{"id":1578,"date":"2017-02-26T16:56:09","date_gmt":"2017-02-26T21:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/?page_id=1578"},"modified":"2022-02-24T07:49:02","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T12:49:02","slug":"redemptive-suffering","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/redemptive-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Redemptive Suffering &#8211; Lent 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div align=\"center\" class=\"youtube-responsive-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GEew2vE7spA?rel=0&amp;modestbranding=1\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"564\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Mary shares how redemptive suffering is a beautiful part of our Catholic Faith. She talks about her personal experience and how we can seek comfort in Our Lady on how she handled suffering in her life with unwavering faith for God\u2019s will.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for watching and participating in this retreat!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Not Registered, yet? Don\u2019t miss the rest of the talks! Register for the Pray More Retreat!&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-horizontal is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-layout-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/2017-lent-retreat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Click Here to Register!<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Downloads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Audio MP3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/02%20-%20Mary%20Lenaburg%20-%20Redemptive%20Suffering.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Click&nbsp;here&nbsp;to download audio file.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Printable Study Guide PDF<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Redemptive-Suffering-Study-Guide.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Click here to download the printable study guide.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Printable Transcript PDF<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Redemptive-Suffering-PMN-Lenaburg.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Click here to download the transcript of the video presentation.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Reflective Study Guide Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u201cIf the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving of Holy Communion and the other is suffering.\u201d <\/p><cite><em>(p. 1805, Jesus to Faustina)<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Suffering is a personal invitation from our Lord to enter into His passion &amp; crucifixion. He\u2019s asking us to come &amp; join Him &#8212; to come &amp; be with Him. When we\u2019re going through a hard time, it\u2019s easy for us to draw closer to God. And then when that situation gets easier, we often don\u2019t rely on the Lord as much as we did before things improved. Has this happened to you before? &nbsp;What is one instance or one situation during which the Lord really carried you through? How can you try to remember His presence in that instance even after the fact? Have you spent time in prayer to thank Him, to remember Him?<br><br><\/li><li>Mary said in this talk that, \u201cThe cross is about God loving us. Redemptive suffering is about us loving God.\u201d During Lent, we\u2019re encouraged to take on redemptive suffering. Is there something you\u2019ve been struggling to accept in your life lately? How can you take that on as redemptive suffering this Lent as an offer to our Lord?<br><br><\/li><li>When Jesus was crucified, the Blessed Virgin Mary trusted and believed in God\u2019s plan and unconditional love for her &#8212; even in the midst of watching her son die before her. What are some ways you can offer up to the Lord the things in your life that are suffering right now? How can you offer those things up to the Lord the way that Mary offered up her son?<br><br><\/li><li>Is there something you really don\u2019t enjoy that you have to do often &#8212; maybe something that you do every week or everyday even? The next time that you do it, try to remember to offer it up to our Lord and ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to bless it. It doesn&#8217;t have to be a long prayer. It can be something as short as this: &#8220;As I do this today, Lord, please use my efforts, my attitude, my work, today for your glory, your will, and for the holy souls in Purgatory. Mother Mary, please bless me and this work.&#8221;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Text: Redemptive Suffering<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Hi everyone. My name\u2019s Mary Lenaburg, and it is a privilege to be with you today. We\u2019re going to talk about suffering with joy. But first, I want to bring our lady into our time together. So we\u2019re going to open with a Hail Mary in prayer. Please join me, won\u2019t you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hail Mary<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why of Suffering<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you so much for joining me today. We\u2019re going to talk about suffering. And I know that\u2019s not a real popular, happy topic, especially in today\u2019s culture. The world tells us that suffering is bad. It should be avoided at all costs. The world tells us there is no&#8230; They question the existence of God, because there is so much suffering in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, we know that, as Catholics, we realize that suffering is not something any of us want to do, right. Nobody wants to suffer. It\u2019s not my favorite thing in the world ever, and I\u2019m sure it\u2019s not yours. But unfortunately, it\u2019s part of the fact that we don\u2019t live in the Garden of Eden anymore, right? We are in a world filled with sin since The Fall, and so therefore there\u2019s going to be hardship, there\u2019s going to be death, there\u2019s going to be sickness, there\u2019s going to be floods, and tornados, and acts of horrible violence, and all of these things. These exist because we live a world where there is sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We know that God does not create these things. Nothing bad comes from a loving God. Again, He allows them to happen in our lives, He allows the situations to happen, but it\u2019s the \u201cWhy\u201d of that, \u201cWhy does God allow suffering?