Difficulties
We carry within us a principle of opposition, of resistance to grace. This is the inclination to sin–the fomes peccati–present in us as a consequence of original sin. Thus, we must always be vigilant, patient, ready for the battle, because there will always be difficulties to be overcome coming from within and from without. If we did not have any difficulties, if we did not have to suffer or struggle, there would be no victory. There is no victor, if no one is vanquished.
Rather than being reasons for discouragement, adversities should be one more spur to our interior growth. In spiritual life, there is only one possible mistake: to be resigned to defeat.
We want peace, but peace is a consequence of victory. And victory demands a constant fight. This protracted struggle must be carried on with full hope in Christ, who overcame evil with his sacrifice in Calvary.
Patience with Oneself
A Christian should exercise patience with himself. It is easy to get discouraged when confronting our own defects, especially if these repeat themselves over and over again, without ever being vanquished. We must know how to wait and struggle with a patient perseverance.
On many occasions, the mastering of a fault or the acquisition of a virtue requires not violent, sporadic efforts, but patient, continuous struggle; it requires the determination to try again every day with the assistance of God’s grace. St Francis of Sales points out that “one must have patience with everybody, but first with oneself.”1
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There are a great many ways in which a Christian can live the virtue of patience. The first battleground should be in the area of one’s own behavior. It is so easy to become disheartened by our defects. We need to exercise patience in our interior struggle based on our unshakable confidence in God’s love for us.
If we are to overcome a character defect, it will not happen overnight. Our victory will ultimately be won by the cultivation of humility, of trusting confidence in God, of greater docility.
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To be patient with oneself while uprooting unwholesome tendencies and defects in character implies both an unyielding approach, and an acceptance of the fact that one will often have to present oneself before God like “the servant who had no resources with which to pay” (Mt 18:23)–with humility, seeking grace anew.
On our way towards the Lord, we will have to suffer many defeats; many of these will be of no consequence, some will. But the atonement and contrition for these failures will bring us even closer to God. This sorrow and reparation for our sins and shortcomings are not useless moods of gloom; they are sorrow and tears born of love. Genuine sorrow is the heavy thought of not giving back as much love as our Lord deserves; it is the pain of returning evil for good to one who so much loves us. (F. Fernández Carvajal, In Conversation with God, 2, 28)
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We have to exercise patience with regard to unexpected events that befall us and interfere with our plans: sickness, poverty, extreme heat or cold, the minor misfortunes of everyday existence such as crossed telephone lines, traffic jams, having forgotten something and left it at home, or an unexpected visitor.
These little trials can cause us to lose our peace. Yet this is where the Lord is waiting for us, right there in the ups and downs of ordinary life. This is the raw material of our sanctity. This is precisely where we must struggle to sanctify ourselves and to sanctify others. (F. Fernández Carvajal, In Conversation with God, 5, 94)
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Just as the surface of a polished diamond is not scratched by, but resists the attack of, any other stone, patience withstands any adversity. Patience is a medicine; it heals all injuries. It is a shield; it protects against all attacks. No one can harm us if we persevere patiently in the inner battle against ourselves. (Bl. Humbert of Romans, On Patience)
Patience before an Unjust Accusation
You must be patient even before an unjust accusation. Say the truth, and deny your guilt; but don’t be disturbed, and don’t force them to accept your explanation.
God uses these occasions to purify you. And whoever does not accept this suffering is depriving himself of purification which alone makes us mature.
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When you are justly accused of some fault you have committed, you must genuinely humble yourself, and confess that you deserve even more than the charge brought against you.
If the accusation is false, excuse yourself meekly, and deny your guilt, for you owe respect to truth, and to the edification of your neighbor.
If they continue to accuse you, after you have made your true and legitimate explanation, don’t be disturbed, and don’t force them to accept your explanation. You have fulfilled your duty with regard to truth, now you must do the same with regard to humility. In this way, you will not sin against the care you must have for your own good name, or against the concern you must have for peace, humility, and meekness of heart. (St Francis of Sales, Introduction to Devout Life, 3,3)
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Our lives should be purer and brighter than the sun. Yet, if anyone speaks evil of us, we should not grieve at being defamed. We would grieve only if we were defamed with basis and reason.
If we live in sin, even if there is no one to speak evil of us, we will be the most wretched of men. On the other hand, if we apply ourselves to live the Christian virtues, even if the whole world speaks evil of us, at that very time we will be more enviable than anyone.
All those around us who choose to follow Jesus will not be scandalized by the calumny of the wicked; they will be attracted by our good life.
Even if our calumniators are beyond number, there is no trumpet so clear to proclaim our innocence as the evidence of our actions; there is no portrait so clear as our pure life.
If all these qualities are present in us; if we are meek, humble, and compassionate; if we are sowers of peace; if hearing reproaches, we do not answer back, but rather, rejoice; then we shall attract all those around us no less than miracles do. They will be kindly disposed toward us, even if they are wild beasts, demons, or what you will. (St John Chrysostom, Homilies on St Matthew’s Gospel, 15)
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Do not be troubled if anyone speaks evil of you. If anyone criticizes you in public, esteem him. Because if you search into his conscience, you shall see him applauding and admiring you; he sees you stand nobly, and internally he proclaims your triumph and crowns you.
When the devil sees you fighting with this patience, he sees himself getting nothing. He, then, goes away because he fears to be the very cause of your winning more crowns with your endurance.
Even if men continue arguing perversely against you, you shall have from God the greater praise and admiration. (St John Chrysostom, Homilies on St Matthew’s Gospel, 15)
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Once again ... they’ve been talking, they’ve written–in favor, against; with good, and with not so good will; insinuations and slanders, panegyrics and plaudits; hits and misses....
Fool, big fool! Why care about the clamor of the wind or the chirping of the cricket, or the bellowing, or the grunting, or the neighing? Keep going straight toward your target–head and heart intoxicated with God.
Besides, it’s inevitable; don’t try to install doors in open air. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 688)
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Insults and slander are better cured by ignoring and despising them than by resenting them, complaining about them, and taking revenge for them. Whoever despises calumnies, makes them disappear; whoever gets offended with them, seemingly renders them true. It seems that the crocodiles attack only those who afraid of them; slander hurts only those who resent it. (St Francis de Sales, Introduction to Devout Life, 3,7)
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Tongues have been wagging, and you’ve suffered rebuffs that hurt you, and all the more because you were not expecting them.
Your supernatural reaction should be to pardon–and even to ask for pardon!–and to take advantage of the experience to detach yourself from creatures. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 689)
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When we face seemingly unjust accusations, we should examine our behavior, in God’s presence, calmly and cheerfully–cum gaudio et pace; and we should change our ways if charity bids us, even if our actions were harmless.
We have to struggle to be saints, more and more each day. Then let people say what they like so long as we can apply the words of the beatitude to their utterances: Blessed are you when they slander you for my sake–Beati estis cum ... dixerint omne malum adversus vos mentientes propter me. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 795)
Patience under Contempt
Why does God send us so many trials? Is he happy seeing us distressed, criticized, and persecuted? Is he a tyrant?
–No. God is not a tyrant.
God allows us to suffer because by suffering here, we are released from the torments due for our sins. Besides, these difficulties detach us from inordinate sensual pleasure and prepare our way to heaven.
By accepting pain we offer Him a token of our love. In a soul in love with God, tribulations and contempt become instruments of closer union with Him.
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We must practice patience and show our love to God by calmly submitting to contempt.
As soon as a soul gives himself up to God, he sends him insults and persecution. One day an angel appeared to the Blessed Henry Suso and said to him, “Henry, you have so far mortified yourself in your own way; from now on you shall be mortified as others may wish.” The following day, as he was looking from a window on the street, he saw a dog shaking and tearing a rag that it held in its mouth. At the same moment a voice said to him, “So will you be torn in the mouths of men.” At once the Blessed Henry went to the street and secured the rag, wearing it on to encourage him in his coming trials.2
Affronts and injuries were the delicacies the saints earnestly longed and sought for. For thirty years, St Philip Neri had to put up with much ill‑treatment in the old house of St Jerome at Rome [now St Jerome alla Caritá]. But for this reason he refused to leave it, and resisted all the invitations of his spiritual sons to come and live with them in the new Oratory [Santa Maria in Vallicella], founded by himself, till he received an express command from the Pope to do so.
St John of the Cross was prescribed a change of air for an illness which eventually carried him to the grave. He could have selected a more commodious convent, of which the Prior was particularly attached to him. But he chose instead a poor convent, whose Prior was his enemy, and who, in fact, for a long time, and almost up to his last day, spoke ill of him and abused him in many ways, and even prohibited the other monks from visiting him. Here we see how the saints even sought to be despised.
St Teresa wrote this admirable maxim: “Whoever aspires to perfection must never say: ‘They had no reason to treat me so.’ If you will not bear any cross but only those that you may find reasonable, then you are not seeking sanctity.”
While St Peter Martyr was complaining in prison of being confined unjustly, he received that celebrated answer from the crucified Lord, “And what evil have I done, to suffer and die on this Cross for men?” Oh, what consolation do the saints derive in all their tribulations from the ignominies which Jesus Christ endured!
St Eleazar, on being asked by his wife how he bore with so much patience the many injuries which he had to endure, and that even from his own servants, he replied: “I turn my eyes to the outraged Jesus, and I discover immediately that my affronts are nothing in comparison with what he suffered for my sake. Thus, God gives me strength to endure all patiently.”
Affronts, poverty, torments, and all tribulations separate further from God the soul that does not love him. On a soul in love with God, they become an instrument of closer union and more ardent love of God. “Many waters cannot quench charity” (Song 8:7). However great and grievous troubles may be, so far from extinguishing the flames of charity, they only serve to enkindle them the more in a soul that loves nothing else but God. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 3)
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Why does Almighty God load us with so many crosses, and take pleasure in seeing us afflicted, reviled, persecuted, and ill‑treated by the world? Is he, perchance, a tyrant, whose cruel disposition makes him rejoice in our suffering? No. God is by no means a tyrant, nor cruel. He is all compassion and love towards us; suffice it to say, that he has died for us. He indeed does rejoice at our suffering.
When a mother would wean her child, she puts gall on the breast, to create a distaste in the child. God rejoices in our suffering for our good. By suffering here, we are released from the torments due for our sins. These hardships detach us from the sensual pleasures of this world. God rejoices in them, because we give him, by our patience and resignation a token of our love. He rejoices in them, because they contribute to our increase of glory in heaven. Such are the reasons for which the Almighty, in his compassion and love towards us, is pleased at our suffering. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 3)
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To practice patience we must be fully persuaded that every trial comes from the hands of God, either directly, or indirectly through men. We must therefore give thanks to God whenever we are beset with sorrows. We must accept, with gladness of heart, every event, prosperous or adverse, that proceeds from him, knowing that all happens by his disposition for our welfare: “To them that love God all things work together unto good” (Rom 8:28).
It is fitting in our tribulations to glance a moment at hell which we have deserved. All the pains of this life are incomparably smaller than the awful pains of hell. But above all, prayer, by which we gain the divine assistance, is the great means to suffer patiently all affliction, scorn, and contradictions. Prayer will furnish us with the strength we lack. The saints were persuaded of this; they recommended themselves to God, and so overcame every kind of torments and persecutions. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 3)
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Affections and Prayers
O Lord, I am fully persuaded that without suffering, and suffering with patience, I cannot win the crown of Paradise. David said: “From Him is my patience” (Ps 61:6). My patience in suffering must come from you. I often resolve to accept in peace all tribulations. But as soon as trials come, I grow sad and alarmed. If I suffer, I suffer without merit and without love, because I do not know how to suffer them so as to please you.
O my Jesus, through the merits of your patience in bearing so many afflictions for love of me, grant me the grace to bear crosses for the love of you! I love you with my whole heart, O my dear Redeemer! I love you, my sovereign good! I love you, my own love, worthy of infinite love. I am sorry for any displeasure I have ever caused you, more than for any evil whatever. I promise you I will receive with patience all the trials you may send me. But I look to you for help to be faithful to my promise, and especially to bear in peace the throes of my last agony and death.
O Mary, my Queen, obtain for me a true resignation in all the anguish and trials that await me in life and death. Amen. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 3)
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When you meet with suffering, contempt..., the Cross, you should consider: What is this compared to what I deserve? (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 690)
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We must patiently endure the tribulations of this life–ill‑health, sorrows, poverty, losses, bereavement of kindred, affronts, persecutions, and all that is disagreeable. Let us invariably look on the trials of this world as signs of God’s love towards us, and of his desire to save us in the world to come. And let us, moreover, be fully persuaded that the involuntary mortifications which God himself sends us are far more pleasing to him than those which are the fruit of our own choice.
In sickness let us resign ourselves entirely to the will of God; no devout exercise is more acceptable to him than this. If at such times we are unable to meditate, let us fix our eyes on our crucified Lord, and offer him our sufferings in union with all that he endured for us upon the Cross.
And when we are told that we are about to die, let us accept the tidings with calm and in the spirit of sacrifice; that is, with the desire to die, to give pleasure to Jesus Christ. This same desire gave all the merit to the death of the martyrs. We should then say, “O Lord, look at me here with no other will but your own blessed will.” I am willing to suffer as much as you wish. I wish to die whenever you wish. We should not then wish to have our life prolonged to do penance for our sins; to accept death with perfect resignation outweighs all other penance.
We must likewise practice conformity to the will of God in bearing poverty and the various inconveniences that accompany it: cold, hunger, fatigue, contempt, and scorn.
We should accept losses, whether of property or of relatives and friends. Let us acquire the good habit of saying in every adversity: God has wanted it, so I want it. And at the death of our relatives, instead of wasting time in fruitless tears, let us employ it in praying for their souls; and offer to Jesus Christ, in their behalf, the pain of our bereavement.
Let us, moreover, force ourselves to endure scorn and insult with patience and serenity. Let us answer terms of outrage and insult with words of gentleness. As long as we feel disturbed, we should keep silence, till the mind grows tranquil. Meanwhile let us not be fretfully speaking to others of the affront we have received, but in silence offer it to Jesus Christ, who endured so much for us. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 3)
Patience in Sickness
It is essential to know how to suffer calmly and without excessive self-pity. God may send us a sickness; we must use the appropriate medical means, and, at the same time, realize that he is enticing us to endure it.
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We must have patience not merely at being ill, but at having the illness that God wishes, where he wishes, among the people he wishes, and with whatever difficulties he wishes.
When you are sick, offer up all your pain and inconvenience; look at them as a service to our Lord, and join them to his torments on the Cross.
Obey your physician, take your medicine, diet, and other remedies out of love of God, remembering the gall he drank out of love of you.
Desire to get well to be able to serve God well, but do not refuse to lie ill. Obey God and prepare yourself for death, if it is God’s Will, so that you may be happy with him forever. (St Francis of Sales, Introduction to Devout Life, 3,3)
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Bodily sicknesses, when borne with patience, merit for us a beautiful crown.
St Vincent de Paul said: “If we knew what a precious treasure is contained in sicknesses, we would accept them with joy as the greatest possible blessings.” The saint himself, constantly afflicted with ailments that often left him no rest day or night, bore them with so much peace and such serenity of countenance that no one could guess that he had any sickness at all. How edifying is it to see a sick person bear his illness with a peaceful countenance, as did St Francis de Sales! When he was ill, he simply explained his complaint to the physician, obeyed him exactly by taking the prescribed medicines, however nauseous; and for the rest he remained at peace, never uttering a single complaint in all his sufferings.
