There is Profit in Suffering
by Fr. Chacko Bernard, C.R.

Introduction

SUFFERING is the disagreeable feeling that we experience when something does not correspond to our inclinations, or needs or our hopes.  All men are subject to this misery.  Hence all of us should be ready to face trials.  The Christian alone possesses the secret of accepting suffering without destroying the happiness he can enjoy on earth.

There are many sorrows in this world, but there is only one tragedy viz. That of losing our soul.  Gnawing pain of the body, nagging worry of the mind; desolate loneliness of the soul . . . ,   all these cause us suffering, but they help us toward attaining our goal.       

I.   A Necessary, Beneficent Medicine

Suffering in itself is an evil and cannot be agreeable.  We can welcome suffering not for itself, but for its effectiveness as a cure of our spiritual maladies.  God willed to exempt our first parents from suffering by their preternatural gifts.  Originally, God gave only happiness to the human race.  Through sin those gifts were lost forever.  Man himself, chose the concupiscenses and suffering when he rejected God’s plans.  Sin, and not God is the author of sorrows.  Later, trying to undo his mistake in some degree, men realized that suffering is the necessary medicine provided by as merciful God.

Suffering than, is a tool, an instrument, a means, and its beneficent power depends upon our own use of it.  We ourselves determine whether a given suffering will serve as a blessing or as a curse.  Any suffering can be used with profit if we wish so.  The fact that God permits suffering is evidence of its potentialities for good, and the actual performance rests with us.  The classic proof of this point is the story of the two thieves crucified on either side of our Lord Jesus Christ.  One blasphemed and railed against God, and his torment was a gruesome execution.  The other accepted his pain as a just punishment, and asked God’s forgiveness; so he was promised Paradise.  God, being goodness itself, can produce nothing that is not good.  I must believe that God would never have permitted any evil unless He had bot the will and the power to turn it to good.

Throughout our life all of us must encounter some pain, mental and physical.  We cannot hope to avoid it.  From a purely human point of view, some sufferings seem inopportune and useless; they are never so when regarded supernaturally.  “To them that love God, all things work together unto good”. (Rom 8:28)   Even the greatest calamity, private or public, can become a precious and most effective means of elevating the soul.  Every kind of suffering can be made conformable to the highest ideal of the Christian: eternal salvation, the glory of God, the good of soul.

II.   Grace, The Divining Rod

Whatever happens, the spirit of faith tells us, is willed or permitted by God.  “Everything is a grace” says the Little Flower.  Everything is the result of God’s infinite love.  If He permits sorrow, it is to draw out of it some greater good.  Virtue and goodness are strengthened in time of difficulty.  Suffering is a divining rod.  It indicates to our confused minds which things are important to the soul’s health.  If we are disturbed and upset by trials, it means that we lack faith.  Even when everything seems to fail us, we can be certain that God will never abandon us if we do not fist abandon Him.  Instead of becoming bitter and falling into despair, the time of trial is the moment to intensify our faith.  Once we are sure of Crist’s love for us and He is sure of our love or Him,
He will ask us to share His sufferings.

Those who dream only of earthly glory find it very difficult to understand the significance of suffering.  Saint Paul said that Christ crucified was “Unto the Jews, indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness” (1 Cor 1:23) Rebuking St. Peter, Who at the first mention of the Passon exclaimed against, Jesus said, “Go behind me Satan!  You think as men think and not as God thinks” (Mt 16:23).  The human eye has not sufficient light to comprehend the value of the cross.  We are somewhat blind when faced with the mystery of suffering.  We need a new light, the light of the Holy Spirit.  The world is often astonished at the sufferings of the good.  Our innate tendencies toward pleasure will try, by a thousand pretexts, to prevent us from following Jesus crucified.  Let us ask to be enlightened as to the value of suffering.                                       

III. The Advantages of Suffering

Suffering by itself cannot bring joy.  But it brings with it great advantages.  We can be happy on that count.  Thus, trials produce patience.  If our perseverance is supporting the afflictions and the malice of men is perfect, it will render us holy and perfect.  In a word, misfortunes result in making us better and holy men St. Cyprian writes, “Without struggle there Is no victory,  The ability of a ship’s pilot is manifested during a storm, and of a General, on the battlefield”.

