Meditation for October 21, All Things But Means

A certain young sick priest was not able to say Mass; he did not feel, however, that he deserved the pity heaped on him. To a young girl who could not follow her vocation on account of illness, he wrote, mindful of his own affliction, as well as hers, "You see everything is only a means."

Ah, if I were able to understand that well, in what a spirit of faith, and in what peace would I live!

In Faith: Everything has but one goal, the glory of God. Health or sickness, success or failure, happiness or persecution, death or life, these are all means. If they are able to serve - and they are always able to serve, in procuring the glory of God - I ought not attach more value to one than to the other. If God wishes me to be ill, powerless, reduced to insignificance, to incapacity, could there be any more effective means then, than sickness, power­lessness, nothingness, for procuring the glory of God? They are the most excellent, they are freer from selfish whim and self-­satisfaction.

In Peace: Instead of always seeking for one thing more than another, for what delights rather than what wounds; instead of pitying myself and losing my spiritual poise when suffering strikes me, I should abandon myself peacefully into the hands of the Lord; provided that He be content, that His glory be procured, why should I care? Should He deign to send me what is most crucify­ing, far from losing heart, I will regard it as a particular mark of His goodness for me.

I will keep a clear view of the goal, of the end. Everything is but a means.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)