During the Easter season, we read in Acts 5:34-42 that the Apostles left the Sanhedrin “rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer” for Jesus. This same spiritual power seems to be among us even in our day, judging by the testimony of two fellow parishioners:

“When I first met Barbara, she told me that God had given her a great a blessing in her cancer. I didn’t understand what she meant until I myself was diagnosed with cancer. Before starting treatment, I did not know how I would feel or how long my pain would last. I resolved to deal with the pain through prayer, and to trust that God would get me through. One day I received in the mail a booklet on the children of Fatima. In it I read how those children actually wanted to suffer, so they could offer up their suffering for the conversion of sinners. I remembered Barbara saying, “Through my cancer, I am going to take Jesus’ pain upon myself–I want him to have some time off!” This started me thinking of Jesus’ passion on the cross, of all the pain he endured for MY sins, and of how he offered up his suffering for all sinners, so that we might all be free. My pain was not even close to his pain, but I too, like the Fatima children and like Barbara, wanted to offer up my pain for the conversion of sinners and for freeing the souls in purgatory. With that, I actually began rejoice in my pain, because it now had a purpose. I was offering it up to Jesus. The love that flowed through me, and the feeling that Jesus was present within me, was so beautiful. God’s love is so beautiful!”—Debbie