B) God thinks of me

“Let us not believe”, says St. John Chrysostom, “that trials are a sign that God has either forgotten or despised us: on the contrary, let us regard them rather as an indication that God occupies Himself with us, seeking to purify us from our sins.  With assurance, let us not give way to sadness in the midst o our trials, but rejoice with St. Pul, “I rejoice in my trials”.  The highest degree of fortitude is displayed by the soul who gives thanks for the trial”.

Blessed Henry Suso used to have one suffering after another.  Only once, he had a period of respite.  Then he told the spiritual daughters that God had forgotten him, as no one attacked him personally for four weeks.  Then, he was told of a plot against his life.  Immediately he said that God had thought
of him.

C)  Efficient Teacher:

Suffering destroys the arch-enemies of man sin and concupiscence.  It defends us against the seductions of the world.  It inspires us to fix our desires on heaven.  Suffering is the most efficient teacher.  It enables us to despoil us of our egoism; it offers us the occasions for the practice of the loftiest virtues.

D) Good effected: sundry examples:

When we are in the midst of trials, we often become frightened and bewildered.  Rarely indeed can we understand how some benefit can come to us through suffering.  Those who have strong faith understand this and find peace.  Those who have less confidence must wait for months or years to recognize in the past sufferings, the greatest blessing of their life.  A popular girl, for instance, had everything she wanted – beauty, talent, wealth, social position, a loving family.  One day she was suddenly struck by infantile paralysis.  For years she suffered and finally recovered after a long treatment.  Then to the astonishment of all, she entered a Carmelite convent.  Her years of suffering were a wonderful gift from God.  The same was the case of St. Ignatius of Loyola.  Another instance: A very wealthy family lost their fortune.  The eldest boy who wanted to become a doctor, became a Jesuit.  Another, who had failed thrice in the public examination, became a Carmelite and a first-class preacher.  A third who was employed, gave up his job and became a Jesuit.  See what ‘misfortune’ can do!

E)   Strikes to elevate

St. Bernard says that when God humbles, it is always a sign that He wishes to elevate.  Even of our Lord, says St. Paul, “He humbled himself . . . Therefore, God raised Him to the heights” (Phil. 2:8-9).  Suffering evidently is no proof that God has ceased to love the soul.  Whether deserved or not, suffering is sent by God to purify, to sanctify, to make us perfect.

The Council of Trent teaches that we can make satisfaction for our sins through Jesus Christ, by bearing with patience the temporary afflictions which God sends us.  How can suffering make reparation for sin?  Does God enjoy the bitter pleasure of vindictiveness?  What a blasphemy!  Justice demands that he who has enjoyed illegitimate pleasure, in defiance of law, should compensate for it by; equivalent pain.  Every man will revolt against a robber enjoying in peace, the fruit of his crime.  For the re-establishment of the order, it will not suffice that he merely restores what he stole. He must also be punished.  But the real reason is that suffering, accepted with resignation, purifies, detaches, refines, elevates, makes perfect.

St. John Chrysostom says, “When you see a man leading an evil life not suffering at all, do not imagine that he is happy, but rather weep and mourn that, he will have to suffer so much hereafter.  On the other hand, when you see a virtuous man afflicted, consider hm to fortunate, because he will have atoned for all his sins on earth, and loo forward to a great reward like Lazarus.”

If we lack the courage to bear our cross, it is because we have only a vague belief in the terrible punishments of the next life, or perhaps we have no real sense of sin.  St. Margaret Mary writes, “The sanctity of God’s justice was imprinted on my soul in a manner so terrible, that I was ready top accept every kind of suffering, and sacrifice myself for damned souls, rather than appear before that Holiness with a single stain on my soul”.  Through suffering the sinner is purified.

