Patience
Thoughts on the Patient Endurance of Sorrows and Sufferings
PREDESTINATION TO AN EXALTED DEGREE OF GLORY IN HEAVEN
Star differeth from star in glory.
-1 Cor. xv. 41.
God, Who loves you with a love that surpasses all understanding, may have predestined you to enjoy for all eternity an exceptionally high degree of glory in heaven. If you are weighed down by heavy crosses and painful afflictions, despite the fact that you have long tried to lead a sinless life and to love God above all things, it is very likely because the Divine Goodness has most wonderful designs on you for eternity.
As the sun, moon, and stars differ greatly in size and brilliancy, so also do the saints in heaven differ greatly in the splendor of their glory. Our divine Saviour assures us that on the day of Judgment every man shall receive his own proper reward of good or of evil, and that in His Father's house, that is, in heaven, there are many mansions. The glory and happiness that will be allotted to the elect will be of many varieties, both as to kind and as to degree. No doubt there are many saints who possess what are the lowest degrees, such as, infants who died after Baptism, before they attained the use of reason, and pagans and lifelong sinners who were converted just before death; but there are also very many who are crowned with a glory and an honor so immense that they will rank with the most exalted of the angelic choirs. Some may even be still higher. This we know is the case with the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose glory far exceeds that of all the angels and saints...
[Continued tomorrow]
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Compiled and Edited by Rev. F. X. Lasance
Author of "My Prayerbook," etc.
1937, Benziger Brothers
Printers to the Holy Apostolic See
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