\u201d That we\u2019re going to kind of get to today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Personal Invitation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you ever heard the saying \u201cGod never gives you more than you can handle\u201d? Right. I just want to roll my eyes at that. How many times I have heard that in my life is, yeah, too many to count. But it\u2019s true. I don\u2019t always believe it to be true, but it is true. He only gives us what He knows we can handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suffering is a personal invitation from our Lord to enter into His passion and crucifixion, right. He suffered, He offered His life on the cross for us. So by allowing suffering in our lives, He\u2019s asking us in the most intimate way, the most beautiful invitation, \u201cCome join Me. Come be with Me in the suffering.\u201d In that leaning in to the cross, we rely on Him for every need and every provision to make it through these trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I mean think about it. When things are going great, how\u2019s your prayer life? How&#8230; are you talking to God every moment of every day? Well, I know I\u2019m not all the time, because things are going well. But the minute something difficult comes along, I\u2019m like \u201cOh God, please, please Lord, please Lord. Spare me. Spare me.\u201d You know, suffering is part of our path to salvation, because by allowing that in our life, who do we seek? We seek God. And what does He want from us? That\u2019s all. He wants us to know Him, love Him, and serve Him. He wants us to seek Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we have something in Catholic theology called \u201credemptive suffering\u201d. And when I talk about suffering with joy, this is how you get there. This concept of redemptive suffering. Because it\u2019s all about love, right. In Corinthians it says, \u201cLove is patient, love is kind\u201d, all of those things. But the end of it, it goes \u201cLove bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.\u201d I mean, it never fails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cross is about love, God\u2019s love for us. Redemptive suffering is about us loving God. So, the definition of redemptive suffering is human suffering that\u2019s accepted and offered up in union with the Passion of Jesus, okay. Redemptive suffering can remit the just punishment for one\u2019s sins or for the sins of another, or for the physical and spiritual needs of one\u2019s self or another. This is what is known as redemptive suffering. This is where the joy comes from. To know that our suffering is never, ever wasted. It\u2019s never wasted. It has a purpose! And when something has a purpose, it becomes easier to walk through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Suffering in Silence<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>St. John of the Cross said \u201cWhenever anything displeasurable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified\u201d, and here comes the kicker, \u201cAnd be silent.\u201d We\u2019re in the season of Lent, right. And what does the church ask of us? They ask for almsgiving, prayer, penance. Well, penance is suffering, right. To do penance for something or something is to suffer. So how beautiful that even during this season in the Church, we\u2019re encouraged to take on redemptive suffering. But it\u2019s not just limited to Lent. It\u2019s a lifetime. Maybe it\u2019s the first time you\u2019ve ever heard of it. Awesome, you have 6 weeks to practice it, you know. To really dig into it. And then take it outside of this penitential season for the remainder of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, to be silent; to offer up without anybody really knowing. Silence is not an easy thing for me. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s an easy thing for you, but I\u2019m still working on it. God\u2019s still working on it with me. But this idea of redemptive suffering by giving it a name and a purpose becomes easier to bear, and when something is easier to bear what happens? There is more peace. There is more joy in your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, you\u2019re sitting there, wherever you are, watching this video, and you\u2019re thinking \u201cYeah, this lady doesn\u2019t have a clue. She doesn\u2019t know what suffering is. She\u2019s just telling me all of these happy little happy clappy things.