What a contrast with the conduct of those who do nothing but complain even for the most trifling indisposition, and who would like to have around them all their relatives and friends to sympathize with them! Far different was the instruction of St Teresa to her nuns: “My sisters, learn to suffer anything for the love of Jesus Christ, without letting all the world know of it.”3 (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 1)
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My friend, do not think of what you would do if you were well, but be content to remain ill as long as God thinks fit. If you seek the will of God, what does it matter whether you are well or sick? (Ven. John of Avila, Ep. 54)
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You say you are unable even to pray, because your head is aching. Be it so: you cannot meditate; but can’t you make acts of resignation to the will of God? If you make these acts, you will make a better prayer, welcoming with love all the torments that may assail you. So did St Vincent of Paul: when attacked by a serious illness, he kept himself tranquil in the presence of God, without forcing his mind to dwell on any particular subject. His sole exercise from time to time was to elicit some short acts of love, of confidence, of thanksgiving, and, more frequently, of resignation, especially in the crisis of his sufferings.
You cannot say prayers; and what more exquisite prayer than to cast a look from time to time on your crucified Lord, and offer him your pains, uniting the little that you endure to the overwhelming torments that afflicted Jesus on the Cross! (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 1)
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There was a certain pious lady lying bedridden with many disorders. She told a servant who was putting the crucifix into her hand, and telling her to pray to God to deliver her from her miseries: “But how can you ask me to get rid of the Cross, while I hold in my hand a God crucified? God forbid that I should do so. I will suffer for him who chose to suffer torments for me incomparably greater than mine.”
In like manner, St Joseph of Leonessa, a Capuchin, when the surgeon was about to amputate his arm, and his brethren would have bound him, to prevent him from stirring through vehemence of pain, seized a crucifix and exclaimed: “Why binding me? I do not need to be bound. Look who binds me to endure every suffering patiently for love of him.” And he bore the operation without a murmur. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 1)
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Above all, in time of sickness we should be ready to accept death, and whatever death which God pleases. We must die; our life must finish in our last illness; and we do not know which will be our last illness. Thus, in every illness we must be prepared to accept the death that God has appointed for us. A sick person says: “Yes; but I have committed many sins, and have done no penance. I would like to live, not for the sake of living, but to make some satisfaction to God before my death.” But tell me, my brother, how do you know that if you live longer you will do penance, and not rather do worse than before? At present you can well cherish the hope that God has pardoned you; what penance can be more satisfactory than to accept death with resignation, if God so wills it?
Besides, unless death opens us the door, we cannot enter that blessed abode of love. This caused St Augustine, that loving soul, to cry out: “Oh, let me die, Lord, that I may see you!”–Eia, Domine! moriar, ut te videam.4 Lord, let me die, otherwise I cannot behold and love you face to face. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 1)
Patience in Trials and Difficult Situations
St Thomas tells us that patience is chiefly about sorrow. As a habit, the patient man remains serene when he faces an evil–especially an evil inflicted by others; he behaves in an exemplary manner, enduring circumstances which hurt him, here and now; moreover, he does not become saddened by these trials. The core of this virtue is the strength to control the natural anxiety or sadness when one faces failure or hardship. Left uncontrolled, that anxiety would lead a man to rebel against God or to abandon the struggle.
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We must be patient also in those difficult situations not caused by ourselves or by those around us: sickness, poverty, extreme heat or cold, and the varied obstacles that can arise over the course of a day. All those situations could take away our peace of mind, and make us sullen and ill‑humored, even with those who are blameless.
A supernatural outlook, to see the hand of God’s providence in all things, will give us peace and serenity. This manifestation of faith will allow us to “rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that such sufferings produce patience–a proven virtue–and patience, hope. And hope will not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Rom 5:3‑5).
Patience will also lead us to tolerate certain evils in order to avoid greater ones. We should always remember that God permits evil in view of a superior good which we often do not see yet, but which shines forth on the last day under the light of eternity.
We must remember that God always hears our prayer. Nothing of what we do for him is lost. Like a good father, he will help us when he sees us seriously doing our best. For our part we must stretch our hand and grasp God’s hand, his grace. Difficulties endured for love of God are always a source of fecundity.
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Patience in suffering is the most useful means to arrive at a perfect obedience to God’s Will. “My son,” Solomon says, “do not reject the correction from the Lord, and do not faint when you are chastised by him; for the Lord chastises the man he loves, as a father checks a well-loved son” (Prov 3:11-12).
These words are developed at considerable length in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!” (Heb 12:7-9)
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Sometimes God allows tribulation to fall upon us. He does not enjoy our suffering, but he permits it to draw us to himself. When we turn to him, he does away with any fear or pain. If we were alike in tribulation and at ease, there would not be need of temptations.
Even the great saints learned the virtue of patience from their trials, as the psalm acknowledges: “It is good for me that you have humbled me” (Ps 119:71). Even the Lord said to the apostles: “In the world you shall have tribulation” (Jn 16:33).
St Paul admitted the same thing: “There was given to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to beat me and stop me from getting too proud!” (2 Cor 12:7). He was not freed from having temptations, when he wanted so, because of the great blessing deriving from the struggle.
By tribulations and temptations the patriarchs won their crowns and their names were listed in glory.
Thus, as the wise saying goes, “Do not become alarmed when disaster comes” (Qo 2:2), but learn only one thing, to bear all with patience and without complaint. It belongs to God to decide when to stop our tribulations; he permits them to occur. It belongs to us to bear them patiently, with a good disposition; if we do so, all blessings will follow. But to obtain these blessings, grow in sanctity, and gain glory we must accept whatever falls upon us, thanking God. He knows better than we what is good for us; he loves us more than our own parents.
May these considerations be for us like a talisman to get rid of any fear, despair, or impatience. May we praise God always who ordered all the best to happen to us. (St John Chrysostom, Homilies on St Matthew’s Gospel, 10, 8)
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St Augustine emphasized that a Christian should be ready to endure hardships to attain everlasting happiness.
“For I am ready for scourges” (Ps 38:18 Vulg.). These words are uttered most solemnly, as if saying: “For this I was born, to suffer scourges.” All of us, Adam’s children, inevitably deserve scourging. But sometimes great sinners are not punished wholly in this life or in correspondence with their deeds, because their behavior is already beyond hope of improvement.
But those who hope to reach life everlasting must of necessity be afflicted in this world, according to these words: “My son, reject not the correction of the Lord, and do not faint when you are chastised by Him” (Prov 3:11). “For the one whom the Lord loves he chastises, and he scourges every son whom he receives” (Heb 12:5).
Thus, my enemies need not cast insults, nor boast in triumph. Even if my Father chastises me, I am ready for scourges, because my inheritance awaits me. If I do not bear correction, I will not receive the inheritance, for chastisement is the lot of every son. So true is this that the Father did not spare even him who had no sin.” (St Augustine, Commentary on the Psalms, 37.18)
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St Augustine further stressed the role of suffering as testing‑ground and correction when he reflected on the difficulties suffered in the sack of Rome in the year 410.
Many who have emerged unscathed now speak calumny against these Christian times. They saddle Christ with the evils which Rome has suffered, and do not credit him with the blessings which enabled them to live as witnesses of his glory. They ascribe these blessings to their own fate.
If they were right‑thinking, they would attribute to divine Providence everything, also their fortitude to resist the harsh and grim treatment that they experienced from the enemy. Providence uses wars to afflict and correct the debased conduct of men, and likewise to test holy and praiseworthy lives. When they have been tested, God transports these holy people to a better life, or keeps them for other purposes longer on this earth. (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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Someone will ask: “Why does God’s mercy extend even to the wicked and ungrateful?” The only evidence we have is that he who dispenses it “makes his sun rise on good and bad, and rains on just and unjust” (Mt 5:45). Some sinners ponder on this, repent, and amend their wickedness. But some, as Paul says, “despise the riches of God’s goodness and long‑suffering, because of the hardness of their hearts and their unrepentant souls.” They lay up for themselves “wrath on the day of anger, on the day of the revelation of the righteous judgement of God, who will render to every man according to his works” (Rom 2:4‑6).
God’s patience entices the wicked to repent, and his scourge prompts good men to have patience. Likewise God’s mercy embraces the good, and they will be loved; his harshness arraigns the wicked for future punishment. For divine Providence has ordained for the just the future treasure of blessings which the unjust will not enjoy; and for the wicked, sufferings which will not torture the good. God has also decided that the good and evil things of this transient world should be shared by both, the good and the bad. Thus, we will not seek too eagerly the good things possessed by the wicked, and we will not shamefully avoid the evils that good men often have to endure. (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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Now give some thought to this. Do faithful and holy people suffer any evil which does not redound to their good? Surely not, unless we are to regard as idle the thought of St Paul when he says: “We know that to them that love God all things work together for good”–omnia in bonum. (Rom 8:28). (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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Those who criticized God’s Providence lost everything they had. They lost their faith, their supernatural outlook, and the blessings of a pious man who is rich in God’s eyes. That is the wealth that Christians have; that was the source of Paul’s wealth when he said: “Piety with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim 6:6‑10).
Some lost their material wealth in the sack of Rome. If only they had possessed it as recommended by Paul–who was outwardly poor but rich within, if only they had regarded wealth as if they did not regard it, they could have uttered the words of Job, sorely tested but wholly unconquered: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, naked shall I return to earth. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. As it has pleased the Lord, so it is done. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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You say that the enemy has tortured some good men, even Christians, to make them reveal the hiding place of their goods. But these Christians did not betray or lose the Good by which they were themselves good. If they preferred torture to betraying the mammon of iniquity, they were not good. They should not have endured as much for gold as for Christ. They should have been advised to love Christ, who can enrich with eternal blessedness those who suffer for his sake, rather than gold and silver. To suffer on behalf of these things is indeed wretchedness, whether lies keep their riches successfully hidden or telling the truth surrenders them. During this torture no person lost Christ by confessing him, and no one kept his gold except by denying that he had any. Before, the material goods inflicted tortures on their owners without beneficial reward for loving them; now, the tortures taught them to love the imperishable good. (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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True, there were some with nothing to reveal who were disbelieved and tortured. Perhaps they were too keen to have wealth; they were not poor by their own will, and so it had to be shown that it is not wealth itself but the desire for it that deserves such torture.
But some others had no gold or silver hidden away; they had planned a better–holier–life (I am not sure whether any such people were tortured because they were thought to have wealth), at any rate, those who during such torture confessed a holy poverty, thereby, confessed Christ. So even if they were not believed by the enemy, such confessors of holy poverty won a heavenly award by being tortured. (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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They also say that the long period of hunger ravaged many Christians. The good and faithful turned this to their advantage by enduring it with devotion. Those whom the famine killed were taken from the evils of this life as if by a physical illness. Those who survived learned to live more economically, and fast more extensively.
But, you say, many Christians were killed, destroyed in a foul assortment of numerous casualties. We certainly resent this, but we do, at any rate, accept it as the common lot of all born into this life. Of this I am sure, that no person ever died who would not have died at some time in the future. The end of life brings the same result after a long life as in a short one. (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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St John of Damascus (c. 675‑749) is one of the most celebrated Greek theologians. In reflecting on the role of Providence, St John first insists that we must accept what befalls us without complaint, accepting it as the higher judgement of God. But he then offers a series of explanations why the just man may be permitted to suffer: the virtue which is evinced in such suffering may be beneficial in various ways both to the sufferer himself and to the onlookers who witness it.
Providence is God’s care for things that exist; again, Providence is God’s will, through which all existing things obtain adequate guidance. If Providence is God’s will, it is inevitable that everything that happens through Providence must logically happen in the most beautiful and divinely appropriate way, and could not come to pass in a better manner. For the Creator of things is the same provident God who governs them. It is not fitting or logical that there should be a creator and a different provider. In such case both would be utterly defective, one in creating and the other in making provision. So God is both Creator and Provider; his power of creating, maintaining, and governing is his good will. “All that the Lord pleased, he has done, in heaven and on earth” (Ps 134:6), and none has resisted his will (cf. Rom 9:19). He willed that all things be made, and they were made. He wills the world to remain, and it does remain. All that he wills comes to pass.
We can most correctly assess that God is provident, that he supplies and governs the world according to his admirable plans. God alone is by nature good and wise. Being good, he cares for the world, maintains and governs it; one who does not care is not good. Even men and creatures without intelligence naturally provide for their own offspring; he who does not, is reproached. And being wise, God looks after things in the best possible way.
Bearing these facts in mind, we must admire, praise, and accept without demur all the works of the Providence, even if they seem unjust to many. God’s providence cannot be fully known or understood; our thoughts and deeds, and what is to come, are known to him alone. But when I say we must admire all, I mean what is not in our control; for what is at our discretion does not stay within Providence but within our own free will. (St John of Damascus, The Orthodox Faith, 2.29)
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Some things happen with God’s approval, some by his permission. All that is incontrovertibly good happens with his approval. God does not want disasters by themselves; these are permitted to happen to fulfil God’s plans. Often, God allows negative things to happen so that someone may reveal to other men the virtue he has received from God; this happened in the case of Job. On other occasions he permits something outrageous to be done, so that through the apparently outrageous act some great and wonderful success can be achieved, like the salvation of men through the cross. In yet another variation he allows a holy man to suffer harshly, so that he may not forsake his right conscience, or become proud as the result of the power and grace allotted to him, as in the case of Paul (cf. 2 Cor 12:7).
A man is seen deserted by God for a time to put another to rights, so that when others consider his position they may learn a lesson. Lazarus and the rich man are a case in point (cf. Lk 16:19ff.). When we see people suffer, our nature becomes aware of its limitations, and we become humble.
A person may seem ignored by God also for another’s glory, rather than because of his or his parent’s sins. For example, the man blind from birth, for the glory of the Son of man (cf. John 9:3).
Again, a man is permitted to suffer to arouse the emulation of another, so that when the victim’s glory is commended, the rest may embrace suffering in the hope of glory to come and in eager anticipation of future blessings, as the martyrs did.
A man is permitted to fall into evil ways sometimes to straighten out some worse vice. For example, a man may become proud of his virtues and achievements, and God allows him to fall into fornication, so that by his stumbling he may attain awareness of his weakness. After being humbled, he may draw close and make confession to the Lord.” (St John of Damascus, The Orthodox Faith, 2.29)
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John Chrysostom left behind him a reflection on false and true assessments of what constitutes real harm and real deprivation. He argues that the loss of material possessions constitute no real loss, and adduces Job as the living example of this.
Many of the more wretched and foolish among us observe the just man being hauled about, lacerated, throttled, while the man who is a swindler, dishonorable, dishonestly rich, or powerful is feared by the common folk and inflicts on just people injuries beyond counting. This happens indifferently in cities, countryside, and desert; it happens on land and sea. Those who observe this are gripped by a curious madness, and they disparage God’s providence. This letter of mine shall take this issue and that attitude; the fight in this new and unusual engagement will be useful, and profitable for those willing to listen and be persuaded. I will try to show that none of those who suffer wrong do so at the hands of another, but at their own hands.
To make my words clearer, let us first ask ourselves, what is injustice? What is a person’s proper quality, and what injures it? What seems to injure it, but in fact does not?
Every object has something that injures it; iron suffers rust, wool suffers moths, flocks of sheep suffer wolves.... Our bodies suffer fever, paralysis, and swarms of other sicknesses. So everything has something which harms its excellence.
Let us examine what is really the scourge of the human race, and what afflicts man’s true quality. Most people have erroneous ideas; they suggest different causes for what really damages human excellence. Some suggest poverty, other physical sickness, others financial loss, others slander or shame, and others death. They keep on lamenting and bewailing these things, and pitying those who suffer them.