F) Purifies and merits

Without suffering we shall never rid ourselves of our attachment to perishable goods.  Aptly does St. Augustine say, “The world is bitter, and yet we love it.  If it were sweet, with what passion would we not cling to it?  When everything satisfies our desires, it is impossible to hinder an attachment to riches, pleasures and honors.  The purpose of suffering is to produce detachment.  “Never can there be attachment to God ‘writes P. Olivian’ without attachment to the cross.  If we are wanting in the love of the cross, It is because we love something else better than Jesus.

Just as the pruner trims in order that the vine may produce more fruits, so the Heavenly Father.  “Sufferings”, says St. Cyprian, “Are the wings by; which all climb to heaven.”  According to thinkers and psychologists, a soft life, life of pleasure, even of honest pleasures, is incompatible with a high moral ideal.  Man has such difficulty to give up even a life full of misery, how would he relinquish one of uninterrupted bliss?  St. Gregory writes. “It is so wise of God to allow the time of this pilgrimage to be full of trials.  The present is only a path to our eternal home”.

Purification accomplished on earth has the great advantage of being meritorious, that is, of increasing grace and charity; in us, thus permitting us to love God more for all eternity.  In purgatory one suffers without growing in charity.  At the same time, the sufferings of purgatory are much more intense than all the sufferings of this life; and yet we do not gain any additional merit.  Hence, we should desire to be purified on Earth.  Not only are these sufferings here less intense, but also we gain more merit for heaven.  None of us has an immaculate soul.  Our purgatory, however, may be achieved on earth.  Let us face the sufferings without seeking to escape, and in union with the atoning Christ, offer them as part of our purgatory.

IV.  God – Sent Suffering

God–sent suffering is more effective spiritually than any; self-devised forms of mortification.  If we sincerely desire to be guided by divine Providence in everything, we will not try to avoid suffering.  It would be absurd to refuse even one of those providential opportunities for suffering and look for voluntary mortifications of our own choice. The former truly mortifies our concupiscenses, whereas the latter, may at times, actually feed our vanity.  Mortification, after all, is the annihilation of our ego-centric desires.  Not that we should forgo all voluntary acts of self-denial: we should evidently, do our bit!  When God himself lends help by sending us sorrow, let us recognize its superior value.

We can take certain measures to deny ourselves of pleasure; but rarely are we able to see the basic cause of our desires.  Like poor gardeners, we cut off the tops of weeds, and leave the roots to renew the growth of the plant.  If we let God, He will root out all yearnings for sensile delight, so that we will wish for God alone as He is, and not for external gifts.  It is exactly the same in the moral order.  We sometimes try to avoid a person whom we do not like, but with whom the Lord has brought us into contact.  We look for every means of avoiding humiliation or an act of obedience which is painful to nature.  We are then running away from the est opportunities for mortifying our self-love.

Other mortifications will not be as effective as those God Himself has prepared for us.  In the mortifications offered to us by divine Providence, there is nothing of our own will and liking.  They strike just where we need it most and where, by voluntary mortification, we could never reach.  Active suffering, that is, mortifications and penances inspired by our own personal initiative, is not sufficient.  We need passive suffering, that is what our Lord Himself makes us suffer in body and soul.  We are so full of miseries that the direct intervention of God is necessary; to purify us.  Passive suffering is, therefore, one of the greatest works of divine mercy, a proof of His love.  When God acts in a soul in this way, it is a sign that He wants to bring it to a very high perfection.  It is impossible to become united to God without these spiritual sufferings.  St. John of the Cross says that very few souls attain the plentitude of spiritual life, because only few souls ae disposed to accept the hard task of purification.

Our cross is the trial that God in H:is wisdom has chosen for us; physical or spiritual agony, treason, calumny, lack of success, illness, weakness, difficulty; of character etc. “Woe to him”, cries St. Bernard, “who carries not his own cross, but another”.  “He is not truly patient who is only prepared to bear what he himself regards as just, says the imitation.

