The School of Love, March 21

TROUBLE

[continued from yesterday]

,,,For some it may even be said that the endurance of trouble, the groping through black darkness, the endurance of irritation, the feeling about anxiously in the midst of con­fusion, and doubt, and temptation, the depres­sion that comes of the inner sense of failure in things whether spiritual or temporal - the endurance of trouble in these or other shapes - is a characteristic feature of sanctity.

We can go even further. Twice at least is it expressly told us of Our Lady that she was troubled, and on other occasions it is more than implied; indeed one may say that her whole life seems scarcely intelligible unless one assumes a certain jarring element of trouble running through it all.

Of her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, it is still more emphati­cally true.

Five times at least we find Him described to us as distinctly troubled; not merely feeling things - for that kind of trouble was seldom absent from Him - and not merely enduring annoyance which, as He said, was His accepted lot - but emphatically, as we should say, disturbed in mind because of some­thing that had happened.

In trouble, then, as in everything else, these two have "given us an example," have come right down to our level. Can we from their troubles discover anything for ourselves?

Can we draw any conclusion that will guide us in the troubles: that come upon us; especially as to those which we might learn to keep under, and those which, even though they crush us, are still consistent with sanctity?

...[continued tomorrow]
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From The School of Love and Other Essays
by The Most Reverend Alban Goodier, S.J.
Burns, Oates, & Washburn, Ltd. 1918