They weep and are aghast, and say to each other: “What sufferings so‑and‑so has to put up with. He has been stripped of all he had!” A friend speaks of someone else: “What’s‑his‑name has been struck down by a terrible illness; he is given up by the doctors attending him.” One man grieves and is sorry for people in prison, another for those expelled from their native land and forced to live abroad, another for those who have lost their freedom, another for those imprisoned in the hands of enemies, another for those drowned or burnt, another for a man who has been buried under the debris of his house. But nobody grieves for those who live wicked lives. And–what is more tragic–they often regard such men as happy. This attitude is the cause of all our problems.
None of the experiences mentioned harms the man of wisdom; none can diminish his virtue. When a man loses all his property, or is robbed by swindlers, robbers, or dishonest slaves, how does this loss affect his human dignity? But, first, in what does this human dignity consist? Not in riches, that makes some fear poverty. Not in health, that makes some tremble at illness. Not in the opinion of the crowd, that makes some fear a bad reputation. Not in long and healthy life, that makes some have apprehension of death. Not in freedom, that makes some dread slavery. Human dignity lies in the keen possession of true beliefs, and in right living according to these beliefs. The devil himself will not be able to pillage these possessions if the person who has acquired them guards them with appropriate care.
The devil who is most wicked and fierce is aware of this. He destroyed the possessions of Job, not to make Job poor, but to force him to utter some blasphemous word. He afflicted Job’s body, not merely to oppress him with sickness, but to lay low the excellence of his soul. He put into action all his devices. He made Job poor from being rich. And, what seems to everyone the most terrible fate, he made him childless after he had had many children. He lacerated Job’s whole body more savagely than the public executioners do–their nails do not tear the flesh of those who fall into their hands as much as the worms nibbled and wasted Job’s body. The devil caused him to incur an evil reputation; Job’s friends came up to him and said: “You have not been afflicted as much as your faults deserved.” He not only had Job expelled from his home and city, and transferred to another place; he gave him a dung heap as his home and city.
Yet, in spite of all, the devil did not harm Job’s dignity, but made him even more splendid through the plots which he laid against him. He failed to deprive him of any of his goods, in spite of the fact that he robbed him all these. He made his wealth of virtue greater, for subsequently Job enjoyed greater trust from God because he had fought a more taxing fight.
Job, who endured such pains, suffered no wrong. He suffered at the hands, not of a man, but of the devil, who is more wicked than all men, and remained patient. Who can then support people who say: “Such‑and‑such wronged and harmed me”? The devil, embodying such wickedness, set in motion all his instruments, hurled all his weapons, and all that men account as evils, emptying them upon the just man’s house and person. Yet he did not destroy Job’s dignity, but rather helped him. How, then, can people accuse and hate particular individuals because they have suffered at their hands? (St John Chrysostom, No One Is Harmed)
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The holier one is, the more earthly suffering one has to endure. Just as the soul weakens its desire for worldly things, so increases the number of trials coming from them. Thus, you see many seeking sanctity who sweat under the heavy burden of the trials they face. But, as our Lord says, these holy ones yield their fruit through the use of patience; by accepting such trials with humility, they are given access to the eternal peace of heaven.
This is how the grape is crushed and liquefied, acquiring the taste of wine; this is how the olive, milled and pressed, abandons its dregs, becoming the purest oil; this is how the grain is parted from the straw, by means of the thresher, and thus cleansed, is carried to the granary. (St Gregory the Great, Hom. 15 On the Gospels)
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Remain firm, like the anvil under the hammer. A good athlete must receive blows in order to win the fight. So too must we endure everything for God, so that he in turn may bear with us. (St Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Polycarp, 3)
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How heroic it is to remain standing, unbent among the numerous wreckages of mankind; undefeated, unlike those who lack hope in God. How noble to rejoice instead, and seize the opportunity placed within our reach, to grasp the prize for our fidelity and deeds, from the hand of the divine Judge. We will be able to do so through patience in our struggle, by giving proof of the fortitude of our faith, and by following the narrow path leading to Christ. (St Cyprian, On Mortality, 14)
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Public events have led you to prefer a voluntary confinement, which is worse perhaps, because of the circumstances, than the confinement of a prison.
You’ve suffered an eclipse of your personality.
On all sides you feel yourself hemmed in: selfishness, curiosity, misunderstanding, gossip. Well, so what? Have you forgotten your very free will and that power of yours as a “child”? The absence of leaves and flowers (of external action) does not exclude the growth and activity of the roots (interior life).
Work; the trend of the events will change, and you’ll yield more fruit than before–and it will be more savory. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 697)
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Are you suffering some great affliction? Do you meet adversity? Say very slowly, as if savoring the words, this powerful and manly prayer:
“May the most just and most lovable Will of God be done, be fulfilled, be praised, and eternally exalted above all things. Amen. Amen.”
I assure you that you’ll find peace. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 691)
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Life presents us with all sorts of problems and trials. Some are great and many are of little consequence. With the help of God’s grace the soul can be strengthened by every trial.
Certain trials emanate form other people, such as direct attacks or veiled threats from people who do not understand our vocation, or perhaps public opposition from a pagan culture, or from declared enemies of the Church.
Other trials have their origin in the limitations of our human nature. We may experience financial difficulties or grave family problems. At times we will become sick or exhausted or completely discouraged.
If we are to persevere in adversity, we need to exercise patience. We should be cheerful no matter what develops, because we have our eyes fixed on Christ. He has encouraged us to move forward, to live in his peace. Our confidence should be anchored in the fact that Christ has triumphed. (F. Fernández Carvajal, In Conversation with God, 5, 94)
Sharers in the Suffering of Christ
Suffering is the lot of the children of God, and a sign of predestination; and a Christian must accept suffering. “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Act 14:21). Christian patience is patterned after the model of Christ patient on the Cross; it surpasses all human calculation.
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Out of love for us, Christ endured the most severe physical, psychological, and moral sufferings. These blows came from the rage of the priests of the synagogue, from the abandonment of his people, from the ingratitude of his own, from the curse of sin, which he took upon himself as a voluntary victim. If we suffer with him, we will be glorified with him.
We must be patient and suffer for the following motives:
- to accompany Jesus in his suffering,
- to atone for our sins,
- to atone for the sins of all mankind, and, also,
- for our own purification and increase of merit.
Thus, we know why we must suffer; why euthanasia–or mercy killing–is wrong. Some dying persons are reconciled to God only at the last moment by their patience in bearing the agony.
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THE BELOVED: My son, I came down from Heaven to save you. I took your sorrows upon me. I had no need to do so, but my love for you drew me on. I wanted you to learn the lesson of patience, of bearing the sorrows of life without bitterness or resentment. From the hour of my birth until my death on the Cross, there was never a moment without sorrows to bear. My worldly goods amounted to very little. Many and frequent were the complaints I heard people make about me. When they shamed and insulted me, I took it gently. My kindness was repaid with ingratitude, my miracles with blasphemy, my teachings with rejection.
THE LEARNER: Lord, during your life you were patient, thereby fulfilling to the utmost the will of your Father. It is only right, then, that I, a mere wretched sinner, endure things patiently, in accordance with your will. And to save my soul, I should shoulder, for as long as you will, the load of this corruptible life. I feel the weight of this present life; yet through your grace it has become the source of great merit. Your own example, and the steps your saints have trodden, have made it easier for the weak to endure, and greater in glory. It is a life much richer in consolation than it was in former times, under the Old Law. Then the gate of Heaven stayed shut, and even the road to it seemed unsure, since there were so few at that time who cared to look for the kingdom of Heaven. And even the holy men of those days, those due to be saved, could not enter the kingdom of Heaven until you had paid their debt for them with your passion and your holy death.
What a debt of gratitude I owe you, for your mercy in showing me, along with all your faithful followers, the straight and true road that leads to your eternal kingdom! That road we must follow is your own life. By holy patience we make our way towards you, you who are to crown our journey. Had you not gone before and shown us the way, which of us would care to follow it? Many, I fear, would stay behind, remain at a distance, if they had not your own wondrous example to gaze at. Why, even now, for all the times we have heard of your teaching and all your miracles, the flame within us burns low. What would happen if we lacked that great glow of light to guide us in following you? (T. a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, 3, ch. 18)
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There are many–including Christians–who act as if they were enemies of the Cross of Christ. There are many for whom the preaching of the Cross seems foolishness. There are many who flee from the Cross as from the devil; for whom the word “mortification” is unintelligible; for whom penance is something that belongs to the narrow and superstitious mentality of the past. These people generally have suffocated their sense of sin and responsibility, if they have not lost it altogether. They are monumentally ignorant of Christianity itself. They lack any brotherhood whatsoever with Christ, the “First of the brethren,” the Head of the Body, to which as Christians they belong. (F. Suárez, Mary of Nazareth)
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During our Lord’s passion and death, his Mother could have taken refuge in the sympathetic company of the women, in the intimacy of her home, far away from Calvary. After all, there was nothing she could do, and her presence neither avoided nor relieved the sufferings and humiliation of her Son.
But she was there, nevertheless. She did stay with Christ for the same reason as any mother stays beside the deathbed of her son, instead of going out to try to enjoy herself when she sees that she can neither keep him alive nor stop his suffering.
No, the Virgin Mary identified herself with her Son. Her love made her suffer with him since there was nothing else she could do. Because she loved him and because love unites, she suffered with him. Her love could not stand separation, not even in that terrible moment; she preferred suffering, however great it might be. (F. Suárez, Mary of Nazareth)
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There is a precise and very direct relationship between the capacity to love and the capacity to suffer. He who is not capable of suffering, is incapable of loving. The reason why the saints have so eagerly embraced suffering is because their love for Christ led them to suffer with him. We do not embrace suffering, but, on the contrary, avoid it, because we still love ourselves too much. Every now and then we should examine our love of the Cross to gauge our love of God. We love God to the same measure that we love the Cross.
The Cross is the only way of uniting earth with heaven. If we reject it, we reject the means of our salvation. Thus, faithfulness to Christ on Calvary–acceptance of the Cross–is both, a sign that we are on the path to salvation, and a confirmation of God’s love for us. (F. Suárez, Mary of Nazareth)
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He who loves Jesus Christ loves sufferings.
He who loves God in suffering earns a double reward in paradise. St Vincent of Paul5 said that it was a great misfortune to be free from suffering in this life. And he added that a congregation or an individual that does not suffer, and is applauded by all the world, is not far from a fall.
If on a day St Francis of Assisi noticed that he had suffered nothing for God, he became afraid lest God had forgotten him. St John Chrysostom6 said that when God endows a man with the grace of suffering, he gives him a greater grace than that of raising the dead to life. In performing miracles, man remains indebted to God; in suffering, God makes himself indebted to man. And he added,7 that whoever endures something for the love of God, even if he had no other gift than his patience, this will procure for him an immense reward. Thus, he affirmed, St Paul received a greater grace in being bound in chains for Jesus Christ, than in being taken to the third heaven in ecstasy. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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“Patience has to finish its perfect work” (Jas 1:4).
Nothing is more pleasing to God than to see a soul suffering with patience all the crosses coming to him. The effect of love is to liken the lover to the person loved. St Francis de Sales said, “All the wounds of Christ are so many tongues which tell us that we must suffer for him. The method of the saints is to suffer constantly for Jesus. In this way we, too, become saints.” A person who loves Jesus Christ is anxious to be treated like Jesus Christ–and he was poor, persecuted, and despised.
St John beheld all the saints “clothed in white, and with palms in their hands” (Apoc 7:9). The palm is the symbol of martyrs, and yet not all the saints suffered martyrdom. Why, then, do all the saints carried palms in their hands? St Gregory replied that all the saints have been martyrs either of the sword or of patience. And he added, “We can be martyrs without the sword, if we keep patience.”8 (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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A soul who loves Jesus Christ gains merit by loving and by suffering. Hear what our Lord said to St Teresa: “Do you think, my child, that merit consists in consolations? No, it consists in suffering and in loving. Look at my life, wholly embittered with afflictions. Be assured, my child, that the more my Father loves any one, the more sufferings he sends him; suffering is the banner of his love. Look at my wounds; your torments will never reach so far. It is absurd to suppose that my Father favors with his friendship those who are strangers to suffering.”9
St Teresa made this consoling remark: “When God sends a trial, he at once rewards it with some favor.”10 One day Jesus Christ appeared to the blessed Baptista Varani,11 and told her of three special favors that he bestows on highly esteemed souls: the first is, not to sin; the second, which is greater, to perform good works; the third, and the greatest of all, to suffer for his love.
St Teresa12 used to say that whenever anyone does something for God, the Almighty repays him with some trial. Thus, the saints, on receiving tribulations, thanked God for them. St Louis of France, referring to his captivity in Turkey, said: “I rejoice, and thank God more for the patience he gave me in the time of my imprisonment, than if he had made me master of the universe.” St Elizabeth, princess of Thuringia, after her husband’s death, was banished with her son from the kingdom. Homeless and abandoned by all, she went to a convent of the Franciscans, and there had the Te Deum sung in thanksgiving to God for being allowed to suffer for his love. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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St Joseph de Calasanz used to say, “All suffering is insignificant if we gain heaven.” And the Apostle had already said the same: “The sufferings of this time are not worth comparing with the glory to come, that will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18).
It would be a great gain for us to endure all the torments of all the martyrs during our whole lives, in order to enjoy one single second of the bliss of paradise. We should then willingly embrace our crosses, knowing that the sufferings of this temporary life will gain for us happiness everlasting. “For our light and troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor 4:17).
But whoever desires the crown of paradise must combat and suffer. “If we suffer, we shall also reign” (2 Tim 2:12). We cannot get a reward without merit; and to merit we must have patience: “He is not crowned, unless he strives according to the rules” (2 Tim 2:5). And the person who strives with the greatest patience shall have the greatest reward. Wonderful indeed! (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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Concerning material goods, worldly people try to get as much as they can. But when it is a question of the goods of eternal life, they say, “It is enough if we get a little corner in heaven!” Such is not the language of the saints. They are not satisfied with anything of this life; they even strip themselves of all earthly goods. But concerning eternal goods, they strive to obtain them in the greatest possible measure. I ask you, which of the two act with more wisdom and prudence?
But even in the present life, he who suffers with most patience enjoys the greatest peace. St Philip Neri13 used to say, “In this world there is no purgatory; it is either all paradise or all hell. He who patiently endures tribulations, enjoys a paradise; he who does not do so, suffers a hell. And St Teresa writes, “He who embraces the crosses sent him by God does not feel them.” St Francis de Sales, finding himself on one occasion beset on every side with tribulations, said, “For some time now severe opposition and hardships have befallen me. These afford me so sweet a peace, that nothing can equal it. They give me assurance that my soul will be firmly united with God; thus, they are the sole ambition, the sole desire of my heart.”14 (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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Peace can never be found by one who leads an irregular life, but only by one who lives in union with God and fulfills his blessed will. A certain missionary in the Indies was one day witnessing the execution of a person. Already on the scaffold, the criminal called the missionary and said, “You must know, Father, that I was once a member of your Order. I observed the rules and led a very happy life. But afterwards, I began to relax in the strict observance of them. I immediately experienced pain in everything; so much so, that I abandoned the religious life. I gave myself up to vice, which finally brought me here.” And in conclusion he said, “I tell you this, so that my example may be a warning to others.”
