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; for an increase of vocations; in reparation for the evils being multiplied because people with unimaginably corrupt minds and hearts are targeting the vulnerable... Let your heart go wild. There is infinite value in your hands, because your hands are His, and when the Father looks at you, He sees (and hears) the Son.
And if you need any specific intentions, just message me! I have pages of them!!!