\u201d Um, no. My words come from experience. Redemptive suffering sounds hard, and it is hard, but at the end of the journey that you\u2019re going through, looking back, it\u2019s the easier way to get through that time of trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mary&#8217;s Story<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>So I\u2019ve been married for 28 years. I\u2019ve been blessed with 2 children: my son Jonathan and my daughter Courtney. Now, when Courtney was born, I was 25 years old, I was young, my husband and I had been married 5 years. Our son came along first, and then our daughter. And when she was 5 weeks old, she began having grand mal seizures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, imagine a teeny, tiny little baby, you know, 7 pounds, 8 pounds, her body racked with convulsions, her lips turning blue, her face turning purple as she\u2019s trying to breathe. It\u2019s terrifying. It\u2019s terrifying. And we didn\u2019t know what to do. We didn\u2019t know why God was allowing this suffering in our life. We didn\u2019t know why He was allowing this in our daughter\u2019s life. It felt like a punishment. What had we done?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We hadn\u2019t done anything. It was just part of our path, a part of our story. Part of our journey. We spent days and weeks in the hospital fighting for our daughter, trying to figure out what was happening, how we could help her, and we begged. Oh, begged and pleaded with our Lord. \u201cShow us the way. Give us the answer. What is it we need to do to help her?\u201d Again and again and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We yelled at God. Anybody that says you can\u2019t yell at God, go read St. Thomas Aquinas. He would yell at Him quite often. Rail at God. He\u2019s a big enough God, He can handle it. \u201cWhy Lord? Why? Stop it. Make it end. Give her back to us. Restore her health.\u201d You know. I mean, so much anguish, and hardship, and difficulty, and anger, and pain. We begged for Him to show us how we could make her well again. We were at a loss for what we were supposed to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, of course God brought us physicians, He brought us pharmaceuticals to aid her, but throughout her life those seizures came every single day. There were over 50 hospitalizations, she had surgery 6 or 7 times, there was a time we had the swine flu, and we were in isolation. I mean, just&#8230; scoliosis. Just so much difficulty. Physical difficulty. Countless therapies, everything you can imagine happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Life with a child whose mental capacity never exceeded 9 months of age, one who was wheelchair bound, one who never spoke a word, one who could never walk, like I said, never talk, was totally dependent on us for everything in her life, every part of her care. We were&#8230; I was responsible for her. This was not how I saw my life going. This was not in my life plan. I can\u2019t imagine it would be in anyone\u2019s life plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But God is a good and gracious God, and He gave us the opportunity to go to Lourdes, France on a healing pilgrimage when our daughter was 7. And while we were in Lourdes, we were given kind of a plan. Now, it\u2019s not like, you know, in&nbsp;<em>The Ten Commandments,&nbsp;<\/em>Charlton Heston\u2019s voice \u0327 you hear the voice of God. \u201cMary, do this.\u201d It didn\u2019t happen that way. And it\u2019s not like He said \u201cOkay, so on Tuesday, February 22nd, you\u2019re going to do XYZ to follow My plan.\u201d No. He just whispered into our hearts and kind of showed us who He saw our daughter to be. How He saw her as perfect, and whole, and beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">It&#8217;s All About Love<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>You see, redemptive suffering is all about love, like I said in the beginning. It\u2019s about the love of our Lord, Jesus, who offered His life for us, and in turn us offering our lives back to Him. But even with this whisper in my heart, I wasn\u2019t quite sure physically how that looked, you know. I mean, we just all want to be told what to do, right? Well, I don\u2019t know. I like&#8230; I\u2019ve grown to like rules. I didn\u2019t follow them so well in my youth, but as an adult I like to know what\u2019s expected of me. So I kept asking, you know, \u201cLord, what do You expect of me?\u201d And He didn\u2019t really answer that. But He allowed people to come into my life to encourage me, He allowed a full understanding of what redemptive suffering is, which brought me such peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember when you were little, and you complained about something, and your mom would look at you and say \u201cOffer it up.\u201d? \u201cOffer it up Mary Beth.\u201d And I\u2019d roll my eyes. \u201cI really don\u2019t want to mom. It\u2019s too hard.\u201d That\u2019s what redemptive suffering is. That\u2019s what we as Catholics believe. Our suffering has worth and value. We don\u2019t just go through these difficult times for no purpose. God wouldn\u2019t do that to us. So it has value. Love has value. St. Paul of the Cross said \u201cThe Passion of Jesus is a sea of sorrows, but also an ocean of love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What does that mean? To understand what he\u2019s talking about, look at the crucifix. What is Jesus doing? His arms are spread wide open in a loving embrace, to you, to me, and to the whole world. \u201cI am doing this for you. From the east to the west.\u201d Right. His head is looking down. Who is He looking at? Well, stand at the foot of the cross. Look up. Who is He looking at? He\u2019s looking at us, as if to say to you \u201cMy God, My God, why have you forsaken me? I say those words so you never have to.