Let us be convinced that in this valley of tears true peace of heart cannot be found, except by him who endures and lovingly embraces sufferings to please Almighty God. This is the consequence of that corruption brought to us by sin. The saints on earth suffer and love; the saints in heaven enjoy and love.
In a letter that he wrote to one of his penitents, Father Paul Segneri encouraged her to suffer, and told her to keep these words inscribed at the foot of her crucifix: “This is the way to love.” A soul loves Jesus not simply by suffering, but by desiring to suffer for the love of him. “And what greater acquisition,” said St Teresa, “can we possibly make than to have a means to please Almighty God.”15 (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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How fast men get scared at the bare mention of crosses, humiliations, and afflictions! Nevertheless, there are many souls who suffer willingly and gladly; they would be quite disconsolate without suffering. “The sight of the Jesus crucified,” said a devout person, “renders the Cross so lovely to me, that it seems to me I could never be happy without suffering. The love of Jesus Christ is sufficient for me to do anything.” Listen how Jesus advises everyone who wants to follow him to take up and carry his Cross: “Let him take up his Cross, and follow me” (Lk 9:23). But we must take it up and carry it, not by coercion and against our will, but with humility, patience, and love. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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One day St Gertrude asked our Lord what she could offer him most acceptable. And he replied, “My child, you can do nothing more gratifying to me than to submit patiently to all the tribulations that come your way.”
The Venerable Father John of Avila said, “One Blessed be God in contrarieties is worth more than a thousand thanksgivings in prosperity.” (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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A soul who loves God has no other end in view but to be wholly united with him. Learn from St Catharine of Genoa what is necessary to arrive at this perfect union: “To attain union with God, adversities are indispensable. By them God destroys all our corrupt inclinations within and without. All injuries, contempt, infirmities, abandonment of relatives and friends, confusions, temptations, and other mortifications, all are in the highest degree necessary for us to carry on the fight. After repeated victories we will come to extinguish within us all vicious movements, so that they are no longer felt. We shall never arrive at divine union until adversities, instead of seeming bitter to us, become all sweet for God’s sake.”
A soul who sincerely desires to belong to God must be resolved–St John of the Cross16 writes–not to seek enjoyments in this life, but to suffer in all things. She must embrace with eagerness all voluntary mortifications, and with still greater eagerness those that come without seeking them, since they are the more welcome to Almighty God.
“The patient man is better than the valiant” (Prov 14:32). God is pleased with a person who practices mortification by fasting, hair‑cloths and disciplines, because of the courage displayed in such mortifications. But he is much more pleased with those who have the courage to bear patiently and gladly the crosses that come from his own divine hand. St Francis de Sales said, “Such mortifications as come to us from the hand of God, or from men by his permission, are always more precious than those which are the offspring of our own will. For it is a general rule, that wherever there is less of our own choice, God is better pleased, and we ourselves derive greater profit.”17 St Teresa taught the same thing: “We gain more in one day by the contradictions sent to us from God or our neighbor than by ten years of self-inflicted mortifications.”18 (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
The Christian Meaning of Human Suffering
There is no human life without suffering. In the following paragraphs Pope John Paul II gives us the reasons why we must accept hardships. Suffering–a part of man’s nature–is necessary for his salvation.
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St Paul declared the power of salvific suffering saying: “In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24).
These words seem to be found at the end of the long road that winds through suffering. This suffering forms part of the history of man and is illuminated by the Word of God. These words have as it were the value of a final discovery, which is accompanied by joy....
Even though St Paul wrote that “the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now” (Rom 8:22), even though man knows and is close to the sufferings of the animal world, nevertheless what we express by the word suffering seems to be particularly essential to the nature of man. It is as deep as man himself. (John Paul II, Enc. Salvifici Doloris, On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, 11 February 1984, 1-2)
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Redemption was accomplished through the Cross of Christ, that is, through his suffering.... And man becomes the way for the Church when suffering enters his life. This happens, as we know, at different moments in life, it takes place in different ways, it assumes different dimensions; nevertheless, in whatever form, suffering seems to be, and is, almost inseparable from man’s earthly existence. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 3)
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Salvation means liberation from evil, and for this reason it is closely bound up with the problem of suffering. God gave his Son “to the world” to free man from evil. This liberation must be achieved by the only-begotten Son through his own suffering....
Thus, we find ourselves facing a new dimension, different from the one which envisions suffering only within the limits of justice. This is the dimension of Redemption....
The mission of the only-begotten Son is to conquer sin and death. He conquers sin by his obedience unto death, and he overcomes death by his Resurrection.
By his mission Christ strikes at evil at its very roots; not only evil and definitive suffering (so that man “should not perish, but have eternal life”), but also–at least indirectly– evil and suffering in their temporal and historical dimension. Jesus Christ conquered suffering by love. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 14-15)
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Christ gives the answer to the question about suffering and the meaning of suffering.... The words: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup pass from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will” (Mt 26:39), and later: “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Mt 26:42), have a manifold eloquence. They prove the truth of that love which the only-begotten Son gives to the Father in his obedience. At the same time, they attest the truth of suffering.
The words of that prayer of Christ in Gethsemani prove the truth of love through the truth of suffering. Christ’s words confirm in all simplicity this human truth of suffering, to its very depths: suffering is the undergoing of evil before which man shudders....
After the words in Gethsemani come the words uttered on Golgotha, words which bear witness to this depth–unique in the history of the world–of the evil of the suffering experienced. When Christ says: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”, his words are an expression of abandonment.... These words are born because the Father “laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Is 53:6). They also foreshadow the words of St Paul: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21).... Human suffering has reached its culmination in the Passion of Christ. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 18)
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The Redemption was accomplished through the suffering of Christ. The Redeemer suffered in place of man, for man. Every man has his own share in the Redemption. Each one is also called to share in that suffering through which the Redemption was accomplished. He is called to share in that suffering through which all human suffering has also been redeemed. In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus, each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 19)
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The witnesses of Christ’s Passion are at the same time the witnesses of his Resurrection.... To share in the sufferings of Christ is to suffer for the Kingdom of God. In the eyes of the just God, before his judgment, those who share in the suffering of Christ become worthy of this Kingdom. Through their suffering, in a certain sense they repay the infinite price of the Passion and death of Christ, which became the price of our Redemption....
Those who share in the sufferings of Christ are also called, through their own sufferings, to share in glory. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 21-22)
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Suffering contains a special call to the virtue which man must exercise on his own part. And this is the virtue of perseverance in bearing whatever disturbs and causes harm. In doing this, the individual unleashes hope, which maintains in him the conviction that suffering will not get the better of him, that it will not deprive him of his dignity as a human being, a dignity linked to awareness of the meaning of life. And indeed this meaning makes itself known together with the working of God’s love, which is the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit. The more he shares in this love, man rediscovers himself more and more fully in suffering; he rediscovers the “soul” which he thought he had “lost” because of suffering. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 23)
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In the Letter to the Colossians we read the words which constitute as it were the final stage of the spiritual journey in relation to suffering: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24).... Those words bear witness to the exceptional union of Christ and man in the community of the Church. For, whoever suffers in union with Christ–just as the Apostle Paul bears his “tribulations” in union with Christ–not only receives from Christ strength but also “completes” by his suffering “what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”....
Does this mean that the Redemption achieved by Christ is not complete? No. It only means that the Redemption, accomplished through satisfactory love, remains always open to all love expressed in human suffering.... Christ achieved the Redemption completely and to the very limit; but at the same time he did not bring it to a close.... Christ opened himself from the beginning to every human suffering and constantly does so. Yes, it seems to be part of the very essence of Christ’s redemptive suffering that this suffering require to be unceasingly completed. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 24)
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It is especially consoling to note that at the side of Christ, in the first and most exalted place, there is always his Mother through the exemplary testimony that she bears by her whole life to the “Gospel of suffering.” In her, the many and intense sufferings were amassed in such an interconnected way that they were not only a proof of her unshakable faith but also a contribution to the redemption of all. From the time of her secret conversation with the angel, she began to see in her mission as a mother her “destiny” to share, in a singular and unrepeatable way, in the very mission of her Son. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 25)
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The first chapter of the Gospel of suffering, which speaks of persecutions and tribulations, contains a special call to courage and fortitude. Christ overcame the world through his Resurrection.... And through his Resurrection, he manifests the victorious power of suffering, and he wishes to imbue with the conviction of this power the hearts of those whom he chose as Apostles and those whom he continually chooses and sends forth. St Paul says: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12)....
The second chapter of the Gospel of suffering is written by all those who suffer together with Christ, uniting their human sufferings to his salvific suffering.... Down through the centuries and generations it has been seen that in suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace.... By suffering the person discovers a new dimension of his entire life and vocation.... When his body is gravely ill, totally incapacitated, and the person is almost incapable of living and acting, all the more do interior maturity and spiritual greatness become evident, constituting a touching lesson to those who are healthy and normal.
This interior maturity and spiritual greatness in suffering are certainly the result of a particular conversion and cooperation with the grace of the Crucified Redeemer.... Suffering is, in itself, an experience of evil. But Christ has made suffering the firmest basis of the definitive good, the good of eternal salvation.... By the power of Christ’s Cross, suffering becomes no longer the weakness of man but the power of God.
This interior process of conversion often begins and is set in motion with grat difficulty. Almost always the individual enters suffering with a typically human protest and with the question “why?” The person asks the meaning of his suffering and seeks an answer to this question on the human level.... Man hears Christ’s saving answer as he himself gradually becomes a sharer in the sufferings of Christ....
Christ does not explain in the abstract the reasons for suffering, but before all else says: “Follow me!” Come! Take part through your suffering in this work of saving the world. Gradually, as the individual takes up his cross, spiritually uniting himself to the Cross of Christ, the salvific meaning of suffering is revealed before him.... It is then that man finds in his suffering interior peace and even spiritual joy. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 25-26)
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St Paul speaks of joy in the Letter to the Colossians: “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake” (Col 1:24). A source of joy is found in the overcoming of the sense of the uselessness of suffering, a feeling that is sometimes very strongly rooted in human suffering. This feeling not only consumes the person interiorly, but makes him a burden to others. The person feels condemned to receive help and assistance from others, and at the same time seems useless to himself. The discovery of the salvific meaning of suffering in union with Christ transforms this depressing feeling. Faith in sharing in the suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty that the suffering person “completes what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”; the certainty that in the spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption he is serving, like Christ, the salvation of his brothers and sisters. Therefore he is carrying out an irreplaceable service. Suffering, more than anything else, clears the way for the grace that transforms human souls. The more a person is threatened by sin, the greater is the import of human suffering. And the more the Church needs to have recourse to human suffering for the salvation of the world. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 27)
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The parable of the Good Samaritan belongs to the Gospel of suffering. For it indicates what the relationship of each of us must be toward our suffering neighbor. We are not allowed to “pass by on the other side” indifferently; we must “stop” beside him. Everyone who stops beside the suffering of another person, whatever form it may take, is a Good Samaritan. This stopping does not mean curiosity but availability. It is like the opening of the internal dispositions of the heart. The name “Good Samaritan” fits every individual who is sensitive to the sufferings of others, who “is moved” by the misfortune of another....
Nevertheless, the Good Samaritan of Christ’s parable does not stop at sympathy and compassion alone. They become for him an incentive to actions aimed at bringing help to the injured man. In other words, then, a Good Samaritan is one who brings help in suffering, whatever its nature may be. Help which is, as far as possible, effective. He puts his whole heart into it; he does not spare material means. We can say that he gives himself, his very “I,” opening this “I” to the other person. Here we touch upon one of the key points of all Christian anthropology. Man cannot “fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.”19 A Good Samaritan is the person capable of exactly such a gift of self. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 28)
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This is the meaning of suffering, which is truly supernatural and at the same time human. It is supernatural because it is rooted in the divine mystery of the Redemption of the world, and it is likewise deeply human, because in it the person discovers himself, his own humanity, his own dignity, his own mission.
Suffering is part of the mystery of man.... It fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme vocation clear;... thus, it is indispensable. Its effects on man’s improvement are particularly dramatic. When it is completely accomplished and becomes the light of human life, it is blessed. “Through Christ and in Christ, the riddles of sorrow and death grow meaningful”20....
Together with Mary, Mother of Christ, who stood beneath the Cross, we pause beside all the crosses of contemporary man.... And we ask all you who suffer to support us. We ask precisely you who are weak to become a source of strength for the Church and mankind. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 31)
How to Tell If You Are Really Patient
You are not really patient if you are willing to suffer only as much as you choose, until you choose, and only at the hands of those you choose. If you are really patient, you will take it all as coming from the hand of God, counting it as blessings.
The following paragraphs from The Imitation of Christ will give you new insights on the reasons to be patient in the struggle.
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THE BELOVED: What is that you are saying, my son? Think how much I have suffered, I and my saints, and stop complaining. “Your protest, your battle against sin, has not yet called for bloodshed” (Heb 12:4). What you have to put up with is little enough, compared with those who have borne so much, been so strongly tempted, so grievously tried, sifted, and tested in so many ways.
Call to mind the much heavier sufferings of others; that will make you bear your own little miseries with a lighter heart. Perhaps to you they don’t look so very little. If so, see if your unwillingness to suffer is magnifying them for you. In any case, whether your troubles are little or great, try to bear them all with patience.
The better disposed you are to accept suffering, the more wisely you are acting, and the greater is the merit you are earning. You will find things easier to bear if you prepare yourself for suffering by getting your mind used to the idea.
Don’t say, “I can’t let So‑and‑so treat me like that; I really can’t put up with that kind of thing. He has got me into serious trouble, charging me with doing things that had never even entered my head. If it were anybody else, I wouldn’t mind; I’d just let it pass as one of those things you have to put up with.” That’s a silly way of thinking. You forget that patience is a virtue, and that I will reward you for practicing it. All you can think of is the person concerned and the wrong he has done you.
A man is not really patient when he is willing to suffer patiently only as much as he thinks fit and only at the hands of those he chooses. If he is really patient, he won’t mind who makes him suffer; his superior, his equal or someone below him, a good, holy man or a peevish, unpleasant one–it’s all the same to him. Whenever things go against him, no matter how often or how gravely, no matter who or what is at the back of it, he takes it all thankfully from the hand of God, counting it as a substantial gain. In the eyes of God no trouble endured for his sake, be it ever so trivial, can be allowed to go by without earning merit.
If you want to gain the victory, then, be ready for battle. You can’t win the crown of patience without having a fight. If you refuse to suffer, you are refusing that crown. But if you desire to be crowned, fight like a man and hold out in patience. There’s no rest without toil, no victory without a battle.
THE LEARNER: Lord, let what seems impossible for me to do by nature become possible by your grace. You know how little I can stand, how soon I lose heart at the least little bit of trouble. Let every trial and affliction become something to be loved and desired; I desire to suffer for your name’s sake. Suffering and affliction for your sake is the best medicine for my soul. (T. a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, 3, ch. 19)
Footnotes:
1 Epistolarium, 139, 1.
2 Life, ch. 22.
3 Way of Perfection, ch. 12.
4 Sol. an. ad D. c. I.
5 Abelly, 1.3, c. 43.
6 In Phil. hom. 4.
7 In Eph. hom. 8.
8 In Evang. hom. 35.
9 Life, addit.
10 Life, ch. 30.
11 Boll. 31 Maii. Vit. c. 7.
12 Foundations ch. 31.
13 Bacci, l. 2, ch. 20.
14 Spirit, ch. 19.
15 Life, Ch. 10.
16 Ascent, book 2, ch. 7.
17 Spirit, ch. 4.
18 The Way of Perfection, ch. 37.
19 Gaudium et Spes, 24.
20 Gaudium et Spes, 22.
Rather than being reasons for discouragement, adversities should be one more spur to our interior growth. In spiritual life, there is only one possible mistake: to be resigned to defeat.
