From Salvific Doloris..apostolic letter.

"It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls...Suffering, more than anything else makes present in the history of humanity, the powers of the Redemption. In that 'cosmic' struggle between good and evil, spoken of in the letter to the Ephesians (Eph. 6:12), human sufferings, united to the redemptive suffering of Christ, constitute a special support for the powers of good and open the way to victory of these salvific powers.
Those who share in the sufferings of Christ preserve in their own suffering a very special particle of the infinite treasure of the world's Redemption, and can share this treasure with others...greater is the eloquence which human suffering possesses in itself and the more the Church feels the need to have recourse to the value of human suffering for the salvation of the world..."
--Paul A. MihaliK, OCDS, M. Ed./Lt. Col. USAF (Ret).
Discussion on the apostolic letter, Salvific Doloris,
Offerings of Suffering (2000, p. 27).

Flowers...

We think that our parents are going to be with us forever....but God has other plans for them--for eternity.
Celebrating our parents gifts to us...life...their sacrifices...we give thanks to God.
By loving them we demonstrate our faithfulness to them, to life, to our Creator and to our Redeemer.
We can never give back to them all that they have given to us...we can only love them faithfully and give them back to God.
There they will wait for us, faithfully...and 'every tear shall be wiped away.'