Closed Doors

We all experience closed doors.  A closed door can be a job that you are going after only to find out that something in the pursuit did not pan out.  The resumé was not put forward in the way the employer wanted.  The interview did not go in the direction that you had hoped.  The door closed and disappointment and sadness followed.  The house you fell in love with and hoped to own went to someone else.  The model of car you saw yourself driving around town in did not happen. The friendship you thought was going to blossom and last many years stopped short.  It was not meant to be.  Finally, the school major you thought would fulfill your mental and emotional disposition would become out of reach.  Another closed door.

Recently I watched a documentary on the life of Saint Faustina.  She is the nun who gave the world Jesus’ teaching on Divine Mercy.  She gives us in an indirect way, a beautiful teaching on closed doors.  In Faustina’s prayer life, Jesus asked her to become a nun.  She goes to Krakow the Polish capital city.  She finds several convents of sisters.  She goes to the first and says something like, “I want to be a sister more than anything else in life.”  They tell her to go away they do not want her.  She goes to a second convent and repeats her plea.  They tell her to go away they don’t want her.  The documentary says, “She had countless rejections.”  Finally, she sees a convent with a sign that says, “Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy.”  She knocks on their door. Bingo! She is invited inside.  Now it does not take much imagination to envision holy angels holding the doors closed of the first string of convents.  Then when she gets invited into the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, the holy angels in heaven let out a loud blast of joyful trumpets.  That was the door Jesus wanted her to go through.  Sister Faustina passes on to us her prayer, “How can I trust God in any situation?”

Surely we can look back in our life and see that we are where we are now in life because certain doors did not open for us.  Can you believe, along with Sister Faustina, that Jesus may have had his foot against the other side of those closed doors because He wanted you to be right where you are today?  Jesus wanted you to be with the people you are now with, sharing His life with them.  You can believe that your uniqueness is what qualified you to do what you are now doing in the place you are doing it.  Jesus will get you where you need to go when you can stand along side Sister Faustina and say, “Jesus, I trust in you.”  

We can go back two thousand years and listen to St. Paul tell us, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28

The stories of the people in the Bible are filled with closed doors and open doors.  Our faith is greatly effected in a good way by their closed doors.  We read in Psalm 139:13  “Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.” We can believe He knows us well.  So, when we encounter closed doors, turn to our Lord Jesus and thank Him that our life is in His hands.  He will always have the best for us when we trust in His Divine Mercy.

We can pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet at home.  The graces obtained can be for ourselves or can be given to others in need.

---Charlie McGuire---