\u201d Right. God is with us. He is present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Embracing the Cross<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Now imagine you\u2019re our Lady, our blessed Lord, pardon me, our blessed Mother. She\u2019s standing at the foot of that cross. He\u2019s looking down at her, and she\u2019s looking up, and what is she doing? She\u2019s embracing the cross. Imagine her anguish, her sea of sorrows at seeing her Baby Boy, her sweet, beautiful, wonderful Child, who they murdered. She\u2019s looking up at His body. He is beaten, He is broken, He is bloody. And what can she do? Nothing but offer her sea of sorrows up to God. That\u2019s her Baby Boy. She believed in God\u2019s ocean of love. Her life was a pure example of it. \u201cThy will be done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She did not abandon God in that moment. She stayed. She prayed. She wept. And the love she had for her Son, and for her God and Savior never, ever wavered. That is who God is to us. God offered His only Son so that we might know eternal life. He loved us so much He gave us His most precious Son, and allowed shame, humiliation, such physical trauma, emotional trauma. The Garden of Eden. \u201cGod, take this cup from Me. But if it\u2019s not Your will, be with Me.\u201d And God was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is redemptive suffering. Suffering out of love for the spiritual needs of others is never an easy thing to do. It demands sacrifice and pain, often with no gratitude. No gratitude at all. Which makes it all the more difficult to do. It works on both the person doing the suffering and on our behalf&#8230; doing the suffering on our behalf, pardon me, and those witnessing, those watching you suffer. Your life is an example of God\u2019s love. What is the world seeing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Jesus I Trust in You<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Our family\u2019s job with our daughter Courtney was to witness her life as she allowed herself to be who God meant for her to be. We couldn\u2019t help her take away her pain. All we could do was love her. All we could do was love her. And while loving her was the greatest privilege and honor, it also was a huge burden. It was a financial burden, an emotional burden, a psychological burden borne by the rest of the family. Let\u2019s just be honest, it was a burden. But what we came to understand was how beautiful that burden was. And in that understanding comes the joy. Comes the peace of that beautiful relationship with our Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we came back from Lourdes with God\u2019s whisper in our hearts, I was able to learn in time by offering it up how to dissect my day and take each difficulty in each challenge that arose and place it at the foot of the cross. My daughter hated to have her hair washed. She had beautiful blonde hair with little Shirley Temple ringlets. She hated it. And I know it was hard for her. And so I would sing while we were in the bath as I was washing her hair. I would sing Gentle Mother, offering that time up to God, asking our Lady to bless it, to intercede for us, for both Courtney and myself, as she was batting her hands away from me, and water\u2019s flinging everywhere, and you\u2019re trying not to get frustrated, and&#8230; I offered it up. And I was at peace in that difficulty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When she would have a seizure, I would hold her, and the first thing I would say is \u201cJesus, I trust in You.\u201d That beautiful prayer that St. Faustina gave us: \u201cJesus, I trust in You. If this is the seizure that\u2019s going to take my daughter from me and bring her home to You, I trust in You with the plan for my life and for hers. That You know best.\u201d I would say the Hail Mary, the Our Father, the Memorare, whatever I could think of in that moment, offering that time up in redemptive suffering, offering it up to our Lord, for whatever purposes He needed it for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever He needed to use my anguish for. I gave it back to Him, because He gave it to me first. He offered His life for me, and for my daughter, and for my husband, and my son, and for the world. I was going through but a season. This too shall pass, like kidney stones, but it will pass. What a privilege to offer it back up to our Lord. All I could do was trust in His plan, and witness to the suffering, and in turn place it all at the foot of the cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Joy Comes With The Trust <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>St. Bernadette says, <em>\u201cIt is in loving the cross that one finds one\u2019s heart, for divine love cannot live without suffering.\u201d <\/em>Divine love can\u2019t live without suffering. Without embracing the crosses in our lives, we cannot fully love Christ. The joy comes from the trust in this relationship that we\u2019re building with Christ. And guess what? When you trust, when you are building a relationship, He honors that by giving you more. He honors it by giving you more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, if you\u2019re sitting there saying \u201cBut Mary, I suffered this, and now you\u2019re telling me I\u2019m going to suffer more.\u201d Well, life is not all about one little time of suffering. You have a whole life to live. Of course more will come, and that\u2019s okay. You\u2019re building those spiritual muscles. You\u2019re learning with each step to offer up even more for our Lord. Whether it be illness, the death of a loved one, physical pain, emotional pain, whatever it is, know that God knows what is happening, and is walking with you through it. Again, Jesus said \u201cMy God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?