Patience
Thoughts on the Patient Endurance of Sorrows and Sufferings
FAITH
There is no gift of God equal in value to the gift of Faith, that "kindly light" which shines "amid the encircling gloom," and "leads us home."
The just man lives by faith, and for our faith we wish to live and die.
It is a gift of God freely given, and one to be carefully guarded. We must hearken to its voice and follow its beckoning hand, lest our ears be filled with sounds of earth and our eyes no longer see aright. It speaks to us of God's love, reveals His care for us, discloses His kind provision for our needs. And when we think of the many that possess it not, we are moved the more to gratitude for this passport to our true home, by which "our conversation is already in heaven" and we are enabled "to draw waters with joy from our Saviour's fountains."
God ioves the faith of His children as He loves their prayer, for it makes them look to Him and trust Him. As a mother loves to gaze on the expectant eyes of her child, so does God bid us raise our eyes to Him in faith for all we need. Faith thus exercised is always a joy, a relief and source of comfort; above all to those in pain or desolation, who allow the gentle hand of faith to turn their gaze to the Father above, from whom every best and perfect gift descends.
"Be of good heart," says our Lord to you, "thy faith shall make thee whole." And while with every breath you thank the Sacred Heart for this gift of gifts, lean upon it for support, gather from it material for hope and encouragement, and let its lessons fill you with "that peace which the world cannot give, which surpasseth all understanding."
Remember this golden rule: in reviewing the past, think much more of what God has done for you than of what you have done for God. Bury the past whole and entire at the feet of the crucifix, and on its stone write the word "Reparation." "Expect the Lord, do manfully, and let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord."
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
-Shakespeare: As You Like It.
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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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