Blight of Error

(photo credit) "Tip blight caused by Phomposis"

My husband and I recently completed a novena to St. Joseph. There is one line in this novena which made a particular impression on me as he read it each night:

"Save us from all blight of error"

Isn't this an apt term for what is going on so commonly today? I read the news and I think "Lord save us from this blight of error." I sometimes look in the faces of my patients, so much sadness, depression and anxiety and my soul will utter the word "blight" silently of course...

The definition of BLIGHT:

Blight\ (bl[imac]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Blighting.] [Perh. contr. from AS. bl[=i]cettan to glitter, fr. the same root as E. bleak. The meaning "to blight" comes in that case from to glitter, hence, to be white or pale, grow pale, make pale, bleach. Cf. Bleach, Bleak.]

1. To affect with blight; to blast; to prevent the growth and fertility of.
"[This vapor] blasts vegetables, blights corn and fruit, and is sometimes injurious even to man." --Woodward.
2. Hence: To destroy the happiness of; to ruin; to mar essentially; to frustrate; as, to blight one's prospects.
"Seared in heart and lone and blighted." --Byron.

ALSO:

Blight. verb; That which frustrates one's plans or withers one's hopes; that which impairs or destroys.
"A blight seemed to have fallen over our fortunes." --Disraeli.

Joy in Suffering

“Those who love God are always happy, because their whole happiness is to fulfil, even in adversity, the Will of God. Afflictions do not mar their serenity, because by accepting misfortune, they know they give pleasure to their beloved Lord. Indeed, what can be more satisfactory to a person than to experience the fulfilment of all his desires? This is the happy lot of the man who wills only what God wills, because everything that happens, save sin, happens through the Will of God. This is the beautiful freedom of the sons of God, and it is worth vastly more than all the rank and distinction of blood and birth, more than all the kingdoms in the world.”

Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri wrote these words in his beautiful treatise on Conformity to the Will of God.

Lord vouchsafe to me the graces I need to bear my sufferings with joy not impatience. I enjoin everything to Christ's suffering upon the cross in payment of the debts of the souls in purgatory. Amen+

An Image of Suffering

Let us resolve to not burden those around us with our trials and sufferings. Let us instead pour ourselves out at the feet of Jesus, Mary and the saints. May we lean on God and not on our fellow man. May our small sufferings purify our souls of every sinful tendency... be for us the flames of purgatory here on earth. May the smouldering of my soul reach God as the smoke of incense, a sweet smelling sacrifice to the Lord. Amen+

The Agony in the Garden of Olives

"As the darkness rises, O Lord, with me abide."