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Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
Reflections on Faith, Hope & Love.
Love letters to the King...
Sarah Raad
Freelance Writer
When my little niece was born with a rare and severe congenital heart defect, we had no hope other than to prostrate ourselves at the Foot of the Cross and beg for prayers. Somehow, in the days and weeks and months that followed, by Grace and the Infinite Goodness of God, my faith, the size of a mustard seed grew into a tree. Now I pray that this faith, which is such a new and glorious gift for me, will shelter others and give them hope in the Goodness and Love of God.
Treasure
“Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.” (Saint Teresa of Avila).
Sarah Raad
7 hours ago3 min read
With
“The disciple who lovingly seeks the Master finds that sadness, worries and afflictions now taste very differently: they disappear as soon as we truly accept God's Will...” (Saint Josemaria, “Friends of God”, at 310-311).
Sarah Raad
1 day ago3 min read
Perfection
“Yahweh looked upon it and saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:7).
Sarah Raad
2 days ago3 min read
Shepherd
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11).
Sarah Raad
3 days ago3 min read
Knowledge
Although I have not the Grace to give EVERYTHING to my Beloved, I have plenty of Grace to teach my children how to love Him.
Sarah Raad
4 days ago3 min read
Trust
Even though trusting in silence was more painful than anything imaginable, the Blessed Virgin trusts God so completely that she surrendered to this injustice – the most terrible injustice in the world.
Sarah Raad
5 days ago3 min read
Glad
Pope Leo XIV in his message for Lent 2026 asked, “I would like to invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend our neighbour.”
Sarah Raad
6 days ago3 min read
Equality
“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” (George Orwell, “Animal Farm).
Sarah Raad
Mar 162 min read
Sower
There are – after all – a million billion reasons for a wife to forgive a husband and a husband to forgive his wife.
Sarah Raad
Mar 153 min read
Hope
“Mary then said to the servants, ‘Do whatever Jesus tells you to do.’” (John 2:5).
Sarah Raad
Mar 142 min read
Counting
God is counting on me – in this unremarkable life of mine – God is counting on me to do my part…
Sarah Raad
Mar 133 min read
Sanctification
“To follow in Christ's footsteps, today’s apostle does not need to reform anything, but even less has he to take no part in the contemporary affairs going on around him. He has only to act as the first Christians did, and give life to his environment.” (Saint Josemaria, “Furrow”, at 320).
Sarah Raad
Mar 123 min read
Mediocrity
“Do not be satisfied with mediocrity.” (Pope Saint John Paul II).
Sarah Raad
Mar 112 min read
Offence
It seems to me that I have watched the Son of Man walk before me with blind eyes my entire life, because instead of filling my eyes with His Truth, I am busy watching for possible offence…
Sarah Raad
Mar 102 min read
Sacrifice
“Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:4).
Sarah Raad
Mar 93 min read
Jumbled
“In the course of time Cain brought some fruits of the soil”. (Genesis 4:2).
Sarah Raad
Mar 82 min read
Tradition
“‘Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men.’” (Luke 9:44).
Sarah Raad
Mar 73 min read
Siroki Brijeg
“‘Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men.’” (Luke 9:44).
Sarah Raad
Mar 63 min read
Generosity
I am remembering those rules of my mother, during that “visiting” time these days, and I am convinced – now – that they helped me to understand how to be generous in spirit in ways that words probably never could.
Sarah Raad
Mar 53 min read
Morning-Star
The Morning-Star fell – not because he was pushed, but because he forgot Whose intention had willed him into creation.
Sarah Raad
Mar 43 min read
Neglect
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” (Luke 11:43).
Sarah Raad
Mar 33 min read
Hands
I close my eyes and give my body into the hands of human men without too much thought, and hesitate to entrust myself entirely to the Hand of Immortal God.
Sarah Raad
Mar 23 min read
Effort
“But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21).
Sarah Raad
Mar 13 min read
Fear
“Jesus began to say to his disciples, ‘Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell...’” (Luke 12:1-4).
