The Wisdom of the Saints about suffering (part 9)

“Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. “  St. James the Less (1st century)

“Peter did not yet understand this when he wanted to remain with Christ on the mountain [of Transfiguration] .  It has been reserved for you, Peter, but for after death.  For now, Jesus says: 'Go down to toil on earth, to serve on earth, to be scorned and crucified on earth.  Life goes down to be killed; Bread goes down to suffer hunger; the Way goes down to be exhausted on His journey; the Spring goes down to suffer thirst; and you refuse to suffer?'” St. Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“However, I fear lest you may not profit by this sickness as you should, for sometimes beginners become lax in their religious duties when suffering from an illness that is not dangerous to life. How foolish it is to change medicine into poison and injure our souls with the thing God sends us for a remedy. Call on Him for aid with all your heart, that as He has weakened your body by His touch, your soul may run to Him the more swiftly. This infirmity is sent that your flesh may expiate its sins by suffering pain; so do not turn this chance of discharging your past debts into a time for incurring fresh ones. “  St John of Avila (16th century, Doctor of the Church)

"Our Lord is never so near us as when we suffer something for His love." St. Francis de Sales (16th-17th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“He who shall have suffered and fought for his God will shine like a beautiful sun.” St. John Vianney (19th century)

“One of the chief purposes of suffering, intended by our Lord Who sends it, is to purify the soul so that, detached from earthly goods and joys, it may give itself entirely to divine love.  Suffering therefore brings on the blossoming of holiness.” St. Peter Julian Eymard (19th century)

“It was when the saints were at the feet of our Lord that they encountered their crosses. Sanctity does not consist in saying beautiful things, it does not even consist in thinking them, in feeling them. It consists in suffering and suffering everything. Sanctity! We must conquer it at the point of the sword; we must suffer. A day will come when the shadows will disappear, and there will remain only joy, inebriation. Let us profit from our one moment of suffering.” St. Therese of Lisieux (19th century, Doctor of the Church)

“Do not fear adversities because they place the soul at the foot of the cross, and the cross places it at the gates of Heaven where it will find He Who triumphed over death and will introduce it to eternal life.”  St. Pio of Pietrelcina (19th-20th centuries)

“Do everything for the love of God and embrace your daily cross joyfully. This is something I have repeated thousands of times because I believe that these ideas should be engraved on every Christian heart. When we advance beyond the stage of simply tolerating difficulties or sufferings (whether physical or moral) and, instead, love them and offer them to God in reparation for our sins and the sins of all mankind, then, I assure you, they do not distress us.” St. Josemaria Escriva (19th-20th centuries)

“The cross, especially one of prolonged suffering, is one of the greatest gifts that God can send us. Immersed in that suffering, as though transported into the darkness above the atmosphere, our vision of the vast universe is made clearer. When the cross is lacking instead….We might think that all we do is in God’s service, compatible with and even useful for His glory, but all the while we cater to our own ego and vanity. As a result, we offer God a life that mixes smoke with incense. When, on the other hand, suffering comes to visit us and stays for a long time, we might understand the saints’ words that speak of a life away from the limelight, of self-denial and of authenticity before God and our fellow human beings. Such a realization can be so strong as to even cause one to offer acts of gratitude to the One Who permits suffering.” Servant of God Chiara Lubich (20th-21st centuries)