The true spouse of Jesus Christ/Chapter 13

by Alphonsus Liguori

CHAPTER XIII.

PATIENCE.

Patience in General.

Patience hath a perfect work.^[1] Patience is a perfect sacrifice that we offer to God; because in suffering tribulations and contradictions we do nothing but accept from his hands the cross that he sends us. A patient man is better than the valiant.^[2] He who suffers with patience is better than a valiant man. Some are resolute and courageous in promoting and supporting a pious undertaking, but are not patient in bearing adversity: it would be better for them to be valiant in patience than in the works that they undertake. This earth is a place of merits, and therefore it is not a place of repose, but of toils and pains; for merits are acquired not by rest, but by suffering. All those that live here below (whether saints or sinners) must suffer. Some are in want of one comfort, others of another; some have nobility, but have not property; others abound in riches, but want nobility; others enjoy nobility and wealth, but have not health. In a word, all, even sovereigns, have occasion to suffer; and because they are the most exalted of mortals their cares and troubles are the most harassing and perplexing.

All our good, then, consists in bearing crosses with patience. Hence the Holy Ghost admonishes us not to assimilate ourselves to senseless beasts that break out into a rage when they are unable to indulge their appetites. Do not become like the horse and the mule who have not understanding.^[3] What other advantage than to double our misfortunes can we ever derive from giving way to impatience in contradictions? The good and the bad thief both died on the cross and suffered the same pains; but because the one embraced them with patience he was saved, and because the other bore them with impatience he was damned. St. Augustine says that the same affliction sends the just to glory because they accept it with peace, and the wicked to fire because they submit to it with impatience.^[4]

It often happens that a person who flies from a cross that God sends him meets with another far more afflicting. They, says Job, that fear the hoary frost, the snow shall fall upon them.^[5] They who shun the hoar-frost shall be covered with snow. Such a nun may say: Give me any other office, but take from me the one that I hold. But she shall suffer much more in the second office than in the first, and with little or no merit. Be careful not to imitate her: embrace the fatigue and tribulation that God sends you: for you shall thus acquire greater merit, and shall have less to suffer: you will at least suffer with peace, knowing that your sufferings come not from self-will, but from the will of God. Let us be persuaded of the truth of what St. Augustine says, that the whole life of a Christian must be a continual cross. The life of religious who wish to become saints must in a special manner be a continued series of crosses. St. Gregory Nazianzen says that these noble souls place their riches in poverty, their glory in contempt, and their delights in the voluntary privation of earthly pleasures. Hence St. John Climacus asks: Who is truly a religious? It is, he says, the nun that offers continual violence to herself: and when shall this violence cease? When, answers St. Prosper, life shall have an end. Then shall the battle cease when the conquest of the eternal kingdom shall be obtained. If you remember to have hitherto offended God, and if you desire to be saved, you should be consoled when you see that God sends you occasions of suffering. St. John Chrysostom writes: "Sin is an ulcer and chastisement a medicinal iron: therefore the sinner if left unpunished is most miserable." Sin is an imposthume of the soul: if tribulation do not come to extract the putrid humor the soul is lost. Miserable the sinner who is not punished after his sin in this life.

Be persuaded, then, says St. Augustine, that when the Lord sends you suffering he acts as a physician; and that the tribulation that he sends you is not the punishment of your condemnation, but a remedy for your salvation. "Let man understand," says the holy Doctor, "that God is a physician, and that tribulation is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation." Hence you ought to thank God when he chastises you; for his chastisements are a proof that he loves you, and receives you into the number of his children. Whoever the Lord loveth, says St. Paul, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.^[6] Hence, St. Augustine says: "Do you enjoy consolation? acknowledge a father who caresses you: are you in tribulation? recognize a parent who corrects you." On the other hand, the same holy Doctor says: "Unhappy you, if after you have sinned God exempts you from scourges in this life. It is a sign that he excludes you from the number of his children." Say not, then, for the future, when you find yourself in tribulation, that God has forgotten you; say rather that you have forgotten your sins. He who knows that he has offended God must pray with St. Bonaventure: "Run, O Lord, run, and wound Thy servants with sacred wounds, lest they be wounded with the wounds of death." Run, O Lord, and wound Thy servants with the wounds of love and salvation, that they may escape the wounds of Thy wrath and of eternal death.