Many souls are discouraged at the thought of suffering, and try to avoid it, because they are not fully convinced that all is planned by God, down to the lest detail, for their real good.  It seems to us that what God asks is foolish and to no good purpose.  If God has given us a cross, it is the very one that we should have.  He has fashioned it specifically for our own shoulders.  It is marked with our names for all eternity.  The secret of suffering is to accept the God-given trials, just as He gives them.  To fight suffering is to turn from Christ toward our own will, which makes the pain doubly hard.

In the life of every religious, there is always ss a measure of suffering sufficient to effect the purification of the spirit.  These are the sufferings which God Himself chooses.  Unfortunately, few profit by; them because few know how to recognize in the crosses of life, the hand of God.  Illness, misunderstandings, failure in work, abandonment of friends etc. are sufferings in the life of every man.  All such things are positively willed, or at least, permitted by God precisely to purify us.  In the face of these trials, we should never blame the malic of men or stop to examine whether or not they are just.  We should only see the blessed hand of God who offers us these bitter remedies to bring perfect health to our soul.  It will sometimes be easier to accept heavy trials which come directly from God, such as illness and bereavement, than other lighter ones where creatures enter into play.  God guides and disposes of it all for the good of those who love H:im.  The wisest course to take is to surrender ourselves complexly to the holy will of od without setting limits either to the duration or the nature of our trails.  God knows best how to prescribe exactly the treatment to cure our ailment.  Our sufferings come from our greatest Friend who loves us more than we love ourselves. God wills our good, our happiness, our sanctification much more than we ourselves.  God wills our good more that we could ever desire them.  Exterior or interior trials, humiliations, aridity are sent to extinguish the illusory fires and self-love, pride, earthly affections, so that only the fire of cha4rity may burn within us.

Through secondary causes.

It is true that very often, sufferings and hardships come to us through secondary causes.  But that makes little difference when we realize that
everything comes from our loving Father in heaven.  Who-ever be the agent who inflicts the pain, we must see the hand of God.  This acceptance does not prevent us from feeling the weight of suffering.  Otherwise, it will cease to be suffering.  But accepting every trial from God’s hands helps us to preserve peace and serenity.

V.  How to Encounter

a)  Live in day-tight compartment

“Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof” (Mt 6:34), said Jesus teaching us to bear calmly, day by day, moment by moment, whatever sorrows God places in our path, with no thought of what we suffered yesterday, nor worry about what we shall have to endure tomorrow.

We ought to bear our daily sufferings resignedly, without complaint, knowing that divine Providence does not permit any trial that will not be a source of good for us.  We ought to be ready to accept, every moment, the trials and pains which life brings.  If with the help of grace, we succeed in sanctifying all our daily sufferings, great and small, without losing our serenity and confidence, we shall become saints.  The load of tomorrow, added to that of yesterday, carried today, makes the strongest falter.  Shut the iron doors on the past and the future.

b)  Complementing the passion of Christ.
 St. Pul describes his own sufferings as the complement of the passion of Christ.  “I fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh for His Body, which is the Church”. (Col. 1:24).  Nothing is lacking in the passion of Christ.  He himself said on the cross, “All is consummated” (Jn 19:30) it does not imply that Christ’s sufferings were insufficient.  In themselves, they have infinite value.  His satisfaction surpasses infinitely the malice of the sins of mankind.  The treasure of Christ’s merits is inexhaustible and there is nothing to be added to it.  But there remains the question of application of those merits to individuals.

St. Theresa Margaret wrote, “Remember that when you entered religion, you proposed to express in yourself the life of the crucified”.  To express the life of the crucified means, to live His passion, to associate ourselves with His sufferings, to unite ourselves with His intentions viz. the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls.