Sarah Raad
Feb 283 min read
Lose
We each of us have a Simon waiting for us to lose because he needs to get close to God…
Christ Carrying the Cross with Simon of Cyrene (Giovanni Francesco Guercino)
Sarah Raad
Feb 273 min read
Worth
How could I have hope if I am spending all my time treating myself as something less than I am worth – and what a waste that is, when I am worth being a Child of God!
Christ Carrying the Cross with Simon of Cyrene (Giovanni Francesco Guercino)
Sarah Raad
Feb 263 min read
Society
“We urgently need to christianize society”. (Saint Josemaria, “The Forge” at 22).
Sarah Raad
Feb 253 min read
Justice
“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering." (Luke 11:52).
Sarah Raad
Feb 243 min read
Hair
“‘Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.’” (Luke 12:7).
Sarah Raad
Feb 233 min read
Differences
“After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where He himself was about to come.” (Luke 10:1).
Sarah Raad
Feb 222 min read
End
“Father Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34).
Sarah Raad
Feb 213 min read
Beauty
“As He said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!’ But He said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’” (Luke 11:27-28).
Sarah Raad
Feb 203 min read
Isolation
When Christ came to cure the lepers, He was showing us the cure of sin.
Sarah Raad
Feb 192 min read
Mediocre
“But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Matthew 19:22).
Sarah Raad
Feb 183 min read
Certainty
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-3).
Sarah Raad
Feb 173 min read
Evil
“With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.” (Mark 1:28).
Sarah Raad
Feb 153 min read
Battles
The absence of God is a complete and utter darkness and despair that cannot even be imagined.
Sarah Raad
Feb 153 min read
Children
God is entrusting me to care for His children – to the best of my ability…
Sarah Raad
Feb 143 min read
Due
I have spent a lifetime denying my Beloved what He is due. And I am so sad that I have done such a thing. For it seems to me that this is a terrible sin against my Beloved, who only ever wants what is GOOD for me.
Sarah Raad
Feb 133 min read
Forgiveness
I think of Saint Paul the Apostle. All those martyrs that He had killed – the greatest harm he could cause another – ALL of them had to forgive him, or none of them could worship with Him in eternity.
Sarah Raad
Feb 123 min read
Japan
I learned a lot about my God. For surely He too has great joy in seeing His children work together in uncomfortable situations, and surely this is a marvellous thing – this JOY of God!
Sarah Raad
Feb 113 min read
Despair
“Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida!” (Luke 10:13).
Sarah Raad
Feb 103 min read
There
“And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven….’” (Luke 10:17).
Sarah Raad
Feb 93 min read
Perfection
“I want to become a saint; it will not be easy at all. I have a lot of wood to chop, and it is as hard as stone. I should have started sooner, while it was not so difficult; but, in any case, better late than never.” (Saint Zelie Martin, the mother of Saint Therese of Lisieux).
Sarah Raad
Feb 83 min read
Mistakes
“Where there is no obedience there is no virtue, where there is no virtue there is no good, where there is no good there is no love, where there is no love, there is no God, and where there is no God there is no Paradise.” (Saint Padra Pio).
Sarah Raad
Feb 73 min read
Adolescent
It seems that every complaint I have about my adolescent children is magnified in my own relationship with my God.
Sarah Raad
Feb 63 min read
Obedient
“Where there is no obedience there is no virtue, where there is no virtue there is no good, where there is no good there is no love, where there is no love, there is no God, and where there is no God there is no Paradise.” (Saint Padra Pio).
Sarah Raad
Feb 53 min read
Natural
Saint Joseph loved God so much with a love that was more than natural – it was spiritual – that he was able to raise God.
Sarah Raad
Feb 43 min read
Master
The only way forward is to master the direction. And the direction must be upwards – past the emotions – through the reason – and into FAITH…
Sarah Raad
Feb 33 min read
Anguish
In Hell, God really is absent. And the horror of such a thing is so foreign to us – who have never been without God despite all our whining that we have – that it is unimaginable.
Sarah Raad
Feb 23 min read
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