Let us rest assured that God sends us crosses not for our perdition but for our salvation; if we know not how to turn them to our own profit it is entirely our own fault. Explaining the words, the house of Israel is become dross to me, all these are . . . iron and lead in the midst of the furnace? St. Gregory says: "As if God should say, "I wished to purify them by the fire of tribulation, and sought to make them gold, but in the furnace they have become to me iron and lead." I have endeavored by the fire of tribulation to change them into gold, but they have been converted into lead. These are the sinners who, after having several times deserved hell when visited with any calamity, break out into impatience and anger; they almost wish to treat God as if he were guilty of injustice and tyranny, and even go so far as to say: But, O Lord, I am not the only one who has offended Thee; it appears that I am the only person whom Thou chastisest: I am weak, I have not strength to bear so great a cross. Miserable man, alas! what do you say? You say to God, I am not the only one who has offended you. If others have offended God, he will punish them also in this life if he wishes to show mercy to them; but do you not know that, according to the words which God himself spoke by Ezekiel, My indignation shall rest in thee, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and . . . I will be angry no more,^[7] the greatest chastisement that God can inflict on sinners is not to chastise them on this earth? I have no more zeal for your soul, and therefore as long as you live you shall never more feel my anger. But St. Bernard says, " God's anger is greatest when he is not angry. I wish, O Father of mercies, that Thou mayest be angry with me."^[8] God's wrath against sinners is greatest when he is not angry with them, and abstains from chastising them. Hence the saint prayed the Lord, saying: Lord, I wish that Thou shouldst treat me with the mercy of the Father of mercies, and therefore I wish that Thou shouldst chastise me here for my sins, and thus save me from Thy everlasting vengeance. Do you say, I have not strength to bear this cross? But if you have not strength why do you not ask it of God? He has promised to give his aid to all who pray for it; Ask, and it shall be given you. ^[9] When you, dear sister, are visited by God with any infirmity, or loss, or persecution, humble yourself, and say with the good thief, We receive the due reward of our deeds.^[10] Lord, I deserve this cross because I have offended Thee. Humble yourself and be comforted: for the chastisement that you receive is a proof that God wishes to pardon the eternal punishment due to your sins. Who will grant me, says Job, . . . that this may be my comfort, that afflicting me with sorrow, he spare not^[11] Let this be my consolation, that the Lord may afflict me and may not spare me here below in order to spare me hereafter. O God! how can he who has deserved hell complain if the Lord send him a cross. Were the pains of hell trifling, still, because they are eternal, we should gladly exchange them for all temporal sufferings that have an end. But no: in hell there are all kinds of pain — they are all intense and everlasting. And though you should have preserved baptismal innocence and have never deserved hell, you have at least merited a long purgatory: and do you know what purgatory is? St. Thomas says that the souls in purgatory are tormented by the very fire that tortures the damned. Hence St. Augustine says that the pain of that fire surpasses every torment that man can suffer in this life.^[12] Be content, then, to be chastised in this life rather than in the next; particularly since by accepting crosses with patience in this life your sufferings will be meritorious; but hereafter you will suffer without merit.

Console yourself also in suffering with the hope of paradise. St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say: " To gain heaven all labor is small." And before him the Apostle said: The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us.^[13] It would be but little to suffer all the pains of this earth for the enjoyment of a single moment in heaven: how much more, then, ought we to embrace the crosses that God sends us when we know that the short sufferings of this life shall merit for us an eternal felicity. That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us . . . an eternal weight of glory."^[14] We should feel not sadness but consolation of spirit when God sends us sufferings here below. They who pass to eternity with the greatest merits shall receive the greatest reward. It is on this account that the Lord sends us tribulations. Virtues, which are the fountains of merits, are practised only by acts. They who have the most frequent occasions of annoyance make the most frequent acts of patience; they who are most frequently insulted make most frequent acts of meekness. Hence St. James says, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life.^[15] Blessed is he who suffers afflictions with peace; for when he shall be thus proved he shall receive the crown of eternal life.