In his book The Theology of St. Paul, Fr. Prat says,  “The person of Jesus Christ possesses the plentitude to which it is impossible to add anything: but the Mystic Christ is susceptible of infinite growth, which it receives by the increase of the individual”.

Jesus wills to continue His passion in us, so that we may be associated with Him in the work of redemption.  He wills to make us His collaborators in the most sublime of His works, the salvation of souls.  Jesus, who could have accomplished His work alone, willed to need us.

c) For love of Christ.

Suffering has a supernatural value only when it is borne with Christ and or Christ.  It is Jesus who sanctifies suffering: apart from H:im it is of no use.  But if it is embraced for love of Him, it becomes a precious coin, capable of redeeming and sanctifying souls.

d) In Humble Prayer:
 The passion of Jesus teaches us, in a concrete way that, we must be able to accept suffering for the love of God.  God surrendered His Son to the awful death of the cross, and by the cross we are saved.  The average religious (or priest) does not understand the significance of the passion of Christ.  It is not enough to understand the significance of the passion of Christ.  It is not enough to understand the theological worth of the cross as a sacrifice of expiation.  The cross of Christ is the mystery of mysteries, one almost of impenetrable darkness.  Therefor the intelligence of this mystery is not to be had by mere study, but by earnest and humble prayer, and silence and self- abasement.

VI.  Only in Difficulties Great Work:  Jesus,  Mary

It is an illusion to believe in a life without difficulties.  These are usually all the greater and the more frequent, as our undertakings are more generous.  Reat work and heroic virtues grow in the midst of difficulties.  Jesus entered into His glory by suffering!  If there is anything on earth better than the cross, Jesus would have chosen it.  Our Lord was born in poverty and want.  He was hated; betrayed by a friend; tried and condemned; as a malefactor.  If Jesus, the Innocent One, bore so much, how can we sinners complain about our sufferings?

No creature in the world loved God more than the most Blessed Virgin Mary.  And none was stronger in her suffering.  See her at the foot of the cross.  She voluntarily assists at the terrible agony of her son.  She sees the nails being driven into His flesh.  She beholds His head crowned with thorns.  She sees her Son hanging on the cross.  Mary’s heart was pierced.  Nevertheless, she repeated her fiat with the same fullness of consent with which she had pronounced it at the joyous Annunciation of her maternity.  Her sacrifice surpassed that of any other mother, because her Son was her God.  Human tenderness is ingenious in averting the suffering from those one loves.  But
God seems bent on heaping sufferings on His mother.  The Father who did not spare his own Son, did not spare His mother, either.

VII.   How to Accept Suffering
A) God’s will

To learn to suffer is no means a lesson.  It is perhaps one of the greatest
lessons that Christianity can teach.  In the beginning and even for a long time we may experience a great repugnance for suffering.  Most of us never fully understand it yet, it is simple.  To surer profitable, we have to accept pain as the will of God.  If we accept suffering as we should, we shall gradually be aware of the great spiritual profit that flows from it.  We ought to suffer willingly and without complaint.

b)  Instrument of Salvation

“No man is worthy o Me who does not take up his cross and walk in my
  footsteps” (Mat 10:38)   The indispensable condition of being His disciple is to take up the cross.  Jesus calls our suffering a cross, because the word cross signifies ‘the instrument of salvation’.  And Jesus does not want our suffering and sorrows to be sterile.  In fact, all suffering is changed into a cross, as soon as we accept it from the hands of the Savior, and cling to His will.  Even the tiniest suffering has been predisposed by God from all eternity for our sanctification.  Let us accept them with calmness.

c) Suffering of Others

The secret of learning to suffer in a virtuous way consists chiefly to forgetting oneself and one’s sorrows, and in abandoning oneself to God.  The soul that is absorbed in its own sufferings will be unable to bear them.  When our sorrow is intense, let us not exaggerate it, nor attach too much importance to it.  One who is oversensitive and preoccupied with his own suffering, often becomes insensible and indifferent to the sufferings of others.  He will be useless to himself and to others.  To resist these selfish tendencies, we ought to forget ourselves and our own sufferings, and become interested in the sufferings of others, and endeavor to alleviate them.  If our sufferings are great, there are always others who suffer incomparably more.  In comparison with the Passion of Jesus, they are practically non-entities,  Those who know how to forget themselves maintain their equilibrium.