We want peace, but peace is a consequence of victory. And victory demands a constant fight. This protracted struggle must be carried on with full hope in Christ, who overcame evil with his sacrifice in Calvary.
Patience with Oneself
A Christian should exercise patience with himself. It is easy to get discouraged when confronting our own defects, especially if these repeat themselves over and over again, without ever being vanquished. We must know how to wait and struggle with a patient perseverance.
On many occasions, the mastering of a fault or the acquisition of a virtue requires not violent, sporadic efforts, but patient, continuous struggle; it requires the determination to try again every day with the assistance of God’s grace. St Francis of Sales points out that “one must have patience with everybody, but first with oneself.”1
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There are a great many ways in which a Christian can live the virtue of patience. The first battleground should be in the area of one’s own behavior. It is so easy to become disheartened by our defects. We need to exercise patience in our interior struggle based on our unshakable confidence in God’s love for us.
If we are to overcome a character defect, it will not happen overnight. Our victory will ultimately be won by the cultivation of humility, of trusting confidence in God, of greater docility.
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To be patient with oneself while uprooting unwholesome tendencies and defects in character implies both an unyielding approach, and an acceptance of the fact that one will often have to present oneself before God like “the servant who had no resources with which to pay” (Mt 18:23)–with humility, seeking grace anew.
On our way towards the Lord, we will have to suffer many defeats; many of these will be of no consequence, some will. But the atonement and contrition for these failures will bring us even closer to God. This sorrow and reparation for our sins and shortcomings are not useless moods of gloom; they are sorrow and tears born of love. Genuine sorrow is the heavy thought of not giving back as much love as our Lord deserves; it is the pain of returning evil for good to one who so much loves us. (F. Fernández Carvajal, In Conversation with God, 2, 28)
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We have to exercise patience with regard to unexpected events that befall us and interfere with our plans: sickness, poverty, extreme heat or cold, the minor misfortunes of everyday existence such as crossed telephone lines, traffic jams, having forgotten something and left it at home, or an unexpected visitor.
These little trials can cause us to lose our peace. Yet this is where the Lord is waiting for us, right there in the ups and downs of ordinary life. This is the raw material of our sanctity. This is precisely where we must struggle to sanctify ourselves and to sanctify others. (F. Fernández Carvajal, In Conversation with God, 5, 94)
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Just as the surface of a polished diamond is not scratched by, but resists the attack of, any other stone, patience withstands any adversity. Patience is a medicine; it heals all injuries. It is a shield; it protects against all attacks. No one can harm us if we persevere patiently in the inner battle against ourselves. (Bl. Humbert of Romans, On Patience)
Patience before an Unjust Accusation
You must be patient even before an unjust accusation. Say the truth, and deny your guilt; but don’t be disturbed, and don’t force them to accept your explanation.
God uses these occasions to purify you. And whoever does not accept this suffering is depriving himself of purification which alone makes us mature.
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When you are justly accused of some fault you have committed, you must genuinely humble yourself, and confess that you deserve even more than the charge brought against you.
If the accusation is false, excuse yourself meekly, and deny your guilt, for you owe respect to truth, and to the edification of your neighbor.
If they continue to accuse you, after you have made your true and legitimate explanation, don’t be disturbed, and don’t force them to accept your explanation. You have fulfilled your duty with regard to truth, now you must do the same with regard to humility. In this way, you will not sin against the care you must have for your own good name, or against the concern you must have for peace, humility, and meekness of heart. (St Francis of Sales, Introduction to Devout Life, 3,3)
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Our lives should be purer and brighter than the sun. Yet, if anyone speaks evil of us, we should not grieve at being defamed. We would grieve only if we were defamed with basis and reason.
If we live in sin, even if there is no one to speak evil of us, we will be the most wretched of men. On the other hand, if we apply ourselves to live the Christian virtues, even if the whole world speaks evil of us, at that very time we will be more enviable than anyone.
All those around us who choose to follow Jesus will not be scandalized by the calumny of the wicked; they will be attracted by our good life.
Even if our calumniators are beyond number, there is no trumpet so clear to proclaim our innocence as the evidence of our actions; there is no portrait so clear as our pure life.
If all these qualities are present in us; if we are meek, humble, and compassionate; if we are sowers of peace; if hearing reproaches, we do not answer back, but rather, rejoice; then we shall attract all those around us no less than miracles do. They will be kindly disposed toward us, even if they are wild beasts, demons, or what you will. (St John Chrysostom, Homilies on St Matthew’s Gospel, 15)
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Do not be troubled if anyone speaks evil of you. If anyone criticizes you in public, esteem him. Because if you search into his conscience, you shall see him applauding and admiring you; he sees you stand nobly, and internally he proclaims your triumph and crowns you.
When the devil sees you fighting with this patience, he sees himself getting nothing. He, then, goes away because he fears to be the very cause of your winning more crowns with your endurance.
Even if men continue arguing perversely against you, you shall have from God the greater praise and admiration. (St John Chrysostom, Homilies on St Matthew’s Gospel, 15)
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Once again ... they’ve been talking, they’ve written–in favor, against; with good, and with not so good will; insinuations and slanders, panegyrics and plaudits; hits and misses....
Fool, big fool! Why care about the clamor of the wind or the chirping of the cricket, or the bellowing, or the grunting, or the neighing? Keep going straight toward your target–head and heart intoxicated with God.
Besides, it’s inevitable; don’t try to install doors in open air. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 688)
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Insults and slander are better cured by ignoring and despising them than by resenting them, complaining about them, and taking revenge for them. Whoever despises calumnies, makes them disappear; whoever gets offended with them, seemingly renders them true. It seems that the crocodiles attack only those who afraid of them; slander hurts only those who resent it. (St Francis de Sales, Introduction to Devout Life, 3,7)
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Tongues have been wagging, and you’ve suffered rebuffs that hurt you, and all the more because you were not expecting them.
Your supernatural reaction should be to pardon–and even to ask for pardon!–and to take advantage of the experience to detach yourself from creatures. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 689)
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When we face seemingly unjust accusations, we should examine our behavior, in God’s presence, calmly and cheerfully–cum gaudio et pace; and we should change our ways if charity bids us, even if our actions were harmless.
We have to struggle to be saints, more and more each day. Then let people say what they like so long as we can apply the words of the beatitude to their utterances: Blessed are you when they slander you for my sake–Beati estis cum ... dixerint omne malum adversus vos mentientes propter me. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 795)
Patience under Contempt
Why does God send us so many trials? Is he happy seeing us distressed, criticized, and persecuted? Is he a tyrant?
–No. God is not a tyrant.
God allows us to suffer because by suffering here, we are released from the torments due for our sins. Besides, these difficulties detach us from inordinate sensual pleasure and prepare our way to heaven.
By accepting pain we offer Him a token of our love. In a soul in love with God, tribulations and contempt become instruments of closer union with Him.
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We must practice patience and show our love to God by calmly submitting to contempt.
As soon as a soul gives himself up to God, he sends him insults and persecution. One day an angel appeared to the Blessed Henry Suso and said to him, “Henry, you have so far mortified yourself in your own way; from now on you shall be mortified as others may wish.” The following day, as he was looking from a window on the street, he saw a dog shaking and tearing a rag that it held in its mouth. At the same moment a voice said to him, “So will you be torn in the mouths of men.” At once the Blessed Henry went to the street and secured the rag, wearing it on to encourage him in his coming trials.2
Affronts and injuries were the delicacies the saints earnestly longed and sought for. For thirty years, St Philip Neri had to put up with much ill‑treatment in the old house of St Jerome at Rome [now St Jerome alla Caritá]. But for this reason he refused to leave it, and resisted all the invitations of his spiritual sons to come and live with them in the new Oratory [Santa Maria in Vallicella], founded by himself, till he received an express command from the Pope to do so.
St John of the Cross was prescribed a change of air for an illness which eventually carried him to the grave. He could have selected a more commodious convent, of which the Prior was particularly attached to him. But he chose instead a poor convent, whose Prior was his enemy, and who, in fact, for a long time, and almost up to his last day, spoke ill of him and abused him in many ways, and even prohibited the other monks from visiting him. Here we see how the saints even sought to be despised.
St Teresa wrote this admirable maxim: “Whoever aspires to perfection must never say: ‘They had no reason to treat me so.’ If you will not bear any cross but only those that you may find reasonable, then you are not seeking sanctity.”
While St Peter Martyr was complaining in prison of being confined unjustly, he received that celebrated answer from the crucified Lord, “And what evil have I done, to suffer and die on this Cross for men?” Oh, what consolation do the saints derive in all their tribulations from the ignominies which Jesus Christ endured!
St Eleazar, on being asked by his wife how he bore with so much patience the many injuries which he had to endure, and that even from his own servants, he replied: “I turn my eyes to the outraged Jesus, and I discover immediately that my affronts are nothing in comparison with what he suffered for my sake. Thus, God gives me strength to endure all patiently.”
Affronts, poverty, torments, and all tribulations separate further from God the soul that does not love him. On a soul in love with God, they become an instrument of closer union and more ardent love of God. “Many waters cannot quench charity” (Song 8:7). However great and grievous troubles may be, so far from extinguishing the flames of charity, they only serve to enkindle them the more in a soul that loves nothing else but God. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 3)
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Why does Almighty God load us with so many crosses, and take pleasure in seeing us afflicted, reviled, persecuted, and ill‑treated by the world? Is he, perchance, a tyrant, whose cruel disposition makes him rejoice in our suffering? No. God is by no means a tyrant, nor cruel. He is all compassion and love towards us; suffice it to say, that he has died for us. He indeed does rejoice at our suffering.
When a mother would wean her child, she puts gall on the breast, to create a distaste in the child. God rejoices in our suffering for our good. By suffering here, we are released from the torments due for our sins. These hardships detach us from the sensual pleasures of this world. God rejoices in them, because we give him, by our patience and resignation a token of our love. He rejoices in them, because they contribute to our increase of glory in heaven. Such are the reasons for which the Almighty, in his compassion and love towards us, is pleased at our suffering. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 3)
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To practice patience we must be fully persuaded that every trial comes from the hands of God, either directly, or indirectly through men. We must therefore give thanks to God whenever we are beset with sorrows. We must accept, with gladness of heart, every event, prosperous or adverse, that proceeds from him, knowing that all happens by his disposition for our welfare: “To them that love God all things work together unto good” (Rom 8:28).
It is fitting in our tribulations to glance a moment at hell which we have deserved. All the pains of this life are incomparably smaller than the awful pains of hell. But above all, prayer, by which we gain the divine assistance, is the great means to suffer patiently all affliction, scorn, and contradictions. Prayer will furnish us with the strength we lack. The saints were persuaded of this; they recommended themselves to God, and so overcame every kind of torments and persecutions. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 3)
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Affections and Prayers
O Lord, I am fully persuaded that without suffering, and suffering with patience, I cannot win the crown of Paradise. David said: “From Him is my patience” (Ps 61:6). My patience in suffering must come from you. I often resolve to accept in peace all tribulations. But as soon as trials come, I grow sad and alarmed. If I suffer, I suffer without merit and without love, because I do not know how to suffer them so as to please you.
O my Jesus, through the merits of your patience in bearing so many afflictions for love of me, grant me the grace to bear crosses for the love of you! I love you with my whole heart, O my dear Redeemer! I love you, my sovereign good! I love you, my own love, worthy of infinite love. I am sorry for any displeasure I have ever caused you, more than for any evil whatever. I promise you I will receive with patience all the trials you may send me. But I look to you for help to be faithful to my promise, and especially to bear in peace the throes of my last agony and death.
O Mary, my Queen, obtain for me a true resignation in all the anguish and trials that await me in life and death. Amen. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 3)
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When you meet with suffering, contempt..., the Cross, you should consider: What is this compared to what I deserve? (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 690)
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We must patiently endure the tribulations of this life–ill‑health, sorrows, poverty, losses, bereavement of kindred, affronts, persecutions, and all that is disagreeable. Let us invariably look on the trials of this world as signs of God’s love towards us, and of his desire to save us in the world to come. And let us, moreover, be fully persuaded that the involuntary mortifications which God himself sends us are far more pleasing to him than those which are the fruit of our own choice.
In sickness let us resign ourselves entirely to the will of God; no devout exercise is more acceptable to him than this. If at such times we are unable to meditate, let us fix our eyes on our crucified Lord, and offer him our sufferings in union with all that he endured for us upon the Cross.
And when we are told that we are about to die, let us accept the tidings with calm and in the spirit of sacrifice; that is, with the desire to die, to give pleasure to Jesus Christ. This same desire gave all the merit to the death of the martyrs. We should then say, “O Lord, look at me here with no other will but your own blessed will.” I am willing to suffer as much as you wish. I wish to die whenever you wish. We should not then wish to have our life prolonged to do penance for our sins; to accept death with perfect resignation outweighs all other penance.
We must likewise practice conformity to the will of God in bearing poverty and the various inconveniences that accompany it: cold, hunger, fatigue, contempt, and scorn.
We should accept losses, whether of property or of relatives and friends. Let us acquire the good habit of saying in every adversity: God has wanted it, so I want it. And at the death of our relatives, instead of wasting time in fruitless tears, let us employ it in praying for their souls; and offer to Jesus Christ, in their behalf, the pain of our bereavement.
Let us, moreover, force ourselves to endure scorn and insult with patience and serenity. Let us answer terms of outrage and insult with words of gentleness. As long as we feel disturbed, we should keep silence, till the mind grows tranquil. Meanwhile let us not be fretfully speaking to others of the affront we have received, but in silence offer it to Jesus Christ, who endured so much for us. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 3)
Patience in Sickness
It is essential to know how to suffer calmly and without excessive self-pity. God may send us a sickness; we must use the appropriate medical means, and, at the same time, realize that he is enticing us to endure it.
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We must have patience not merely at being ill, but at having the illness that God wishes, where he wishes, among the people he wishes, and with whatever difficulties he wishes.
When you are sick, offer up all your pain and inconvenience; look at them as a service to our Lord, and join them to his torments on the Cross.
Obey your physician, take your medicine, diet, and other remedies out of love of God, remembering the gall he drank out of love of you.
Desire to get well to be able to serve God well, but do not refuse to lie ill. Obey God and prepare yourself for death, if it is God’s Will, so that you may be happy with him forever. (St Francis of Sales, Introduction to Devout Life, 3,3)
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Bodily sicknesses, when borne with patience, merit for us a beautiful crown.
St Vincent de Paul said: “If we knew what a precious treasure is contained in sicknesses, we would accept them with joy as the greatest possible blessings.” The saint himself, constantly afflicted with ailments that often left him no rest day or night, bore them with so much peace and such serenity of countenance that no one could guess that he had any sickness at all. How edifying is it to see a sick person bear his illness with a peaceful countenance, as did St Francis de Sales! When he was ill, he simply explained his complaint to the physician, obeyed him exactly by taking the prescribed medicines, however nauseous; and for the rest he remained at peace, never uttering a single complaint in all his sufferings.
