“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Rom 8:28-30).
Is there anything that God cannot do?
Christian tradition tells us that Anne, wife of Joachim, was told by an angel after years and years of prayer that the couple would finally be blessed with a child. Anyone who has read the story of Abraham and Sarah knows that age is not a hindrance for God’s blessing of fertility. Scripture also tells us that the couple’s daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, was told by an angel, “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk 1:27). Not only was Mary, a virgin, to become pregnant with the Son of God, but her elderly cousin Elizabeth was pregnant with His forerunner, John the Baptist! Indeed, the purposes of God cannot be shaken. He works all things for the good for those who love Him, and He does it through our weakness and brokenness. Jesus, the Son of Mary, took on our weakness in the flesh, yet without sin, so that we might be brought into the glory of His Kingdom. He is the fulfillment of the promises of God, the kindness and the comfort of which today’s psalm speaks: “Let your kindness comfort me according to your promise to your servants” (Ps 119:76).
Fr. Solanus was no stranger to extraordinary faith and the hope in God to fulfill all of His promises. People would come to see him by the busload to receive his counsel, encouragement, and intercession. He witnessed to the pain and despair in the hearts of those who sought him out, and responded with one Word: Jesus. He used the practice of gratitude to inspire confidence in God’s providence and to fight against discouragement, exhorting all with whom he prayed to “thank God ahead of time.”
In His amazing Providence, God has worked multitudes of miracles throughout history to bring us to this point in time. From the faith of Abraham, to the prayer of St. Anne, to the “yes” of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the death and Resurrection of Jesus, to the intercession of faithful servants like Blessed Solanus, God has been working all things for the good for those who love Him.
Today let us pray to live in gratitude, thanking God ahead of time for the great blessings that He has in store for us today and for eternity.
Prayer for the Canonization of Father Solanus Casey
O God, I adore You. I give myself to You.
May I be the person You want me to be,
and may Your will be done in my life today.
I thank You for the gifts You gave Father Solanus.
If it is Your will, bless us with the Canonization of
Father Solanus so that others may imitate
and carry on his love for all the poor and suffering of our world.
As he joyfully accepted Your divine plans,
I ask You, according to Your will,
to hear my prayer for…(your intention)
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
“Blessed be God in all His designs.”
2uolord 