22
Suffering alone is our natural state; all
else is accidental. Hardly had we come
to the light of day, than a thousand
dangers began to imperil our existence.
These dangers pursue us and hang over
us as long as we shall live. By flying from
troubles, we let ourselves be deluded by
the hope of, one day, being without
them. When sickness is over, when we
no longer suffer from the changes of the
season and when other creatures cease
to annoy us, it is within ourselves that
is to be found the real seat of war,
seductions and tumults, and our own
disordered passions.
“A heavy yoke is upon the children
of Adam, from the day of their
coming out from their mother’s
womb, to the day of their burial into
the mother of all.” (Eccl. 40:1)
B
e astonished at our rebellion of
suffering. We must humbly ask pardon
of God and beg Him to give us strength
in the future to bear our troubles
courageously so that, after a short
winter of passing afflictions, there may
dawn for us an eternal spring of undying
consolations. We must suffer because
we are exiles. Instead of bewailing our
lot, thank God that, in His Love, He has
made us exiles so full of ills that we are
constantly longing for our heavenly
country. Would we make for ourselves
a palace of that which was only meant
to be our prison? Ask pardon of God
and beg from Him the grace to pass
through the materialism and evils of
this world, and to attain to eternal
happiness. Let us not be astonished or
dismayed by the trials that afflict us.
It is precisely for this that we are
Christians, to suffer here and to follow
in the steps of Our Savior. Certainly,
if we had the Spirit of Christ in our
hearts, to fly from the Cross would
appear to us something monstrous. We
pray that God will have compassion on
our past weakness and so strengthen us
with His Grace that all these necessary
sufferings will be an incentive for us
to embrace our cross and more gladly
persevere in carrying it to the very end.
Oh Savior of the World, change our
faintheartedness into an ardent
desire of suffering something for
Thee! May all the time we have
spent in gratifying our own selflove
now come to an end!
Suffering in the Hands of Our Lord is the
most powerful instrument for the work
in the souls of His elect. It is through
suffering that He easily procures all
that in which our welfare consists: the
purification, the illumination and the
perfection of our souls. Suffering purifies
us not only from our sins, but also
from all other imperfections. Without
tribulations, the souls of the just would
always remain full of imperfections
and never pass the bounds of a very