What a contrast with the conduct of those who do nothing but complain even for the most trifling indisposition, and who would like to have around them all their relatives and friends to sympathize with them! Far different was the instruction of St Teresa to her nuns: “My sisters, learn to suffer anything for the love of Jesus Christ, without letting all the world know of it.”3 (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 1)
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My friend, do not think of what you would do if you were well, but be content to remain ill as long as God thinks fit. If you seek the will of God, what does it matter whether you are well or sick? (Ven. John of Avila, Ep. 54)
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You say you are unable even to pray, because your head is aching. Be it so: you cannot meditate; but can’t you make acts of resignation to the will of God? If you make these acts, you will make a better prayer, welcoming with love all the torments that may assail you. So did St Vincent of Paul: when attacked by a serious illness, he kept himself tranquil in the presence of God, without forcing his mind to dwell on any particular subject. His sole exercise from time to time was to elicit some short acts of love, of confidence, of thanksgiving, and, more frequently, of resignation, especially in the crisis of his sufferings.
You cannot say prayers; and what more exquisite prayer than to cast a look from time to time on your crucified Lord, and offer him your pains, uniting the little that you endure to the overwhelming torments that afflicted Jesus on the Cross! (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 1)
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There was a certain pious lady lying bedridden with many disorders. She told a servant who was putting the crucifix into her hand, and telling her to pray to God to deliver her from her miseries: “But how can you ask me to get rid of the Cross, while I hold in my hand a God crucified? God forbid that I should do so. I will suffer for him who chose to suffer torments for me incomparably greater than mine.”
In like manner, St Joseph of Leonessa, a Capuchin, when the surgeon was about to amputate his arm, and his brethren would have bound him, to prevent him from stirring through vehemence of pain, seized a crucifix and exclaimed: “Why binding me? I do not need to be bound. Look who binds me to endure every suffering patiently for love of him.” And he bore the operation without a murmur. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 1)
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Above all, in time of sickness we should be ready to accept death, and whatever death which God pleases. We must die; our life must finish in our last illness; and we do not know which will be our last illness. Thus, in every illness we must be prepared to accept the death that God has appointed for us. A sick person says: “Yes; but I have committed many sins, and have done no penance. I would like to live, not for the sake of living, but to make some satisfaction to God before my death.” But tell me, my brother, how do you know that if you live longer you will do penance, and not rather do worse than before? At present you can well cherish the hope that God has pardoned you; what penance can be more satisfactory than to accept death with resignation, if God so wills it?
Besides, unless death opens us the door, we cannot enter that blessed abode of love. This caused St Augustine, that loving soul, to cry out: “Oh, let me die, Lord, that I may see you!”–Eia, Domine! moriar, ut te videam.4 Lord, let me die, otherwise I cannot behold and love you face to face. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 10, 1)
Patience in Trials and Difficult Situations
St Thomas tells us that patience is chiefly about sorrow. As a habit, the patient man remains serene when he faces an evil–especially an evil inflicted by others; he behaves in an exemplary manner, enduring circumstances which hurt him, here and now; moreover, he does not become saddened by these trials. The core of this virtue is the strength to control the natural anxiety or sadness when one faces failure or hardship. Left uncontrolled, that anxiety would lead a man to rebel against God or to abandon the struggle.
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We must be patient also in those difficult situations not caused by ourselves or by those around us: sickness, poverty, extreme heat or cold, and the varied obstacles that can arise over the course of a day. All those situations could take away our peace of mind, and make us sullen and ill‑humored, even with those who are blameless.
A supernatural outlook, to see the hand of God’s providence in all things, will give us peace and serenity. This manifestation of faith will allow us to “rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that such sufferings produce patience–a proven virtue–and patience, hope. And hope will not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Rom 5:3‑5).
Patience will also lead us to tolerate certain evils in order to avoid greater ones. We should always remember that God permits evil in view of a superior good which we often do not see yet, but which shines forth on the last day under the light of eternity.
We must remember that God always hears our prayer. Nothing of what we do for him is lost. Like a good father, he will help us when he sees us seriously doing our best. For our part we must stretch our hand and grasp God’s hand, his grace. Difficulties endured for love of God are always a source of fecundity.
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Patience in suffering is the most useful means to arrive at a perfect obedience to God’s Will. “My son,” Solomon says, “do not reject the correction from the Lord, and do not faint when you are chastised by him; for the Lord chastises the man he loves, as a father checks a well-loved son” (Prov 3:11-12).
These words are developed at considerable length in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!” (Heb 12:7-9)
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Sometimes God allows tribulation to fall upon us. He does not enjoy our suffering, but he permits it to draw us to himself. When we turn to him, he does away with any fear or pain. If we were alike in tribulation and at ease, there would not be need of temptations.
Even the great saints learned the virtue of patience from their trials, as the psalm acknowledges: “It is good for me that you have humbled me” (Ps 119:71). Even the Lord said to the apostles: “In the world you shall have tribulation” (Jn 16:33).
St Paul admitted the same thing: “There was given to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to beat me and stop me from getting too proud!” (2 Cor 12:7). He was not freed from having temptations, when he wanted so, because of the great blessing deriving from the struggle.
By tribulations and temptations the patriarchs won their crowns and their names were listed in glory.
Thus, as the wise saying goes, “Do not become alarmed when disaster comes” (Qo 2:2), but learn only one thing, to bear all with patience and without complaint. It belongs to God to decide when to stop our tribulations; he permits them to occur. It belongs to us to bear them patiently, with a good disposition; if we do so, all blessings will follow. But to obtain these blessings, grow in sanctity, and gain glory we must accept whatever falls upon us, thanking God. He knows better than we what is good for us; he loves us more than our own parents.
May these considerations be for us like a talisman to get rid of any fear, despair, or impatience. May we praise God always who ordered all the best to happen to us. (St John Chrysostom, Homilies on St Matthew’s Gospel, 10, 8)
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St Augustine emphasized that a Christian should be ready to endure hardships to attain everlasting happiness.
“For I am ready for scourges” (Ps 38:18 Vulg.). These words are uttered most solemnly, as if saying: “For this I was born, to suffer scourges.” All of us, Adam’s children, inevitably deserve scourging. But sometimes great sinners are not punished wholly in this life or in correspondence with their deeds, because their behavior is already beyond hope of improvement.
But those who hope to reach life everlasting must of necessity be afflicted in this world, according to these words: “My son, reject not the correction of the Lord, and do not faint when you are chastised by Him” (Prov 3:11). “For the one whom the Lord loves he chastises, and he scourges every son whom he receives” (Heb 12:5).
Thus, my enemies need not cast insults, nor boast in triumph. Even if my Father chastises me, I am ready for scourges, because my inheritance awaits me. If I do not bear correction, I will not receive the inheritance, for chastisement is the lot of every son. So true is this that the Father did not spare even him who had no sin.” (St Augustine, Commentary on the Psalms, 37.18)
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St Augustine further stressed the role of suffering as testing‑ground and correction when he reflected on the difficulties suffered in the sack of Rome in the year 410.
Many who have emerged unscathed now speak calumny against these Christian times. They saddle Christ with the evils which Rome has suffered, and do not credit him with the blessings which enabled them to live as witnesses of his glory. They ascribe these blessings to their own fate.
If they were right‑thinking, they would attribute to divine Providence everything, also their fortitude to resist the harsh and grim treatment that they experienced from the enemy. Providence uses wars to afflict and correct the debased conduct of men, and likewise to test holy and praiseworthy lives. When they have been tested, God transports these holy people to a better life, or keeps them for other purposes longer on this earth. (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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Someone will ask: “Why does God’s mercy extend even to the wicked and ungrateful?” The only evidence we have is that he who dispenses it “makes his sun rise on good and bad, and rains on just and unjust” (Mt 5:45). Some sinners ponder on this, repent, and amend their wickedness. But some, as Paul says, “despise the riches of God’s goodness and long‑suffering, because of the hardness of their hearts and their unrepentant souls.” They lay up for themselves “wrath on the day of anger, on the day of the revelation of the righteous judgement of God, who will render to every man according to his works” (Rom 2:4‑6).
God’s patience entices the wicked to repent, and his scourge prompts good men to have patience. Likewise God’s mercy embraces the good, and they will be loved; his harshness arraigns the wicked for future punishment. For divine Providence has ordained for the just the future treasure of blessings which the unjust will not enjoy; and for the wicked, sufferings which will not torture the good. God has also decided that the good and evil things of this transient world should be shared by both, the good and the bad. Thus, we will not seek too eagerly the good things possessed by the wicked, and we will not shamefully avoid the evils that good men often have to endure. (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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Now give some thought to this. Do faithful and holy people suffer any evil which does not redound to their good? Surely not, unless we are to regard as idle the thought of St Paul when he says: “We know that to them that love God all things work together for good”–omnia in bonum. (Rom 8:28). (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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Those who criticized God’s Providence lost everything they had. They lost their faith, their supernatural outlook, and the blessings of a pious man who is rich in God’s eyes. That is the wealth that Christians have; that was the source of Paul’s wealth when he said: “Piety with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim 6:6‑10).
Some lost their material wealth in the sack of Rome. If only they had possessed it as recommended by Paul–who was outwardly poor but rich within, if only they had regarded wealth as if they did not regard it, they could have uttered the words of Job, sorely tested but wholly unconquered: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, naked shall I return to earth. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. As it has pleased the Lord, so it is done. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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You say that the enemy has tortured some good men, even Christians, to make them reveal the hiding place of their goods. But these Christians did not betray or lose the Good by which they were themselves good. If they preferred torture to betraying the mammon of iniquity, they were not good. They should not have endured as much for gold as for Christ. They should have been advised to love Christ, who can enrich with eternal blessedness those who suffer for his sake, rather than gold and silver. To suffer on behalf of these things is indeed wretchedness, whether lies keep their riches successfully hidden or telling the truth surrenders them. During this torture no person lost Christ by confessing him, and no one kept his gold except by denying that he had any. Before, the material goods inflicted tortures on their owners without beneficial reward for loving them; now, the tortures taught them to love the imperishable good. (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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True, there were some with nothing to reveal who were disbelieved and tortured. Perhaps they were too keen to have wealth; they were not poor by their own will, and so it had to be shown that it is not wealth itself but the desire for it that deserves such torture.
But some others had no gold or silver hidden away; they had planned a better–holier–life (I am not sure whether any such people were tortured because they were thought to have wealth), at any rate, those who during such torture confessed a holy poverty, thereby, confessed Christ. So even if they were not believed by the enemy, such confessors of holy poverty won a heavenly award by being tortured. (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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They also say that the long period of hunger ravaged many Christians. The good and faithful turned this to their advantage by enduring it with devotion. Those whom the famine killed were taken from the evils of this life as if by a physical illness. Those who survived learned to live more economically, and fast more extensively.
But, you say, many Christians were killed, destroyed in a foul assortment of numerous casualties. We certainly resent this, but we do, at any rate, accept it as the common lot of all born into this life. Of this I am sure, that no person ever died who would not have died at some time in the future. The end of life brings the same result after a long life as in a short one. (St Augustine, The City of God, 1.1 ff)
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St John of Damascus (c. 675‑749) is one of the most celebrated Greek theologians. In reflecting on the role of Providence, St John first insists that we must accept what befalls us without complaint, accepting it as the higher judgement of God. But he then offers a series of explanations why the just man may be permitted to suffer: the virtue which is evinced in such suffering may be beneficial in various ways both to the sufferer himself and to the onlookers who witness it.
Providence is God’s care for things that exist; again, Providence is God’s will, through which all existing things obtain adequate guidance. If Providence is God’s will, it is inevitable that everything that happens through Providence must logically happen in the most beautiful and divinely appropriate way, and could not come to pass in a better manner. For the Creator of things is the same provident God who governs them. It is not fitting or logical that there should be a creator and a different provider. In such case both would be utterly defective, one in creating and the other in making provision. So God is both Creator and Provider; his power of creating, maintaining, and governing is his good will. “All that the Lord pleased, he has done, in heaven and on earth” (Ps 134:6), and none has resisted his will (cf. Rom 9:19). He willed that all things be made, and they were made. He wills the world to remain, and it does remain. All that he wills comes to pass.
We can most correctly assess that God is provident, that he supplies and governs the world according to his admirable plans. God alone is by nature good and wise. Being good, he cares for the world, maintains and governs it; one who does not care is not good. Even men and creatures without intelligence naturally provide for their own offspring; he who does not, is reproached. And being wise, God looks after things in the best possible way.
Bearing these facts in mind, we must admire, praise, and accept without demur all the works of the Providence, even if they seem unjust to many. God’s providence cannot be fully known or understood; our thoughts and deeds, and what is to come, are known to him alone. But when I say we must admire all, I mean what is not in our control; for what is at our discretion does not stay within Providence but within our own free will. (St John of Damascus, The Orthodox Faith, 2.29)
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Some things happen with God’s approval, some by his permission. All that is incontrovertibly good happens with his approval. God does not want disasters by themselves; these are permitted to happen to fulfil God’s plans. Often, God allows negative things to happen so that someone may reveal to other men the virtue he has received from God; this happened in the case of Job. On other occasions he permits something outrageous to be done, so that through the apparently outrageous act some great and wonderful success can be achieved, like the salvation of men through the cross. In yet another variation he allows a holy man to suffer harshly, so that he may not forsake his right conscience, or become proud as the result of the power and grace allotted to him, as in the case of Paul (cf. 2 Cor 12:7).
A man is seen deserted by God for a time to put another to rights, so that when others consider his position they may learn a lesson. Lazarus and the rich man are a case in point (cf. Lk 16:19ff.). When we see people suffer, our nature becomes aware of its limitations, and we become humble.
A person may seem ignored by God also for another’s glory, rather than because of his or his parent’s sins. For example, the man blind from birth, for the glory of the Son of man (cf. John 9:3).
Again, a man is permitted to suffer to arouse the emulation of another, so that when the victim’s glory is commended, the rest may embrace suffering in the hope of glory to come and in eager anticipation of future blessings, as the martyrs did.
A man is permitted to fall into evil ways sometimes to straighten out some worse vice. For example, a man may become proud of his virtues and achievements, and God allows him to fall into fornication, so that by his stumbling he may attain awareness of his weakness. After being humbled, he may draw close and make confession to the Lord.” (St John of Damascus, The Orthodox Faith, 2.29)
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John Chrysostom left behind him a reflection on false and true assessments of what constitutes real harm and real deprivation. He argues that the loss of material possessions constitute no real loss, and adduces Job as the living example of this.
Many of the more wretched and foolish among us observe the just man being hauled about, lacerated, throttled, while the man who is a swindler, dishonorable, dishonestly rich, or powerful is feared by the common folk and inflicts on just people injuries beyond counting. This happens indifferently in cities, countryside, and desert; it happens on land and sea. Those who observe this are gripped by a curious madness, and they disparage God’s providence. This letter of mine shall take this issue and that attitude; the fight in this new and unusual engagement will be useful, and profitable for those willing to listen and be persuaded. I will try to show that none of those who suffer wrong do so at the hands of another, but at their own hands.
To make my words clearer, let us first ask ourselves, what is injustice? What is a person’s proper quality, and what injures it? What seems to injure it, but in fact does not?
Every object has something that injures it; iron suffers rust, wool suffers moths, flocks of sheep suffer wolves.... Our bodies suffer fever, paralysis, and swarms of other sicknesses. So everything has something which harms its excellence.
Let us examine what is really the scourge of the human race, and what afflicts man’s true quality. Most people have erroneous ideas; they suggest different causes for what really damages human excellence. Some suggest poverty, other physical sickness, others financial loss, others slander or shame, and others death. They keep on lamenting and bewailing these things, and pitying those who suffer them.
