Pearls from God

I've lately gotten an "image" of pearls in my prayer life. An internet friend recently told me about the "Pearls of Life" devotion which was developed by a Lutheran Bishop. Each bead on the bracelet has a different focus for prayer. There is The God Pearl, the Pearls of Silence, The I Pearl, The Baptism Pearl, The Desert Pearl, The Serenity Pearl, The Love Pearls, The Mystery Pearls, The Night Pearl, and the Resurrection Pearl.

I was listening to Mother Angelica the other day in the car, and she was talking about difficult people in your life being ways God uses to get you to heaven. She said something that I mistook for the word "pearls" and I immediately got this image of the difficult person "giving" me pearls--opportunities for growth in virtue. (Remember, pearls are born of irritation inside the shell of an oyster.) This really helped me the next time I've had to deal with this person--its been almost every day this week, in fact. So it seems that "pearl" is the word of the week from Our Lord.