“The patient man is better than the valiant” (Prov. 16:32)
As we process the pruning that God is doing to the world, let
us remember how pleasing it is for us to calmly and lovingly submit to all that
God permits. Joyfully welcoming what God
allows to happen to us is most pleasing to Him.
Please enjoy this excerpt from one of the great Doctors of
the Church:
“The patient man is better than the
valiant.” (Prov. 16:32) God is pleased with a person who practices
mortification by fasting, hair-cloths, and disciplines, on account of the
courage displayed in such mortifications; but he is much more pleased with
those who have the courage to bear patiently and gladly such crosses as come from
His Own Divine hand. St. Francis de Sales said, "Such mortifications as
come to us from the hand of God, or from men by His permission, are always more
precious than those which are the offspring of our own will; for it is a
general rule, that wherever there is less of our own choice, God is better
pleased, and we ourselves derive greater profit." St. Teresa taught the
same thing: "We gain more in one day by the oppositions which come to us
from God or our neighbor than by ten years of mortifications of
self-infliction." Wherefore St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi made the generous
declaration, that there could not be found in the whole world an affliction so
severe, but what she would gladly bear with the thought that it came from God;
and, in fact, during the five years of severe trial which the Saint underwent,
it was enough to restore peace to her soul to remember that it was by the will
of God that she so suffered. Ah, God, that infinite treasure is cheaply
purchased at any cost! Father Hippolytus Durazzo used to say, "Purchase
God at what cost you will, He can never be dear."
“Let us then beseech God to make us
worthy of His love; for if we did but once perfectly love Him, all the goods of
this earth would seem to us but as smoke and dirt, and we should relish
ignominies and afflictions as delights. Let us hear what St. John Chrysostom
says of a soul wholly given up to Almighty God: "He who has attained the
perfect love of God seems to be alone on the earth,-----he no longer cares
either for glory or ignominy,-----he scorns temptations and afflictions,-----he
loses all relish and appetite for created things. And as nothing in this world
brings him any support or repose, he goes incessantly in search of his beloved
without ever feeling wearied; so that when he toils, when he eats, when he is
watching, or when sleeping, in every action and word, all his thoughts and
desires are fixed upon finding his beloved; because his heart is where his treasure
is".”
This excerpt, which I share here, is but one step along the way
toward the writing of another book on spiritual warfare. Please offer a prayer for this endeavor. May God be praised!
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Brought to you by the author of the
best-selling book: Slaying Dragons: What Exorcists See
& What We Should Know. Get the book that faithfully and
systematically hands on the teachings of some of the most prominent exorcists
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