\u201d So that you would never have to. He\u2019s already died for your sins. He\u2019s already suffered more than I\u2019ve suffered, He\u2019s suffered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">God&#8217;s Got This<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I\u2019m going to leave you with this quote. Many, many theologians and saints have written about, talked about why we should want to participate in redemptive suffering. But my favorite quote, which I have in I think 4 or 5 different places in my home, is from St. Francis De Sales, and think of it this Lent as your mission statement, okay. This is your mission statement this month. It\u2019s my every Lent, or every day of my life really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>St. Francis De Sales says <em>\u201cThe same everlasting Father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.\u201d<\/em> I\u2019m going to read that one more time. <em>\u201cThe same everlasting Father who cares about you today will care about you tomorrow and every single day. Every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or give you unfailing strength to bear it. Unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>St. Padre Pio took that and he even broke it down further. St. Padre Pio took St. Francis De Sales\u2019 words and broke it down even further. And Padre Pio says <em>\u201cPray, hope, and don\u2019t worry.\u201d<\/em> <em>\u201cPray, hope, and don\u2019t worry.\u201d <\/em>God\u2019s got this. He is the creator of all the universe. He knows He stands outside of time, He already knows how our story ends. Love Him. Offer up your life to Him. And allow Him to love you through that. This Lent, remember, try to remember that all joy and all suffering is allowed for our own salvation. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. It\u2019s all for the sake of our redemption so that we might know Him, love Him, and serve Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So be at peace with that, and know that you\u2019re loved, and know that He stands with you in the midst of your suffering, and know that He receives the gift of your suffering with tremendous joy. So be at peace. Amen my friends. Amen. We\u2019re going to end by saying the Our Father, which is the prayer that Jesus taught us. Join me please.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Our Father<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you all.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">About Mary Lenaburg<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:29% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/mary-l-headshot-1.png\" alt=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/mary-l-headshot-1.png\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/speaker-mary-lenaburg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mary Lenaburg<\/a><\/strong> is a writer, speaker, wife and mother sharing her witness and testimony about God\u2019s Redeeming love. After suffering a miscarriage, she gave birth to her son Jonathan in 1989. After another miscarriage, her daughter Courtney arrived August 1992. On September 27, 1992, while being baptized, Courtney had the first of many grand-mal seizures. Going from the church to the emergency room, Mary\u2019s world changed forever. For the next twenty-two years Mary and her family took a spiritual journey that led them to Lourdes, France, numerous hospitals and specialists with their daughter and finally to home-based hospice. Courtney took her last breath this side of heaven on December 27, 2014, the feast of St. John the Beloved, while in her mother\u2019s arms. She is now her parents and big brothers most powerful intercessor. Mary lives in Northern Virginia with her husband of 28 years and her grown son. She continues to embrace her father\u2019s advice: Never quit, never give up, never lose your faith. It\u2019s the one reason you walk this earth. For God just this time and place just for you, so make the most of it. Mary can be found on-line at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marylenaburg.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.marylenaburg.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/redemptive-suffering.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1579\" srcset=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/redemptive-suffering.png 800w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/redemptive-suffering-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/redemptive-suffering-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/redemptive-suffering-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"701\" height=\"316\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Pray-More-Lenten-Retreat-Image-without-many-words-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1544\" srcset=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Pray-More-Lenten-Retreat-Image-without-many-words-1.png 701w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Pray-More-Lenten-Retreat-Image-without-many-words-1-300x135.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 701px) 100vw, 701px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary Mary shares how redemptive suffering is a beautiful part of our Catholic Faith. She talks about her personal experience and how we can seek comfort in Our Lady on how she handled suffering in her life with unwavering faith for God\u2019s will.&nbsp; Thank you for watching and participating in this retreat! Not Registered, yet? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1579,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"plain-container","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Redemptive Suffering - Lent 2017 - The Pray More Retreat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/redemptive-suffering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Redemptive Suffering - Lent 2017 - The Pray More Retreat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Summary Mary shares how redemptive suffering is a beautiful part of our Catholic Faith. 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