A story for every day...

A princess was on her way with her two daughters to a wedding in a nearby castle. All three were richly dressed and wore valuable necklaces. At the edge of the wood through which the road was passing, the carriage, driven at full speed, brushed against a tree, and a branch tore the necklace of one of the princesses. She screamed and the coachman immediately stopped the carriage. But the pearls, violently torn off, were scattered far away and it took more than an hour to collect them, very angry to arrive too late for the wedding. But at the moment when we wanted to get back on the road, a woodcutter came out of the wood all covered with dust and sweat. When he saw them, he cried out: “Thank God you are still here. A band of robbers was waiting for you in the forest; I have heard of their plans, and I come to you by many detours to warn you of the peril you are in.” The princess rewarded the valiant woodcutter handsomely and turned back.

A dream.

A pious gentleman had a son named Joseph whom he loved passionately. Every day he prayed for him and recommended him especially to the protection of Saint Joseph. But it happened that this son fell ill and died, and the gentleman, saddened, lost almost all confidence in prayer. In this state of discouragement, he had a dream on the eve of the feast of St. Joseph, the memory of which remained with him throughout his life. It seemed to him that he was making a journey and that as he passed by a tree he saw a handsome young man who had hanged himself. When he wanted to see the dead man more closely, a man came up to him and said, “This is how your son would have ended up if he had lived to this age.” When he woke up, the gentleman recognized that the good Lord had wanted to make him understand by this dream that the premature death of his son was really a grace.

What sometimes seems to us a misfortune is often a great happiness, a blessing from divine providence.