“Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”  1 Peter 4: 12,13

St. Pope John Paul II
To be born means entering into a specific divine plan:  no one comes into the world by chance; everyone, in fact, has a particular mission to perform, which of course we cannot know fully from the start, but which one day will be completely revealed.  Let us be guided, then, by the awareness that we are instruments of God, who created us out of love and who wishes to be repaid in our love. (Baptism of Thirty Nine Children, January 2, 1993)