03/07/2026
MY AFTERNOON REFLECTION
TOPIC: WITH JESUS AND MARY, YOU WILL EMERGE VICTORIOUS...
Life is not a gentle teacher. It does not tap you on the shoulder and whisper, โTake it easy.โ No! Life storms at your doors. It shouts, breaks, shatters and humbles you in ways you never imagined. The darkness of life will come unexpected. The cold days will hit you below the belt of life The betrayal will come from persons you would take the bullets for. The loss will come again, and again and again. And in that moment, when the world seems to collapse around you, many will fall. Some persons during those dark days will scream, โWhy me, Lord?โ Many will cry rivers of tears that seem to flow into emptiness. Some would call on God only to hear the echo of their own voices. In any case, don't ever forget that you are not like many. You were born for triumph. You were born for victory, and the hand of God is upon you. Do not fear the darkness, for it is only a stage where Godโs glory will shine the brightest. Isaiah said it: โWhen you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you; when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burnedโ (Isaiah 43:2). Do you hear that? The fire will not consume you. The river will not drown you. The storm will not sweep you away. Why? Because you are not walking alone. Jesus is with you. Not tomorrow. Not later. But now. And Mary, the mother of mercy, the refuge of the hopeless, intercedes for you. She who bore the suffering of her Son, who stood unwavering beneath the shadow of the cross, will guide you through your shadows.
Dark days are not the end; they are the crucibles of greatness. Every storm, every trial, every disappointment is Godโs laboratory. He is shaping you. He is polishing you. He is turning your pain into perfume, your struggles into fragrance, your scars into testimony. Do you understand? When you walk out of that darkness, you will not only survive, you will smell like a rose. Why a rose? Because roses do not grow without thorns. Your victory, your joy, your testimony, will be born out of the very thorns that threatened to pierce your soul. Pray your rosary and hold very tightly to the mother of God. Do not despise the darkness. Do not flee the storms. Do not curse the night. Stand firm, hold fast, cry out to Jesus, and call on Mary. Let their presence saturate your soul. And when the day breaks, when the trial ends, when the night gives way to light, you will walk out with a fragrance that the world cannot imitate. A fragrance of triumph. A fragrance of grace. A fragrance of someone who has been refined, purified, and set apart by God Himself.
Remember that the night is temporary but your glory is eternal. The thorns of today are the perfume of tomorrow. Walk boldly, pray fiercely, believe radically, and come out smelling like a rose.
POPE LEO XIV