Sunday, February 1, 2026

“I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to learn to solve.
I asked for prosperity and God gave me a brain and brawn to work.
I asked for courage and God gave me dangers to overcome.
I asked for love and God gave me people to help.
I asked for favors and God gave me opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted. I received everything I needed.”
(Hazrat Inayat Khan in “The Soul of Money” by Lynne Twist.)

This perspective helps us see life with hope, walk by faith, and surrender ourselves to God. When God per-mits real hardships and serious situations, we may feel frustrated, disappointed, or even resistant toward God. Yet these difficult moments and strained relationships serve a higher purpose when He transforms them into opportunities for growth, shaping us into the people we are called to become. Rather than granting our re-quests without effort, God allows us to pass through horrible trials, real adversities, and challenging experi-ences so that we develop virtue, deepen inner strength, form a mature character, and growth effectively.

Jesus used the Beatitudes to express this perspective more clearly. He gave them to turn our attention inward, toward our own spiritual poverty and the pursuit of inner peace. They do not describe a distant or unreachable ideal, but a way of life shaped by the Kingdom of God and rooted in humility, mercy, gentleness, and a deep hunger for righteousness. When we experience loss or suffering, we are called to turn to God, trust in His promises, seek His presence, and rely on His grace. While longing for the fullness of God’s justice, truth, and peace, we are invited to resist anger, bitterness, and violence through our free will, and instead choose hope, compassion, integrity, reconciliation, and the salvation of our souls. Finally, Jesus reminds us that walking with Him and continuing His mission to build the Kingdom of God on earth may lead to persecution. Yet such trials, even martyrdom, are not meant to frighten us away, but to strengthen our faithfulness, deepen our com-mitment, and purify our obedience to God. As we carry our cross with Christ and die with Him, we are also promised new life as we rise with Him and join with Him in our true homeland, the Kingdom of Heaven.

Sincerely yours in Jesus Christ and Our Lady of La Vang!

Reverend Kiet Anh Ta.