D)  Abandonment:  God in Charge

Despite all of our efforts, there will be moments of profound anguish, Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and Mary at the foot of the cross are examples of such anguish.  We ought to accept the inevitable.  Then, we must take a leap in the dark, abandoning ourselves entirely into the hands of God.

Dale Carnegia interviewed Henry Ford, a few years prior to his death.  Though managing one of the world’s greatest business, Ford looked so calm and peaceful at 78.  When asked whether he ever worried, he replied, “No! I believe God is managing affairs, and that He doesn’t need any advice from me.  With God in charge, I believe that everything will work out for the best in the end.  So, what is there to worry about?”  God never forgets us.  He knows all about our sufferings and our needs.  He sees how weak we are and is always ready to come to the aid of those who take refuge in Him.  Of course, we can look for a certain amount of consolation and help rom creatures.  But let us not deceive ourselves.  People will not always understand us, nor will they always be at our disposal.  In our sorrow and misery, it is vain to turn towards men.  Even the most sympathetic friend fails to understand our suffering.

If all our life and all its events, even the most painful ones, did not rest in God’s hands, we should have reason to fear.  But since everything is always in His hands, our fears are groundless.  A soul who is confident in God and abandons itself to him, can remain calm in the midst of great trials.   Suffering viewed in the supernatural light of faith, becomes an instrument of salvation and therefore an instrument of love.  Without the cross, no one can be a Christian.  “Go where you like, search where you will, but neither above nor below, can you find a surer way than the way of the cross” (Imitation 2,12)  “We should ever be suspicious of our sanctity, if we never meet with any serious obstacle”.

E)   Leading to Heaven

We shall never be happy if we don’t lose all fear of suffering.  “If there be a true way that leads to the everlasting Kingdom, it is most certainly that of suffering patiently endured” (ST. Colette).  “As iron is fashioned by fire and on the anvil, so in the fire of suffering and under the weight of trials, our souls receive that form which our Lord desires them to have” (St. Magdalene Sophie Barat).  “We can really go to heaven through suffering; but it is not all that suffer who find salvation.  It is only those who suffer readily for the love of Jesus, who first suffered for us” (St. Vincent de Paul).

VIII.  A Proof of our Love of God

Suffering is required not only for the good of the soul, but also that the soul may be able to glorify God and prove its love for Him.  By suffering we should expiate our faults and the faults of others and so give to God all the glory due to Him.  In addition, as the cross of Jesus was the supreme proof of His love for us, our cross too should be the finest proof of love for Him.  Love is the final explanation of Jesus’ passion and of all suffering here below.  It is love that urged the Father to surrender His Son for our salvation.  Love alone explains every work of God.  This is not surprising.  For, God is love.

IX.  A Proof of God’s Love for Us

The more God sanctifies us, the more He proves His love for us and gives us the opportunity to glorify Him.  But He sanctifies us only through the cross.  So, our sanctification is proportionate to our suffering.  Therefore, sufferings are a proof of God’s love for us, and we should love it.  We can prove our love for Jesus, only by embracing our daily cross of annoyances, labors, disappointments, opposition and even persecution.  Our love of Jesus is proportional to our love of the cross.  Worry is essentially an act of distrust in God, Our Father.

Jesus died for us to prove His personal love for us.  In embracing our daily crosses, we shall prove our personal love or Jesus.  The story of Job is enacted in some way in the life of every soul dear to God.  Job was tried in his property, his children, his own person; deserted by his friends and ridiculed by his own wife.  If God is good, why does He make even the innocent suffer?