They weep and are aghast, and say to each other: “What sufferings so‑and‑so has to put up with. He has been stripped of all he had!” A friend speaks of someone else: “What’s‑his‑name has been struck down by a terrible illness; he is given up by the doctors attending him.” One man grieves and is sorry for people in prison, another for those expelled from their native land and forced to live abroad, another for those who have lost their freedom, another for those imprisoned in the hands of enemies, another for those drowned or burnt, another for a man who has been buried under the debris of his house. But nobody grieves for those who live wicked lives. And–what is more tragic–they often regard such men as happy. This attitude is the cause of all our problems.
None of the experiences mentioned harms the man of wisdom; none can diminish his virtue. When a man loses all his property, or is robbed by swindlers, robbers, or dishonest slaves, how does this loss affect his human dignity? But, first, in what does this human dignity consist? Not in riches, that makes some fear poverty. Not in health, that makes some tremble at illness. Not in the opinion of the crowd, that makes some fear a bad reputation. Not in long and healthy life, that makes some have apprehension of death. Not in freedom, that makes some dread slavery. Human dignity lies in the keen possession of true beliefs, and in right living according to these beliefs. The devil himself will not be able to pillage these possessions if the person who has acquired them guards them with appropriate care.
The devil who is most wicked and fierce is aware of this. He destroyed the possessions of Job, not to make Job poor, but to force him to utter some blasphemous word. He afflicted Job’s body, not merely to oppress him with sickness, but to lay low the excellence of his soul. He put into action all his devices. He made Job poor from being rich. And, what seems to everyone the most terrible fate, he made him childless after he had had many children. He lacerated Job’s whole body more savagely than the public executioners do–their nails do not tear the flesh of those who fall into their hands as much as the worms nibbled and wasted Job’s body. The devil caused him to incur an evil reputation; Job’s friends came up to him and said: “You have not been afflicted as much as your faults deserved.” He not only had Job expelled from his home and city, and transferred to another place; he gave him a dung heap as his home and city.
Yet, in spite of all, the devil did not harm Job’s dignity, but made him even more splendid through the plots which he laid against him. He failed to deprive him of any of his goods, in spite of the fact that he robbed him all these. He made his wealth of virtue greater, for subsequently Job enjoyed greater trust from God because he had fought a more taxing fight.
Job, who endured such pains, suffered no wrong. He suffered at the hands, not of a man, but of the devil, who is more wicked than all men, and remained patient. Who can then support people who say: “Such‑and‑such wronged and harmed me”? The devil, embodying such wickedness, set in motion all his instruments, hurled all his weapons, and all that men account as evils, emptying them upon the just man’s house and person. Yet he did not destroy Job’s dignity, but rather helped him. How, then, can people accuse and hate particular individuals because they have suffered at their hands? (St John Chrysostom, No One Is Harmed)
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The holier one is, the more earthly suffering one has to endure. Just as the soul weakens its desire for worldly things, so increases the number of trials coming from them. Thus, you see many seeking sanctity who sweat under the heavy burden of the trials they face. But, as our Lord says, these holy ones yield their fruit through the use of patience; by accepting such trials with humility, they are given access to the eternal peace of heaven.
This is how the grape is crushed and liquefied, acquiring the taste of wine; this is how the olive, milled and pressed, abandons its dregs, becoming the purest oil; this is how the grain is parted from the straw, by means of the thresher, and thus cleansed, is carried to the granary. (St Gregory the Great, Hom. 15 On the Gospels)
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Remain firm, like the anvil under the hammer. A good athlete must receive blows in order to win the fight. So too must we endure everything for God, so that he in turn may bear with us. (St Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Polycarp, 3)
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How heroic it is to remain standing, unbent among the numerous wreckages of mankind; undefeated, unlike those who lack hope in God. How noble to rejoice instead, and seize the opportunity placed within our reach, to grasp the prize for our fidelity and deeds, from the hand of the divine Judge. We will be able to do so through patience in our struggle, by giving proof of the fortitude of our faith, and by following the narrow path leading to Christ. (St Cyprian, On Mortality, 14)
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Public events have led you to prefer a voluntary confinement, which is worse perhaps, because of the circumstances, than the confinement of a prison.
You’ve suffered an eclipse of your personality.
On all sides you feel yourself hemmed in: selfishness, curiosity, misunderstanding, gossip. Well, so what? Have you forgotten your very free will and that power of yours as a “child”? The absence of leaves and flowers (of external action) does not exclude the growth and activity of the roots (interior life).
Work; the trend of the events will change, and you’ll yield more fruit than before–and it will be more savory. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 697)
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Are you suffering some great affliction? Do you meet adversity? Say very slowly, as if savoring the words, this powerful and manly prayer:
“May the most just and most lovable Will of God be done, be fulfilled, be praised, and eternally exalted above all things. Amen. Amen.”
I assure you that you’ll find peace. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 691)
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Life presents us with all sorts of problems and trials. Some are great and many are of little consequence. With the help of God’s grace the soul can be strengthened by every trial.
Certain trials emanate form other people, such as direct attacks or veiled threats from people who do not understand our vocation, or perhaps public opposition from a pagan culture, or from declared enemies of the Church.
Other trials have their origin in the limitations of our human nature. We may experience financial difficulties or grave family problems. At times we will become sick or exhausted or completely discouraged.
If we are to persevere in adversity, we need to exercise patience. We should be cheerful no matter what develops, because we have our eyes fixed on Christ. He has encouraged us to move forward, to live in his peace. Our confidence should be anchored in the fact that Christ has triumphed. (F. Fernández Carvajal, In Conversation with God, 5, 94)
Sharers in the Suffering of Christ
Suffering is the lot of the children of God, and a sign of predestination; and a Christian must accept suffering. “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Act 14:21). Christian patience is patterned after the model of Christ patient on the Cross; it surpasses all human calculation.
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Out of love for us, Christ endured the most severe physical, psychological, and moral sufferings. These blows came from the rage of the priests of the synagogue, from the abandonment of his people, from the ingratitude of his own, from the curse of sin, which he took upon himself as a voluntary victim. If we suffer with him, we will be glorified with him.
We must be patient and suffer for the following motives:
- to accompany Jesus in his suffering,
- to atone for our sins,
- to atone for the sins of all mankind, and, also,
- for our own purification and increase of merit.
Thus, we know why we must suffer; why euthanasia–or mercy killing–is wrong. Some dying persons are reconciled to God only at the last moment by their patience in bearing the agony.
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THE BELOVED: My son, I came down from Heaven to save you. I took your sorrows upon me. I had no need to do so, but my love for you drew me on. I wanted you to learn the lesson of patience, of bearing the sorrows of life without bitterness or resentment. From the hour of my birth until my death on the Cross, there was never a moment without sorrows to bear. My worldly goods amounted to very little. Many and frequent were the complaints I heard people make about me. When they shamed and insulted me, I took it gently. My kindness was repaid with ingratitude, my miracles with blasphemy, my teachings with rejection.
THE LEARNER: Lord, during your life you were patient, thereby fulfilling to the utmost the will of your Father. It is only right, then, that I, a mere wretched sinner, endure things patiently, in accordance with your will. And to save my soul, I should shoulder, for as long as you will, the load of this corruptible life. I feel the weight of this present life; yet through your grace it has become the source of great merit. Your own example, and the steps your saints have trodden, have made it easier for the weak to endure, and greater in glory. It is a life much richer in consolation than it was in former times, under the Old Law. Then the gate of Heaven stayed shut, and even the road to it seemed unsure, since there were so few at that time who cared to look for the kingdom of Heaven. And even the holy men of those days, those due to be saved, could not enter the kingdom of Heaven until you had paid their debt for them with your passion and your holy death.
What a debt of gratitude I owe you, for your mercy in showing me, along with all your faithful followers, the straight and true road that leads to your eternal kingdom! That road we must follow is your own life. By holy patience we make our way towards you, you who are to crown our journey. Had you not gone before and shown us the way, which of us would care to follow it? Many, I fear, would stay behind, remain at a distance, if they had not your own wondrous example to gaze at. Why, even now, for all the times we have heard of your teaching and all your miracles, the flame within us burns low. What would happen if we lacked that great glow of light to guide us in following you? (T. a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, 3, ch. 18)
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There are many–including Christians–who act as if they were enemies of the Cross of Christ. There are many for whom the preaching of the Cross seems foolishness. There are many who flee from the Cross as from the devil; for whom the word “mortification” is unintelligible; for whom penance is something that belongs to the narrow and superstitious mentality of the past. These people generally have suffocated their sense of sin and responsibility, if they have not lost it altogether. They are monumentally ignorant of Christianity itself. They lack any brotherhood whatsoever with Christ, the “First of the brethren,” the Head of the Body, to which as Christians they belong. (F. Suárez, Mary of Nazareth)
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During our Lord’s passion and death, his Mother could have taken refuge in the sympathetic company of the women, in the intimacy of her home, far away from Calvary. After all, there was nothing she could do, and her presence neither avoided nor relieved the sufferings and humiliation of her Son.
But she was there, nevertheless. She did stay with Christ for the same reason as any mother stays beside the deathbed of her son, instead of going out to try to enjoy herself when she sees that she can neither keep him alive nor stop his suffering.
No, the Virgin Mary identified herself with her Son. Her love made her suffer with him since there was nothing else she could do. Because she loved him and because love unites, she suffered with him. Her love could not stand separation, not even in that terrible moment; she preferred suffering, however great it might be. (F. Suárez, Mary of Nazareth)
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There is a precise and very direct relationship between the capacity to love and the capacity to suffer. He who is not capable of suffering, is incapable of loving. The reason why the saints have so eagerly embraced suffering is because their love for Christ led them to suffer with him. We do not embrace suffering, but, on the contrary, avoid it, because we still love ourselves too much. Every now and then we should examine our love of the Cross to gauge our love of God. We love God to the same measure that we love the Cross.
The Cross is the only way of uniting earth with heaven. If we reject it, we reject the means of our salvation. Thus, faithfulness to Christ on Calvary–acceptance of the Cross–is both, a sign that we are on the path to salvation, and a confirmation of God’s love for us. (F. Suárez, Mary of Nazareth)
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He who loves Jesus Christ loves sufferings.
He who loves God in suffering earns a double reward in paradise. St Vincent of Paul5 said that it was a great misfortune to be free from suffering in this life. And he added that a congregation or an individual that does not suffer, and is applauded by all the world, is not far from a fall.
If on a day St Francis of Assisi noticed that he had suffered nothing for God, he became afraid lest God had forgotten him. St John Chrysostom6 said that when God endows a man with the grace of suffering, he gives him a greater grace than that of raising the dead to life. In performing miracles, man remains indebted to God; in suffering, God makes himself indebted to man. And he added,7 that whoever endures something for the love of God, even if he had no other gift than his patience, this will procure for him an immense reward. Thus, he affirmed, St Paul received a greater grace in being bound in chains for Jesus Christ, than in being taken to the third heaven in ecstasy. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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“Patience has to finish its perfect work” (Jas 1:4).
Nothing is more pleasing to God than to see a soul suffering with patience all the crosses coming to him. The effect of love is to liken the lover to the person loved. St Francis de Sales said, “All the wounds of Christ are so many tongues which tell us that we must suffer for him. The method of the saints is to suffer constantly for Jesus. In this way we, too, become saints.” A person who loves Jesus Christ is anxious to be treated like Jesus Christ–and he was poor, persecuted, and despised.
St John beheld all the saints “clothed in white, and with palms in their hands” (Apoc 7:9). The palm is the symbol of martyrs, and yet not all the saints suffered martyrdom. Why, then, do all the saints carried palms in their hands? St Gregory replied that all the saints have been martyrs either of the sword or of patience. And he added, “We can be martyrs without the sword, if we keep patience.”8 (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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A soul who loves Jesus Christ gains merit by loving and by suffering. Hear what our Lord said to St Teresa: “Do you think, my child, that merit consists in consolations? No, it consists in suffering and in loving. Look at my life, wholly embittered with afflictions. Be assured, my child, that the more my Father loves any one, the more sufferings he sends him; suffering is the banner of his love. Look at my wounds; your torments will never reach so far. It is absurd to suppose that my Father favors with his friendship those who are strangers to suffering.”9
St Teresa made this consoling remark: “When God sends a trial, he at once rewards it with some favor.”10 One day Jesus Christ appeared to the blessed Baptista Varani,11 and told her of three special favors that he bestows on highly esteemed souls: the first is, not to sin; the second, which is greater, to perform good works; the third, and the greatest of all, to suffer for his love.
St Teresa12 used to say that whenever anyone does something for God, the Almighty repays him with some trial. Thus, the saints, on receiving tribulations, thanked God for them. St Louis of France, referring to his captivity in Turkey, said: “I rejoice, and thank God more for the patience he gave me in the time of my imprisonment, than if he had made me master of the universe.” St Elizabeth, princess of Thuringia, after her husband’s death, was banished with her son from the kingdom. Homeless and abandoned by all, she went to a convent of the Franciscans, and there had the Te Deum sung in thanksgiving to God for being allowed to suffer for his love. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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St Joseph de Calasanz used to say, “All suffering is insignificant if we gain heaven.” And the Apostle had already said the same: “The sufferings of this time are not worth comparing with the glory to come, that will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18).
It would be a great gain for us to endure all the torments of all the martyrs during our whole lives, in order to enjoy one single second of the bliss of paradise. We should then willingly embrace our crosses, knowing that the sufferings of this temporary life will gain for us happiness everlasting. “For our light and troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor 4:17).
But whoever desires the crown of paradise must combat and suffer. “If we suffer, we shall also reign” (2 Tim 2:12). We cannot get a reward without merit; and to merit we must have patience: “He is not crowned, unless he strives according to the rules” (2 Tim 2:5). And the person who strives with the greatest patience shall have the greatest reward. Wonderful indeed! (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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Concerning material goods, worldly people try to get as much as they can. But when it is a question of the goods of eternal life, they say, “It is enough if we get a little corner in heaven!” Such is not the language of the saints. They are not satisfied with anything of this life; they even strip themselves of all earthly goods. But concerning eternal goods, they strive to obtain them in the greatest possible measure. I ask you, which of the two act with more wisdom and prudence?
But even in the present life, he who suffers with most patience enjoys the greatest peace. St Philip Neri13 used to say, “In this world there is no purgatory; it is either all paradise or all hell. He who patiently endures tribulations, enjoys a paradise; he who does not do so, suffers a hell. And St Teresa writes, “He who embraces the crosses sent him by God does not feel them.” St Francis de Sales, finding himself on one occasion beset on every side with tribulations, said, “For some time now severe opposition and hardships have befallen me. These afford me so sweet a peace, that nothing can equal it. They give me assurance that my soul will be firmly united with God; thus, they are the sole ambition, the sole desire of my heart.”14 (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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Peace can never be found by one who leads an irregular life, but only by one who lives in union with God and fulfills his blessed will. A certain missionary in the Indies was one day witnessing the execution of a person. Already on the scaffold, the criminal called the missionary and said, “You must know, Father, that I was once a member of your Order. I observed the rules and led a very happy life. But afterwards, I began to relax in the strict observance of them. I immediately experienced pain in everything; so much so, that I abandoned the religious life. I gave myself up to vice, which finally brought me here.” And in conclusion he said, “I tell you this, so that my example may be a warning to others.”
Let us be convinced that in this valley of tears true peace of heart cannot be found, except by him who endures and lovingly embraces sufferings to please Almighty God. This is the consequence of that corruption brought to us by sin. The saints on earth suffer and love; the saints in heaven enjoy and love.
