Meditation for May 2, True Blessedness

As soon as the sky darkens, some souls, even religious, lose their balance, lose confidence, forget Providence, and wonder what God means by allowing His enemies to persecute His disciples, and among them, the most faithful.

First of all, would we forget, by chance, the words of Christ, If in the green wood (that is to Himself) they do these things, what shall be done in the dry? (that is to us) (Luke xxiii, 28-31). The disciple is not greater than the Master. Jesus whom we serve was crucified by His own race.

Then would we forget too, that Christ made a beatitude of the revilements of persecution? That is what Father Charles Foucauld recalled to his sister who told him of the expulsion of the religious Congregations from France in 1901:

"No, my dear, I am not grieved by the persecution of religious, but I ask God, for them and myself, the courage and the virtue to suffer these things with the profit that Christ intends us to derive from them, because He the All Powerful, who loves us so much, permits them for the good of our souls. Blessed are those who are persecuted for justice sake....How can we be sad when Jesus calls us blessed?

What a difference between our attitude and that of the saints! They have, however, the correct point of view. What an abyss between my anxiety and worry and the calm serenity of Charles Foucauld ever mindful of the promise made by Our Lord to those who suffer for His name's sake! Am I right or is he?

I must believe the words of our Savior and learn to appreciate my own good fortune. How can I be sad when Jesus calls me blessed?
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)