Just for Today, October 27

Give me patience, O Lord, at this time also. Help me, O my God, and I will not fear, how much soever I may be oppressed. And now, in the midst of these things, what shall I say? Lord, Thy will be done; I have well deserved to be afflicted and troubled. I must needs bear it, and would to God it may be with patience, till the storm pass over, and it be better.

But Thy almighty hand is able to take away from me this temptation also, and to moderate its violence, as Thou hast often done heretofore for me, lest I quite sink under it, O my God, my mercy!
-Bk. III, ch. xxix.
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Our Lord never asks any sacrifice from us that is beyond our strength, though sometimes He allows us to taste all the bitterness of the chalice He holds to our lips. When He asks for all that we hold most dear on earth, it is impossible - short of a special grace - not to cry out as He did in Gethsemane: Father...let this chalice pass from me, but let us add: Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt (Matt. xxvi, 3). It is a great consola­tion to think that Jesus, the God of strength, has known our weakness and trembled at the prospect of His bitter chalice, which before He had so ardently desired.

You are indeed blessed, for Our Lord has called you, and has Himself drunk first of the chalice He now offers you. A saint once said: The greatest honour God can show a soul is to ask much from her, rather than to give her much. Our Lord is giving you the privilege of beginning your apostolate already, and of saving souls by your sufferings. Was it not by suffering and death that He redeemed the world? I know that you long to give your life for Him, but martyrdom of the heart is no less fruitful than that of blood, and it is already yours. I have reason to call your lot blessed and worthy of an apostle of Christ.

-Letters.
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For more information, see this post.
Adapted from Just For Today(©1943 Burns & Oates)
Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Phillips, S.T.L.,Censor deputatus
Imprimatur: Edwardus Myers, Vic. Cap.