In the Midst of Trials, Cling to Hope

Whether we are undergoing our own personal trials, or whether it’s the continual news of violence around the world, it is easy to have our sense of hope shattered. How can we draw close to God when we are questioning why He allows such evil to happen?

Fr. Carl Pieber, CM, Executive Director of the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal, recently stopped by Morning Air® to reflect on how we can stay close to the Lord during times of hardship and grief.

“The plan of God’s salvation is so far beyond our understanding, and that’s what you’re talking about. When things like this happen we think, ‘How can this be the plan of God? How can this be?'” Fr. Pieber said.

“And all of a sudden we realize we’re like the Blessed Mother standing at the foot of the Cross saying, ‘How can this be in the plan of God?’ He came here to help people and to save them, and now He’s totally humiliated, totally destroyed, nothing is left – how can this be in the plan of God?

We don’t get it. And we’re probably not going to get it. But we go on just like the Blessed Mother. She didn’t curse God, she accepted, and she gave herself to others. And that is what we are called to do. I am called to get active, and to call others to the Lord.”

Fr. Pieber acknowledged that we must accept that we are grieving, accept that we are hurt. Nothing can take that away, but we can learn to live with that grief, live with that hurt, and move forward.

He encouraged listeners to find hope in the ways that God sanctifies bad situations, saying,  “We always want to ask why, why, why? And that leads to nothing, nothing, nothing. It’s not about why. We ask why does God allow evil – but we’re the ones who keep perpetrating the evil. He’s trying to sanctify it, which is an amazing event.

Now, God does not plan evil to have the good – that’s wrong. But from every evil, God sanctifies it, God overcomes it. Just like God overcame death on the Cross. No matter what evil is done, God is the ruler of all and He will overcome it.”

Listen to the full conversation with Fr. Carl Pieber below:

Morning Air can be heard weekdays from 6-9 a.m. Eastern/3-6 a.m. Pacific on Relevant Radio®.

 

Stephanie Foley serves as a Digital Media Producer at Relevant Radio®. She is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, where she studied journalism, and she has worked in Catholic radio for 12 years. Stephanie is a wife, a mother of three boys, and in her free time she enjoys reading, running, and really good coffee. You can find more of Stephanie’s writing at relevantradio.com and on the free Relevant Radio mobile app.