VICISSITUDE a change in fortune or in a situation, esp. for the worse, from the Latin vicissitudo.
I always thought this word meant simply the ups and downs of life, the peaks and valleys, the ins and outs, ups and downs. I was wrong. Good thing I looked it up. Well, maybe another dictionary has another meaning.
Life never changes just for the worse...you know, the whole "blessing in disguise" thing. It does seem that trouble comes in groups....down to farther down to in very deep. Often, when we are in the midst of tribulation, we say to ourselves, "Well, this is okay because without this pain, I won't really appreciate pleasure again."
That is the secular view. A practicing Catholic sees pain and suffering as with us always. We are not on the continual downslope ever. Joy and pain cooexit in time. As a wise woman I know likes to say, "It is all good." Eternity looms more present than we realize and offers the chance to breathe and laugh and live, even as we mourn our losses.
So, I was thinking of the gift of faith, why some have it and some reject it. Others, like me, accept it, but struggle to possess it as God would have us possess it. Like all moms, I am winding our academic year down, trying to discern plans for the upcoming academic year 2009-10. Educating children and young people is an adventure, an adventure on which I would not want to embark without the gift of faith. This Saturday, God willing, at our parish, in celebration of our young son's First Holy Communion, we will sing:
...Melt the clouds of Sin and Sadness; Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day!
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