that suffering is the only means of preparing us to know Him as He knows Himself, and to become ourselves divine." What does this imply? "O my God, what shall we then see? What will be this life which will have no end? Our Lord will be the soul of our souls. O unsearchable mystery! 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.'" How do sufferings effect this? By conforming us to Christ Crucified, for "they greatly help to detach us from this earth, they make us look higher than this world." Besides, life and pain are short; "tomorrow, in a brief hour, we shall be at rest"; nay, even now "God already sees us in glory and rejoices in our everlasting bliss. I understand now why He lets us suffer."
(c) There is yet a third effect of suffering—the ransom of souls. "Jesus has for us a love so incomprehensible that He does not wish to do anything without making us His cooperators. He wills that we should have a part with Him in the salvation of souls." How? "From the day He raised His standard of the Cross, all must fight and win in its shadow. Far more by suffering and persecution than by eloquent discourses does Jesus wish to build up His Kingdom." Clearly perceiving this triple value of suffering, St. Therese esteemed every cross as a "mine of gold for us to turn to account," and, being overwhelmed with crosses, she cried out: "Jesus heaps His favors upon us as upon the greatest saints…. Ours is an enviable lot, and the Seraphim in heaven are jealous of our happiness!" Do I realize this?
(3) Her Insatiable Thirst for Suffering—St. Therese was logical and she was not a coward. She saw the immense value of suffering and had the courage to embrace it with her whole heart. "I can truly say," she wrote, "that Suffering opened her arms to me from the first, and I took her to my heart." In her thanksgivings at Holy Communion, while still quite young, she often prayed: "O my God, who art unspeakable sweetness, turn for me into bitterness all the consolations of earth." On the day of her religious profession she asked: "Give me martyrdom of soul or body. Or, rather, give me both the one and