This thought made St. Agapitus, martyr, a boy of fifteen years, say, when the tyrant ordered his head to be encompassed with burning coals, " It is very little to bear the burning of my head, which shall be crowned with glory in heaven." This thought made Job exclaim: If we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil?^[16] He meant to say, if we have gladly received good things, why should we not also receive with greater joy temporal evils, by which we shall acquire the eternal goods of paradise? This thought also filled with jubilation the hermit whom a soldier found singing in a wood, though his body was covered with ulcers so that his flesh was falling to pieces. The soldier said to him: Is it you that were singing? Yes, I sang, and I had reason to sing; for between me and God there is nothing but the filthy wall of my body. I now see it falling to pieces, and therefore I sing, because I see that the time is at hand when I shall go to enjoy my Lord. This thought made St. Francis of Assisi say: "So great is the good which I expect, that to me every pain gives delight." In a word, the saints feel consoled when they see themselves in tribulation, and are afflicted when they enjoy earthly consolations. We read in the Teresian Chronicles that in reciting these words of the Office: When wilt thou comfort me?^[17] Mother Isabella of the Angels used to say them so fast that she would anticipate the other sisters. Being asked why she did so, she answered: "I am afraid that God may console me in this life."

To be in tribulation in this world is a great sign of predestination. "To be afflicted here below," says St. Gregory, " belongs to the elect, for whom is reserved the beatitude of eternity." Hence we find in the lives of the saints, that all, without exception, have been loaded with crosses. This is precisely what St. Jerome wrote to the virgin Eustochia: " Seek," says the holy Doctor, "and you shall find that every saint has been subject to tribulations: Solomon, alone, lived in the midst of delights, and therefore perhaps he was lost." The Apostle has said that all the predestined must be found like to Jesus Christ: Whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be made conformable to the image of his Son.^[18] But the life of Jesus Christ was a life of continual suffering; hence the same Apostle says: Yet so if we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him.^[19] If we suffer with Jesus Christ, we shall then be glorified with Jesus Christ.

But we shall not be glorified with him unless we suffer with patience like our Saviour, who when he was reviled did not revile: when he suffered he threatened not.^[20] St. Gregory says that as to suffer with patience is a mark of predestination, so to suffer with impatience is a presage of damnation. Hence the Lord tells us that we shall attain salvation only by suffering with patience: "In your patience you shall possess your souls."^[21] And let us be persuaded that God sends us tribulations only because he seeks our welfare; by them he wishes to detach us from earthly pleasures, which may occasion the loss of our eternal salvation. "The world," says St. Augustine, "is bitter and it is loved; if it were sweet, how ardently, think you, should it be loved." The world is bitter because all its delights do not content the heart of man, and because they all ultimately terminate in bitterness and remorse of conscience; but still it is loved. Imagine, then, says the saint, were it sweet, how intensely should we love it, and how completely would we forget the soul, heaven, and God. To wean an infant, and to give it a horror of taking suck, the mother puts gall on the paps. It is thus God treats us. He makes the very pleasures of this earth become bitter, that, detaching our hearts from them, we may pant after the eternal delights which he prepares in heaven for all those that love him. It was for this end that our loving Saviour came on earth to suffer, that we might not refuse to imitate his example. Christ, s`ays St. Peter, suffered for us, having you an example, that you should follow his steps.^[22] Behold how he invites us to follow him: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.^[23] As if he said, He who wishes not to suffer and refuses the cross, let him cease to pretend to be my disciple, or to expect to follow me to paradise.

