Suffering With Joy

Before I started the Pray It Off Blog, I was a Blog neophyte; I mean I had heard mention of them and recently I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" (about a woman who wrote a Julia Childs cooking Blog) but it wasn't until I started blogging myself that I truly appreciated the art form.

Last Sunday I was approached by http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/ to join her Sunday Snippets; where like minded Catholic's share their favorite blog entry from the previous week.

Through this I met Barb who writes the Blog http://www.sufferingwithjoy.com/. We ended up talking on the phone.

God never promises our paths will be strewn with rose petals. Yesterday I talked about St. Teresa of Avila. Her goal was not Sainthood, instead she sought to imitate the life and suffering of Jesus. Her motto was, "Lord, either let me suffer or let me die."

Barb, has devoted her entire Blog to Suffering With Joy. It's not an oxymoron to her, it's as St. Teresa believed, a way to imitate and grow closer to Christ and His passion and death (for us.)


Please check out her Blog, I think it will help those of us, who overeat due to physical, mental and spiritual suffering.

Here is what she has to say on her home page:

"Suffering with joy sounds paradoxical, doesn’t it? But as one who has much experience in this, I want to help others who are interested to understand what I have come to know.

Submitting to suffering does not mean giving up and doing nothing. It means conforming ourselves to the Will of God on the path He has chosen for us so that we can join Him forever in heaven.

We are both body and soul. Through the blog at this site we will address both spiritual and material remedies we can apply to care for both.

Purpose of this Web Site

I started this web site to help others to find solace, joy, and purpose in suffering, no matter how great the difficulties facing them. Of particular concern to me in today’s utilitarian climate is the ever-growing call that the disabled and elderly have a duty to die. This, along with the millions of abortions of innocent babies is a sign that human life, if inconvenient to the wealth and comfort of others, is, in the eyes of many, expendable. But Jesus died for every person and to Him and all who follow Him, every life is precious. So I am pro-life and want to help others who may be tempted to give up on themselves and others to find joy in the sufferings we must bear in this imperfect world.

Premises according to Catholic teaching

1. All human life is precious and deserves to be treated with dignity.

2. Suffering is a part of life and is a gift from God to bring us closer to Him.

3. By offering up our pain in life, we participate in the Redemptive Suffering of Christ and thus become more like Him.

4. Our suffering, offered to God, can be a source of grace for the salvation of others.

5. Conversion to Christ is a daily effort.

6. It is never too late to make suffering count.

7. Trust in God is fundamental.

Let this be a place of refuge from the onslaughts of the world and a place to arm ourselves for the physical, mental, and spiritual battles to which we have been called."


On the side of my Blog there is area that says MY BLOG LIST and it has Barb's blog - just click on it and it will take you to her site.

Photo From the Mel Gibson's - The Passion of the Christ