Thoughts on the Patient Endurance of Sorrows and Sufferings
ROCKS IN THE SEA
Blessed is the man whom God correcteth: refuse not therefore the chastising of the Lord. For He woundeth and cureth: He striketh and His hands shall heal.
-Job v. 17, 18.
Have you ever noticed rocks in the sea, beaten by the tempest? A furious wave dashes against the rock, another and yet another does likewise, yet the rock is unmoved. But look at it after the storm has subsided, and you will see that the flood has but served to wash and purify it of the defilement it had contracted during the calm.
Hereafter I wish you to be as a rock. A wave dashes against you? Silence! It assails you ten, a hundred, a thousand times? Silence! Say, at most, in the midst of the storm, "My Father, my Father, I am all Thine! O sweet will of God, I adore thee!"
God usually deprives His servants, for a time, of all consolation, that they may learn to serve Him through pure love, and become truly faithful servants. He deprives them of spiritual delights, even on the most solemn occasions, to test their faith and fidelity. "Sursum corda," then; let us lift up our hearts and generously serve our great God and Our Lord Jesus in faith and pure love.
The best way to acquire that peace which is born of the love of God, the inexhaustible Source of all irtues, is to accept all tribulations, whether spiritual or temporal, as coming directly from the paternal hand of God; to look upon all unpleasant events as very costly gifts presented to us by our heavenly Father; to repeat often the sacred words of our Saviour: "Yea, Father, for so hath it seemed good in Thy sight" (Matt. xi. 26).
-St. Paul of the Cross: Passion Flowers.
PRAYER____________________
Lord, merge my will in Yours. May it accept with love the bitter and sweet of life. Possess my intellect, that I may think of You, aspire to You, be guided by You on my journey through life.
No matter how long the years may be, let no murmur escape my lips, no unkind thought take shelter in my heart, no self-seeking lurk within my soul. With a smile upon my lips and a song of joy within my heart, may I walk courageously with You, my hidden Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
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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