When we undergo trial, we neither see nor understand the reason for it.  God only wants to take us to a happiness superior to the happiness of the earth.  St. Paul, writing about predestination, says, “Who are you, friend, to answer God back?  Can the pot speak to the potter, who can do what he likes with the clay.  Is he not free to make use of the same lump to make two vessels, one for noble and the other for ignoble use? (Rom. 9:20)

God does not reveal His plans to us.  Therefore, it is difficult to endure in faith, but not impossible.  For God never sends trials beyond our strength.  In spiritual life we meet with painful situations from which it is impossible to escape.  Physical ailments, moral sufferings caused by our own temperamental deficiencies or by contact with those who are opposed to us; pain of seeing our loved ones suffer, without our being able to relieve them; spiritual troubles due to aridity, interior darkness temptations and scruples.  We know all these things are planned by God for our sanctification and our good.  This knowledge does not prevent us from feeling their heaviness. If Jesus willed to die on the cross to kindle the fire of charity in us, how can we expect to attain the plentitude of love.  If we do not follow in His footsteps?  We must be conformed to Jesus crucified.  Hence, we should expect suffering throughout our lives.

X.  An Enigma, Still

Pain is an enigma only in the future and in the present.  We fear its threat; but as it recedes, we see its beneficial effects.  The Mexicans have a proverb: “Leave a trouble alone for three years, and it becomes a blessing!”  God can bring good from the very hardships.  There is no exception to this rule.

The happiest people are not those whose lives are free from pain.  Too often such people are discontented.  Trifles assume the magnitude of tragedy in their eyes; and the blessings which abound on every side, they do not appreciate and enjoy.  Conversely, a person who has suffered usually cherishes his blessings, singing to God in gratitude.  Christ’s words assure us “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.  We want our comfort here in life – time, and eternal bliss here after!

If all religions were an open book to men, then, God would hardly be a greater being than ourselves.  He would not be a God at all, but species of super-man.  God surrounds Himself with mysteries-religious and otherwise.  How mysterious are even scientific phenomena!  How little do we know about electricity, Gravitation, Magnetism, sleep, nutrition, etc.  We cannot understand the marvels of Nature.  Who can understand how the soil produces peas, carrots, and tomatoes because ridiculously tiny seeds of different kinds are dropped into it?  We cannot understand the Real Presence.  How much less can we perceive the ways of God?  The best we can do is to accept His word.

We imagine that a life of piety; should be insurance against misfortunes.  The reality is just the opposite.  “Understand well”, says St. Leo “that the more persistently we labor at our salvation, the more we will be subject to the attacks of the enemy”.  No servant can be greater than his master.  They have cried “Beelzebub” at the master of the house.  Why God wished to approach us through suffering is a question that none can answer satisfactorily.  But it is always so He himself has preceded us in dying on the cross.  When tortured with physical pain and afflicted with mental anguish, we believe ourselves abandoned by God.  It is a frequent temptation with those who suffer.  Jesus loved His apostles and yet He told them that they would have to suffer much.  What God asks of his chosen souls is the entire surrender of themselves, without any anxiety.  The gift which Christ offers to those who love is the cross.

XI.  How Long?  Time versus Eternity

St. Ephraem writes, “The potter submits his work to the action of the fire till the clay is hardened.  But he is careful not to allow it too little heat, for then the clay will not be sufficiently hard, nor too much heat, for then the clay will be burned and destroyed.  In the same way, God acts.  He submits us to the fire of tribulation to the degree necessary to render us more holy; but He will not allow us to be destroyed in the fire”.  Nothing escapes the action of God’s providence, not even the smallest detail, however insignificant it may seem.
The Little Flower wrote to Sr. Celine when their father was struck by the terrible disease: “Jesus presents us with the cross, a heavy cross indeed.  What a privilege for us!  How He must love us to send us such a great sorrow.  Aren’t we worthy of being envied?  The coming of Jesus on earth was soon followed by the shedding of blood.  Innocent children done to death, and their mothers plunged in sorrow”.  St. Augustine writes about it: “The impious tyrant could never have bestowed a greater gift on these blessed children through his love, than he did by his hatred.  “And Bossuet exclaims: “Blessed children, whose life was sacrificed to preserve that of the Saviour.”  If we bewail our afflictions, it is because we lack understanding of their meaning and purpose.

