Father de Foucauld wrote one day, "There is a fact related in Holy Scripture which we ought to remember, namely, that Jerusalem was constructed in angustia temporum (in strenuous times), in the midst of the era's misfortunes. We must work throughout our whole life in straitness of times. Trials are ever present; we cannot wait for the storm to pass in order to work in the calm. No, it is a normal condition that we encounter difficulties in accomplishing the good things that we wish to do amidst the evils of our days; we must count on it."
We cherish with everyone else the old dream that one fine day the Church will cease to be the Church militant and become the Church triumphant, even on earth. That would be so good! What zeal we would have for work!
To struggle always in the dark, to feel oneself surrounded by apprehensions, hostilities, persecutions, to continue forever the era of the catacombs when Christians went into the arena, to encounter on every side obstacles and suspicions, no possibility of rising higher; to see the most beautiful works compromised; to fear that dread misunderstanding might grow out of one's very best intentions--all of which causes stagnation or at least an apparent setback for the Church of God - isn't that enough to break one's spirit? It means perpetually starting over to accomplish a work which never stands complete; the cathedral of Christianity is hurled to the ground as soon as the walls rise a few yards above the foundations or attempt a more audacious advance towards the blue sky.
What is God doing, then?
What He must do; He gives us multiple occasions of patience; inviting us to self-examination (what is my stone of sanctity worth to the building?), incites us to generosity; confounds His enemies finally, because it is the specialty of God to create success with perpetual transformation. If God won at every turn, the Church would advance too fast and we would fall asleep.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
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