Bernadette means "Brave as a bear"

Below are just some quotes which have struck me..... "little toothpicks God is throwing at me, which all add up to be a baseball bat in the end!" (Thank you Allen Kirchner for the revelation ;)

The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart this cross He now sends you, He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with His loving arms and weighted with His own hands, to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you, He has blessed it with His holy name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it you from Heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.

St. Francis de Sales

‎"It is love alone that gives worth to all things."

-St. Teresa of Avila

"Sin and the rosary can't coexist, at one point one of them will go. Whether sin or the rosary, if you can only pray one hail Mary but with all your heart, Our Lady comes!"

-Fulton Sheen

"I should be changed, no more sadness, I have seen too much to doubt God's love for me, I have received too many blessings to think He doesn't love me, and that it ain't gonna be okay where ever He takes me!"

-Holy Spirit

Prayer is the key to God's heart.

-St. Pio

What really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return.

-Blessed JPII

One cannot love without suffering or suffer without loving.

-St. Gianna Molla

“Do not be afraid to be saints. Follow Jesus Christ who is the source of freedom and light. Be open to the Lord so that He may lighten all your ways.”

-Blessed JPII

Speaking to a friend, today, I realized that sometimes suffering and the wounds or the difficulties make you enter into a survival mode and from there you think when will this be over so I can move on. But the process of moving on may be understanding and asking God for the grace to accept the new normal, to heal during the tough times, not wait until the pain is over, because it may always be a cross (But it will get lighter--hold on to that hope). You must move on and move forward. Each day-- asking for the grace to let go and surrender to His will.