St. Ludwine ill or 28 years, saw in a vision the crown which had been prepared for her in heaven.  It was very beautiful, but not complete.  She begged our Lord to complete it.  Then, rough soldiers entered, who struck her and abused her.  A while later, an angel appeared to her and told her that the treatment of the soldiers completed her crown in heaven.

Infinity cannot be compared to limited time.  To merit eternal happiness, we ought to be ready to endure any suffering.  Now the whole life of man lasts but a few years.  If a man were to pass all his life in sorrow, there is no proportion between his suffering and the happiness without end.  For the sake of wealth and fame, which are short-lived and uncertain, what risks do not men undertake?  Temporal life when compared to eternal life, is death rather than life.

XII.  Apostolic Value

If a wheat seed does not fall to the ground there to die, it is powerless to produce; but if it does, it produces much fruit.  Mary worked no miracles in her life.  She neither preached nor taught.  During Christ’s public life she was completely in shadow.  Her entire life was lived in obscurity. Yet, she contributed more than any other creature for the salvation of the world.  The Church proclaims her as ‘The Queen of the Apostles.’  Her collaboration was enriched chiefly by prayer and sacrifice.  She is the,  ‘Queen of the Apostles’, because she is the ‘Queen of martyrs’.  We find her on Calvary, at the foot of the cross.  Christ wished to associate her intimately with His Passion.  It was through Mary’s fiat repeated on Calvary, that she collaborated in the act of redemption.  “The soul who prays and suffers”, says Pere Gratry, “Is often more powerful with God than the preacher of the Gospel”.  “There are three ways of carrying on the apostolate: activity, prayer and suffering.  The apostolate of suffering is the most important.

XIII.  A Beatitude: the Highest Prayer

It is extremely important to believe in the beatitudes.  “Blessed are you who weep now: you shall laugh for joy.  Blessed are you when men hate you and cast you off and revile you, when they reject your name as something evil, for the Son of Man’s sake” (Lk. 6:21-22)  There is no question of sensible joy in suffering.  Jesus teaches us only that the lot of those who pass through trials, is worthy of envy, because trials are for them a source of great blessings.  Suffering is the seed of happiness. The magnificent reward to which trials give us a right, should console and encourage us.  The Chronicales of the larger part of the Religious Orders tell us of the joy of the early years amidst penury and pain.   

The Little Flower wrote to Celine, “Jesus presents you with a really heavy cross . . .  There remains only suffering.  Oh, what destiny worthy of envy!”.

Together with Fr. Leo, St. Francis was returning to Portincula.  It was very dark and cold.  Francis said that PERFECT JOY does not consist in being the model of sanctity.  After walking some more distance in silence, Francis said that perfect joy does not consist in working miracles, even raising the dead to life.  Ater some time again, he said perfect joy does not consist in knowledge of all the sciences and the Scripture.  Finally, Francis said that perfect joy does not consist in converting all unbelieves by eloquent preaching.  Then Br. Leo asked Frqncis, where they can find happiness?  Francis gave the following reply. On reaching Portiuncula, exhausted and hungry, suppose the Brother Porter treats them as vagabonds, seizes them by the cowl, rolls them in the snow and give them blows.  If they are patient enough to bear all these insults, acknowledging that the Brother knows them for what they are, and believes that it is God who inspired him to do so; and that it is good for them to suffer for love of Jesus who suffered so much for them – then, they would have perfect happiness.

According to Pius XI, suffering is the highest form of prayer.  The Little Flower says, “More souls are saved by suffering than by preaching”.  Suffering is the coin with which we purchase heaven.