In a letter that he wrote to one of his penitents, Father Paul Segneri encouraged her to suffer, and told her to keep these words inscribed at the foot of her crucifix: “This is the way to love.” A soul loves Jesus not simply by suffering, but by desiring to suffer for the love of him. “And what greater acquisition,” said St Teresa, “can we possibly make than to have a means to please Almighty God.”15 (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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How fast men get scared at the bare mention of crosses, humiliations, and afflictions! Nevertheless, there are many souls who suffer willingly and gladly; they would be quite disconsolate without suffering. “The sight of the Jesus crucified,” said a devout person, “renders the Cross so lovely to me, that it seems to me I could never be happy without suffering. The love of Jesus Christ is sufficient for me to do anything.” Listen how Jesus advises everyone who wants to follow him to take up and carry his Cross: “Let him take up his Cross, and follow me” (Lk 9:23). But we must take it up and carry it, not by coercion and against our will, but with humility, patience, and love. (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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One day St Gertrude asked our Lord what she could offer him most acceptable. And he replied, “My child, you can do nothing more gratifying to me than to submit patiently to all the tribulations that come your way.”
The Venerable Father John of Avila said, “One Blessed be God in contrarieties is worth more than a thousand thanksgivings in prosperity.” (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
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A soul who loves God has no other end in view but to be wholly united with him. Learn from St Catharine of Genoa what is necessary to arrive at this perfect union: “To attain union with God, adversities are indispensable. By them God destroys all our corrupt inclinations within and without. All injuries, contempt, infirmities, abandonment of relatives and friends, confusions, temptations, and other mortifications, all are in the highest degree necessary for us to carry on the fight. After repeated victories we will come to extinguish within us all vicious movements, so that they are no longer felt. We shall never arrive at divine union until adversities, instead of seeming bitter to us, become all sweet for God’s sake.”
A soul who sincerely desires to belong to God must be resolved–St John of the Cross16 writes–not to seek enjoyments in this life, but to suffer in all things. She must embrace with eagerness all voluntary mortifications, and with still greater eagerness those that come without seeking them, since they are the more welcome to Almighty God.
“The patient man is better than the valiant” (Prov 14:32). God is pleased with a person who practices mortification by fasting, hair‑cloths and disciplines, because of the courage displayed in such mortifications. But he is much more pleased with those who have the courage to bear patiently and gladly the crosses that come from his own divine hand. St Francis de Sales said, “Such mortifications as come to us from the hand of God, or from men by his permission, are always more precious than those which are the offspring of our own will. For it is a general rule, that wherever there is less of our own choice, God is better pleased, and we ourselves derive greater profit.”17 St Teresa taught the same thing: “We gain more in one day by the contradictions sent to us from God or our neighbor than by ten years of self-inflicted mortifications.”18 (St Alphonsus M. de’ Liguori, Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ, 1, 2)
The Christian Meaning of Human Suffering
There is no human life without suffering. In the following paragraphs Pope John Paul II gives us the reasons why we must accept hardships. Suffering–a part of man’s nature–is necessary for his salvation.
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St Paul declared the power of salvific suffering saying: “In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24).
These words seem to be found at the end of the long road that winds through suffering. This suffering forms part of the history of man and is illuminated by the Word of God. These words have as it were the value of a final discovery, which is accompanied by joy....
Even though St Paul wrote that “the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now” (Rom 8:22), even though man knows and is close to the sufferings of the animal world, nevertheless what we express by the word suffering seems to be particularly essential to the nature of man. It is as deep as man himself. (John Paul II, Enc. Salvifici Doloris, On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, 11 February 1984, 1-2)
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Redemption was accomplished through the Cross of Christ, that is, through his suffering.... And man becomes the way for the Church when suffering enters his life. This happens, as we know, at different moments in life, it takes place in different ways, it assumes different dimensions; nevertheless, in whatever form, suffering seems to be, and is, almost inseparable from man’s earthly existence. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 3)
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Salvation means liberation from evil, and for this reason it is closely bound up with the problem of suffering. God gave his Son “to the world” to free man from evil. This liberation must be achieved by the only-begotten Son through his own suffering....
Thus, we find ourselves facing a new dimension, different from the one which envisions suffering only within the limits of justice. This is the dimension of Redemption....
The mission of the only-begotten Son is to conquer sin and death. He conquers sin by his obedience unto death, and he overcomes death by his Resurrection.
By his mission Christ strikes at evil at its very roots; not only evil and definitive suffering (so that man “should not perish, but have eternal life”), but also–at least indirectly– evil and suffering in their temporal and historical dimension. Jesus Christ conquered suffering by love. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 14-15)
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Christ gives the answer to the question about suffering and the meaning of suffering.... The words: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup pass from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will” (Mt 26:39), and later: “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Mt 26:42), have a manifold eloquence. They prove the truth of that love which the only-begotten Son gives to the Father in his obedience. At the same time, they attest the truth of suffering.
The words of that prayer of Christ in Gethsemani prove the truth of love through the truth of suffering. Christ’s words confirm in all simplicity this human truth of suffering, to its very depths: suffering is the undergoing of evil before which man shudders....
After the words in Gethsemani come the words uttered on Golgotha, words which bear witness to this depth–unique in the history of the world–of the evil of the suffering experienced. When Christ says: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”, his words are an expression of abandonment.... These words are born because the Father “laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Is 53:6). They also foreshadow the words of St Paul: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21).... Human suffering has reached its culmination in the Passion of Christ. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 18)
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The Redemption was accomplished through the suffering of Christ. The Redeemer suffered in place of man, for man. Every man has his own share in the Redemption. Each one is also called to share in that suffering through which the Redemption was accomplished. He is called to share in that suffering through which all human suffering has also been redeemed. In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus, each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 19)
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The witnesses of Christ’s Passion are at the same time the witnesses of his Resurrection.... To share in the sufferings of Christ is to suffer for the Kingdom of God. In the eyes of the just God, before his judgment, those who share in the suffering of Christ become worthy of this Kingdom. Through their suffering, in a certain sense they repay the infinite price of the Passion and death of Christ, which became the price of our Redemption....
Those who share in the sufferings of Christ are also called, through their own sufferings, to share in glory. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 21-22)
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Suffering contains a special call to the virtue which man must exercise on his own part. And this is the virtue of perseverance in bearing whatever disturbs and causes harm. In doing this, the individual unleashes hope, which maintains in him the conviction that suffering will not get the better of him, that it will not deprive him of his dignity as a human being, a dignity linked to awareness of the meaning of life. And indeed this meaning makes itself known together with the working of God’s love, which is the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit. The more he shares in this love, man rediscovers himself more and more fully in suffering; he rediscovers the “soul” which he thought he had “lost” because of suffering. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 23)
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In the Letter to the Colossians we read the words which constitute as it were the final stage of the spiritual journey in relation to suffering: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24).... Those words bear witness to the exceptional union of Christ and man in the community of the Church. For, whoever suffers in union with Christ–just as the Apostle Paul bears his “tribulations” in union with Christ–not only receives from Christ strength but also “completes” by his suffering “what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”....
Does this mean that the Redemption achieved by Christ is not complete? No. It only means that the Redemption, accomplished through satisfactory love, remains always open to all love expressed in human suffering.... Christ achieved the Redemption completely and to the very limit; but at the same time he did not bring it to a close.... Christ opened himself from the beginning to every human suffering and constantly does so. Yes, it seems to be part of the very essence of Christ’s redemptive suffering that this suffering require to be unceasingly completed. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 24)
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It is especially consoling to note that at the side of Christ, in the first and most exalted place, there is always his Mother through the exemplary testimony that she bears by her whole life to the “Gospel of suffering.” In her, the many and intense sufferings were amassed in such an interconnected way that they were not only a proof of her unshakable faith but also a contribution to the redemption of all. From the time of her secret conversation with the angel, she began to see in her mission as a mother her “destiny” to share, in a singular and unrepeatable way, in the very mission of her Son. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 25)
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The first chapter of the Gospel of suffering, which speaks of persecutions and tribulations, contains a special call to courage and fortitude. Christ overcame the world through his Resurrection.... And through his Resurrection, he manifests the victorious power of suffering, and he wishes to imbue with the conviction of this power the hearts of those whom he chose as Apostles and those whom he continually chooses and sends forth. St Paul says: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12)....
The second chapter of the Gospel of suffering is written by all those who suffer together with Christ, uniting their human sufferings to his salvific suffering.... Down through the centuries and generations it has been seen that in suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace.... By suffering the person discovers a new dimension of his entire life and vocation.... When his body is gravely ill, totally incapacitated, and the person is almost incapable of living and acting, all the more do interior maturity and spiritual greatness become evident, constituting a touching lesson to those who are healthy and normal.
This interior maturity and spiritual greatness in suffering are certainly the result of a particular conversion and cooperation with the grace of the Crucified Redeemer.... Suffering is, in itself, an experience of evil. But Christ has made suffering the firmest basis of the definitive good, the good of eternal salvation.... By the power of Christ’s Cross, suffering becomes no longer the weakness of man but the power of God.
This interior process of conversion often begins and is set in motion with grat difficulty. Almost always the individual enters suffering with a typically human protest and with the question “why?” The person asks the meaning of his suffering and seeks an answer to this question on the human level.... Man hears Christ’s saving answer as he himself gradually becomes a sharer in the sufferings of Christ....
Christ does not explain in the abstract the reasons for suffering, but before all else says: “Follow me!” Come! Take part through your suffering in this work of saving the world. Gradually, as the individual takes up his cross, spiritually uniting himself to the Cross of Christ, the salvific meaning of suffering is revealed before him.... It is then that man finds in his suffering interior peace and even spiritual joy. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 25-26)
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St Paul speaks of joy in the Letter to the Colossians: “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake” (Col 1:24). A source of joy is found in the overcoming of the sense of the uselessness of suffering, a feeling that is sometimes very strongly rooted in human suffering. This feeling not only consumes the person interiorly, but makes him a burden to others. The person feels condemned to receive help and assistance from others, and at the same time seems useless to himself. The discovery of the salvific meaning of suffering in union with Christ transforms this depressing feeling. Faith in sharing in the suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty that the suffering person “completes what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”; the certainty that in the spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption he is serving, like Christ, the salvation of his brothers and sisters. Therefore he is carrying out an irreplaceable service. Suffering, more than anything else, clears the way for the grace that transforms human souls. The more a person is threatened by sin, the greater is the import of human suffering. And the more the Church needs to have recourse to human suffering for the salvation of the world. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 27)
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The parable of the Good Samaritan belongs to the Gospel of suffering. For it indicates what the relationship of each of us must be toward our suffering neighbor. We are not allowed to “pass by on the other side” indifferently; we must “stop” beside him. Everyone who stops beside the suffering of another person, whatever form it may take, is a Good Samaritan. This stopping does not mean curiosity but availability. It is like the opening of the internal dispositions of the heart. The name “Good Samaritan” fits every individual who is sensitive to the sufferings of others, who “is moved” by the misfortune of another....
Nevertheless, the Good Samaritan of Christ’s parable does not stop at sympathy and compassion alone. They become for him an incentive to actions aimed at bringing help to the injured man. In other words, then, a Good Samaritan is one who brings help in suffering, whatever its nature may be. Help which is, as far as possible, effective. He puts his whole heart into it; he does not spare material means. We can say that he gives himself, his very “I,” opening this “I” to the other person. Here we touch upon one of the key points of all Christian anthropology. Man cannot “fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.”19 A Good Samaritan is the person capable of exactly such a gift of self. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 28)
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This is the meaning of suffering, which is truly supernatural and at the same time human. It is supernatural because it is rooted in the divine mystery of the Redemption of the world, and it is likewise deeply human, because in it the person discovers himself, his own humanity, his own dignity, his own mission.
Suffering is part of the mystery of man.... It fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme vocation clear;... thus, it is indispensable. Its effects on man’s improvement are particularly dramatic. When it is completely accomplished and becomes the light of human life, it is blessed. “Through Christ and in Christ, the riddles of sorrow and death grow meaningful”20....
Together with Mary, Mother of Christ, who stood beneath the Cross, we pause beside all the crosses of contemporary man.... And we ask all you who suffer to support us. We ask precisely you who are weak to become a source of strength for the Church and mankind. (John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 31)
How to Tell If You Are Really Patient
You are not really patient if you are willing to suffer only as much as you choose, until you choose, and only at the hands of those you choose. If you are really patient, you will take it all as coming from the hand of God, counting it as blessings.
The following paragraphs from The Imitation of Christ will give you new insights on the reasons to be patient in the struggle.
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THE BELOVED: What is that you are saying, my son? Think how much I have suffered, I and my saints, and stop complaining. “Your protest, your battle against sin, has not yet called for bloodshed” (Heb 12:4). What you have to put up with is little enough, compared with those who have borne so much, been so strongly tempted, so grievously tried, sifted, and tested in so many ways.
Call to mind the much heavier sufferings of others; that will make you bear your own little miseries with a lighter heart. Perhaps to you they don’t look so very little. If so, see if your unwillingness to suffer is magnifying them for you. In any case, whether your troubles are little or great, try to bear them all with patience.
The better disposed you are to accept suffering, the more wisely you are acting, and the greater is the merit you are earning. You will find things easier to bear if you prepare yourself for suffering by getting your mind used to the idea.
Don’t say, “I can’t let So‑and‑so treat me like that; I really can’t put up with that kind of thing. He has got me into serious trouble, charging me with doing things that had never even entered my head. If it were anybody else, I wouldn’t mind; I’d just let it pass as one of those things you have to put up with.” That’s a silly way of thinking. You forget that patience is a virtue, and that I will reward you for practicing it. All you can think of is the person concerned and the wrong he has done you.
A man is not really patient when he is willing to suffer patiently only as much as he thinks fit and only at the hands of those he chooses. If he is really patient, he won’t mind who makes him suffer; his superior, his equal or someone below him, a good, holy man or a peevish, unpleasant one–it’s all the same to him. Whenever things go against him, no matter how often or how gravely, no matter who or what is at the back of it, he takes it all thankfully from the hand of God, counting it as a substantial gain. In the eyes of God no trouble endured for his sake, be it ever so trivial, can be allowed to go by without earning merit.
If you want to gain the victory, then, be ready for battle. You can’t win the crown of patience without having a fight. If you refuse to suffer, you are refusing that crown. But if you desire to be crowned, fight like a man and hold out in patience. There’s no rest without toil, no victory without a battle.
THE LEARNER: Lord, let what seems impossible for me to do by nature become possible by your grace. You know how little I can stand, how soon I lose heart at the least little bit of trouble. Let every trial and affliction become something to be loved and desired; I desire to suffer for your name’s sake. Suffering and affliction for your sake is the best medicine for my soul. (T. a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, 3, ch. 19)
Footnotes:
1 Epistolarium, 139, 1.
2 Life, ch. 22.
3 Way of Perfection, ch. 12.
4 Sol. an. ad D. c. I.
5 Abelly, 1.3, c. 43.
6 In Phil. hom. 4.
7 In Eph. hom. 8.
8 In Evang. hom. 35.
9 Life, addit.
10 Life, ch. 30.
11 Boll. 31 Maii. Vit. c. 7.
12 Foundations ch. 31.
13 Bacci, l. 2, ch. 20.
14 Spirit, ch. 19.
15 Life, Ch. 10.
16 Ascent, book 2, ch. 7.
17 Spirit, ch. 4.
18 The Way of Perfection, ch. 37.
19 Gaudium et Spes, 24.
20 Gaudium et Spes, 22.