Suffering

We all have crosses to bear - it is the lot of mankind after the fall of Adam. The key is knowing how to bear these trials so that they become meritorious and help us rise toward sanctity. When the cross presses heavily it is helpful to remember that suffering is a gift of God. In this the saints, all of whom bore great trials, can be our guides:

St. Therese of Lisieux: "The greatest honour God can do a soul is not to give it much, but to ask much of it. Suffering is the very best gift He has to give us. He gives it only to His chosen friends. One must suffer to gain eternal life."

St. Teresa of Avila: "We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials."

St. Bernard: "Present sorrow and suffering is the way to glory, the way to the kingdom."

St. Vincent de Paul: "We can only go to heaven through suffering, but it is not all that suffer who find salvation. It is only those who suffer readily for the love of Jesus Christ, who first suffered for us."

There is a reason that God sends us suffering and it is for our own good. Suffering detaches us from the world, humbles us and makes us realize our dependence on God, and lights the flame of charity in our hearts:

Blessed Theophane Venard: "A great servant of God once said that 'if some gall were not mingled in our earthly cup, we should be content with our exile, and think less of our true country'"

St. Ignatius Loyola: "If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a Saint. And if you wish to become a great Saint, intreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own sacrifice of boundless charity."

But the saints well knew the need to preserve hope in the midst of sufferings, and they speak to encourage themselves and us on the Royal Road of the Cross:

St. Therese of Lisieux: "Life passes. Eternity comes to meet us with great strides. Soon we shall be living with the very life of Jesus. Having drunk deep at the source of all bitterness, we shall be deified in the very source of all joys, of all delights...Life is only a dream: soon we shall awaken. And what joy! The greater our sufferings, the more limitless our glory. Oh! do not let us waste the trial Jesus sends."

St. Isadore of Seville: "The suffering of adversity does not degrade you but exalts you. Human tribulation teaches you; it does not destroy you. The more we are afflicted in this world, the greater our assurance for the next. The more we sorrow in the present, the greater will be our joy in the future."

St. Vincent de Paul: "Our joy depends upon the cross, and our Lord would not enter into His glory save by the way of bitterness. He leads you by the same path of the saints."

Blessed Theophane Venard: "Only a little more confidence in God. A little more patience. And the end will come, and past weary years will seem as nothing. Then will arrive the moment of reunion, and all will be amply compensated and repaid, principle and interest."

So let us follow the wise advice of the Psalmist: "Cast thy cares upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee," knowing that "God is not a deceiver, that He should offer to support us, and then, when we lean on Him, should slip away from us." (St. Augustine).