True Patience in Suffering
The Voice of Christ
WHAT are you saying, My child? Think of My suffering and that of the saints, and cease
complaining. You have not yet resisted to the shedding of blood. What you suffer is very little
compared with the great things they suffered who were so strongly tempted, so severely troubled,
so tried and tormented in many ways. Well may you remember, therefore, the very painful woes
of others, that you may bear your own little ones the more easily. And if they do not seem so small
to you, examine if perhaps your impatience is not the cause of their apparent greatness; and whether
they are great or small, try to bear them all patiently. The better you dispose yourself to suffer, the
more wisely you act and the greater is the reward promised you. Thus you will suffer more easily
if your mind and habits are diligently trained to it.
Do not say: “I cannot bear this from such a man, nor should I suffer things of this kind, for he
has done me a great wrong. He has accused me of many things of which I never thought. However,
from someone else I will gladly suffer as much as I think I should.”
Such a thought is foolish, for it does not consider the virtue of patience or the One Who will
reward it, but rather weighs the person and the offense committed. The man who will suffer only
as much as seems good to him, who will accept suffering only from those from whom he is pleased
to accept it, is not truly patient. For the truly patient man does not consider from whom the suffering
comes, whether from a superior, an equal, or an inferior, whether from a good and holy person or
from a perverse and unworthy one; but no matter how great an adversity befalls him, no matter
how often it comes or from whom it comes, he accepts it gratefully from the hand of God, and
counts it a great gain. For with God nothing that is suffered for His sake, no matter how small, can
pass without reward. Be prepared for the fight, then, if you wish to gain the victory. Without struggle
you cannot obtain the crown of patience, and if you refuse to suffer you are refusing the crown.
But if you desire to be crowned, fight bravely and bear up patiently. Without labor there is no rest,
and without fighting, no victory.
The Disciple
O Lord, let that which seems naturally impossible to me become possible through Your grace.
You know that I can suffer very little, and that I am quickly discouraged when any small adversity
arises. Let the torment of tribulation suffered for Your name be pleasant and desirable to me, since
to suffer and be troubled for Your sake is very beneficial for my soul.