❀ ❀ ❀
Many grown-up persons, when they are in affliction, act like the child about whom I read the following anecdote. He wanted to pluck a beautiful flower he saw on a rose-tree; but he set about it so awkwardly that he tore his hand with the thorns. Then he burst into tears and loudly abused the rose-tree. His mother deftly took hold of the thorny stem in such a way that her fingers were not pricked, cut off three of the finest roses and held them out to the boy, saying as she did so: “Are you still angry with the rose-tree?” “No, mother, not now,” he replied with a joyous smile.
Thus do we, poor, short-sighted mortals, allow ourselves to grow angry with the thorns, that is to say with the sorrows of life which pierce our hands when we wish to gather the roses of joy. We fail to understand how we ought to deal with these thorns; I mean, how we ought to bear sufferings and contradictions with patience, with resignation to the will of God, with a steadfast hope of heaven. It is both necessary and important that we should do this, and you, O Christian maiden, must not only learn the lesson, but also carry it into practice.
Therefore in all sufferings, be they great or small, remember how blessed are the fruits of patience. Never murmur nor complain, do not give way to discontent nor anger, do not say: It is not right that this should have happened to me, etc.
Of chance or fate to speak is vain;
God’s wisdom doth man’s lot ordain.
Afflictions, more than anything else, come straight from the hand of God; therefore, beware of finding fault with His providence. What would you say if your little sister, who as yet knows nothing about needlework, were to find fault with some elaborate piece of embroidery on which you happen to be employed? Should you not answer: “Hold your tongue, you silly child. What do you understand about embroidery?” We are like foolish children if we venture to judge the dealings of God. We cannot know or understand what is for our happiness or good. You perhaps think: “How nice it would be if I were rich!” But God may know that the possession of riches would prove a misfortune to you, and might even lead to your eternal perdition. Is it then not right that He should withhold them from you?
In God’s good providence confide;
He will for all thy wants provide.
Leave all things to Him, both grief and suffering; for, if you bear your trials with patience, trusting in Him, the roses of joy will spring from them. Many a young girl longs to be smartly dressed, to be arrayed like one of the lilies of the field; instead of this she perhaps has to wear shabby, old fashioned clothes, which make her look more like a dull weed than a bright flower! Let her not give way to discontent, for God may have ordained that she is to wear this unpretending raiment because He destines her to blossom one day as a beauteous lily in the fair garden of paradise.
Another maiden is jilted by the man to whom she was engaged to be married. In her sad and lonely hours she turns to some book of spiritual reading, such as the “Following of Christ.” Had God not laid this heavy cross upon her she might perhaps be reading a very different kind of book, one which would teach her to imitate the evil works of the devil.
In adversity even more than in prosperity must we say: “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” It was said by a great master of the spiritual life, that one single act of submission to the will of God made in adversity is worth a thousand such acts uttered amid prosperity. We are not obliged to pray for crosses and sufferings, as some of the saints have done; but it is absolutely necessary that we should bear the trials which God sees fit to send us, with patience and loving confidence in Him.
In order to attain this patience, which bears such blessed fruit, and to preserve your confidence in God, you must glance behind and before, above and beneath. You must look behind in order to see what you have been and still are, namely, a sinner. Marvelous is the power contained in the thought: “I am a sinner.” Who can dare to indulge in complaints and impatience on account of temporal losses and sufferings while conscience is telling him that his abode ought to be in hell, or at least in purgatory, because he has deserved such a lot over and over again by his sins!
You must also look before, and contemplate One who is bearing His own cross, and who will help you to carry yours. He is ready and willing to do this; the mere sight of Him will lighten your burden. He carried a very heavy cross up a steep hill; pale and exhausted though He was under the load, He yet bore it willingly. He was none other than Jesus of Nazareth, our divine Redeemer. Implore Him to grant you patience and endurance. He will not fail to answer your prayer. Meditate upon His sufferings, and you will be ready to suffer here on earth in order to attain everlasting felicity. He trod the way of the cross before you; do you follow in His footsteps.
Then look down to the abodes of everlasting torments, down to hell where the lost souls dwell; think also of purgatory where the suffering souls are detained. Is it not far better to suffer a little here on earth than after death to endure those terrible tortures? Could the unhappy souls return to earth once more, how patiently would they bear the severest afflictions!
Finally, look up to heaven. Behold the eternal beauty and blessedness of paradise. If for a brief period you suffer here with courage and patience, you will after death be released from all suffering and enjoy unspeakable bliss for evermore. Such are the blessed fruits of patience.
Visit the churchyard, my dear daughter, where so many crosses and gravestones remind you of the life to come; pause beside the tomb of a Christian maiden who led an innocent and pious life but who was misunderstood and despised by those around her, and who had much to suffer while on earth. If you could ask her whether she were willing to return to this world, in order to begin a new but happier existence, what would she reply? “No,” she would answer, “not for anything the world could give! For what could be a better lot for me than that which gained for me eternal bliss in heaven?”
If you too, my dear young friend, have already much to suffer, rejoice, endure all things with patience, in the sure conviction that patience bears blessed fruits, the fruits of endless joy. Do as you are bidden to do in the following lines:
If God should send thee grief or pain—
Seek thou His purpose wise to know;
Eternal love will not in vain
Cause thy bitter tears to flow.