Annoyed by Jesus

Hi, Sister. My roommate is driving me crazy. (And vice versa.) Any saints for us?

Offer it up!  What do you think it's like to be room mates with the souls in Purgatory? I bet some of them are pretty annoying, given the fact that they haven't made it to Heaven yet and they are suffering constantly.  Offer up your suffering for them.

It's Advent, after all.  As we prepare to walk in the steps of Jesus, let's remember that His disciples got on his last nerve on numerous occasions.  Think of all the times they ran to Him with their hair on fire, worried about what people thought of them, frightened that He was too generous and forgiving.  They were aggravated with Him, too.

He was very patient with them.  And He always used the situation to turn it into a teaching moment. Even as a child, calmly explaining to His parents where He was while they panicked and fretted, that He was simply doing His job, holding a Q&A for the elders at the Temple.

Or when His Mother asked Him to save the wedding party that ran out of wine. He explained to her that He really wasn't supposed to start in with the miracles just yet. But He did do what His Mother asked and changed the water into wine.  Really good wine at that.

Let me just digress and point out, as per our recent discussion about the separated brethren and their stubborn attitude toward Mary, in particularly, refusing to ask for her intercession, that if you're going to point to what's in the Bible as the be all and end all of what we are to believe about Jesus, than you've clearly really missed the point of this event.  The point being: Jesus listens to His Mom. Against His better judgment.

What were we talking about?  Oh yes! Putting up with your room mate!  

So Jesus had lots and lots of annoying moments with pretty much everyone around Him, including those closest to Him.  So this Advent, let's all take a deep breath and emulate Jesus and love them anyway.   That's step one.

Meanwhile, a patron saint for annoying room mates? Yes! Of Course! St. Therese the Little Flower.  Living in a cloister with a bunch of other girls is no picnic. St. Therese kept a tidy journal of every irritant so that she could be sure and not miss any opportunity to offer up her sufferings to the Poor Souls in Purgatory.

Have you heard of St. Therese sacrifice beads?  It's a little set of ten sliding beads so that you, too, can count your sufferings to the tune of at least ten per day.  I can make you some, if you like!