But the desire of pleasing God is the sublime end which a soul should have in embracing sufferings Ecclesiasticus says that some show friendship only in the time of prosperity, and abandon a friend in his adversity: There is a friend for his own occasion, and he will not abide in the day of thy trouble.^[24] But the most certain testimony of love is to suffer with cheerfulness for the person loved. The sacrifice most agreeable to God consists in embracing with patience all the crosses which he sends. Charity is patient . . . beareth all things.^[25] Love bears all things: external crosses, loss of health, loss of property, of honors, of relatives, of friends: interior crosses, anguish, temptations, sorrows, desolation of spirit. By patience virtue is proved. Hence, in the lives of the saints we usually find a description of their patience under afflictions. It is thus the Lord proves our fidelity. The devil tempts us, and God also tempts us. The devil tempts us in order to bring us to perdition, God tempts us in order to prove us: As gold in the furnace he hath proved them.^[26] As gold is proved by fire, so God proves the love of his lovers by the fire of tribulation. Hence to be in tribulation is a mark that the soul is dear to God. Because thou wast acceptable to God, said the angel to Tobias, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee.^[27] St. Jerome says that when God sends a person an occasion of suffering, he confers a greater favor than if he gave him power to raise the dead to life. Because, adds the saint, when we work miracles we are debtors to God, but when we bear afflictions with patience, God is, in a certain manner, our debtor.

God, how is it possible for him who looks at the crucifix, and beholds a God dying in a sea of sorrows and insults; how, I say, is it possible for him, if he loves that God, not to bear with cheerfulness, or even not to desire to suffer every pain for his sake? St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to say: "The sharpest pains become sweet when we behold Jesus on the cross." Justus Lipsius once found himself greatly afflicted with pains: a certain person endeavored to encourage him to bear them with patience by placing before him the patience of the stoics; but he turned to the crucifix and said: There is true patience. He meant to say, that the example of a God who had suffered so much for the love of us is sufficient to animate us to endure all pain for the love of him. "The ignominy of the cross," says St. Bernard, "is grateful to him who is not ungrateful to a crucified God." "To him who loves his crucified Saviour pains and opprobrium are agreeable. When St. Eleazar was asked by his virgin spouse, St. Afra, how he could submit to so many insults from the rabble without seeking revenge, he said: "My spouse, think not that I am insensible to these insults; I feel them strongly; but I turn to Jesus on the cross, and continue to look at him until my soul becomes tranquil." Love, says St. Augustine, makes all things easy. After being wounded with divine love, St. Catharine of Genoa used to say that she knew not what it was to suffer. Although she endured the most grievous pains, she felt none of them, because she regarded them as sent by him who loved her so tenderly. Thus also a good religious of the Society of Jesus, when God visited him with any pain, sickness, or persecution, used to say within himself: " Tell me, O pain, sickness, or persecution, who sends you? Does God send you? Welcome, welcome!" Thus he was always in peace.

Let us conclude. Since in this life we must suffer either cheerfully or with reluctance, let us endeavor to suffer with merit, that is, with patience. Patience is a shield that defends us against all the pains arising from persecutions, infirmities, losses, and other afflictions. He who has not this shield, has to bear all these pains. Let us, then, in the first place, ask this patience of God; without asking it we shall never obtain this great gift When afflictions come upon us, let us be careful to do violence to ourselves, and not to break out into words of impatience or complaint. The fire that burns in a vessel is soon extinguished when the vessel is closed. To him that over cometh, I will give the hidden manna.^[28] When a person does violence to conquer himself in adversity, by instantly embracing the cross that God sends him, oh! what sweetness does the Lord make him afterwards experience in the very tribulation that he suffers — a sweetness hidden from men of the world, but well known to souls that love God. St. Augustine used to say, that to enjoy a good conscience in the midst of afflictions is sweeter than to live with a guilty conscience in the midst of delights. 2 Speaking of herself, St. Teresa said: "I have several times experienced that when I generously resolve to do an act, God instantly makes the performance of it pleasant to me. He wishes the soul to feel these terrors in the beginning, that she may have greater merit."

He who resolves to suffer for God, suffers no more pain. Let us read the lives of the saints, and see how they have been enamoured of suffering.

St. Gertrude used to say, that so great was her enjoyment in suffering, that no time was more painful than that in which she was free from pain. St. Teresa used to say, that she did not wish to live without suffering; hence she would often exclaim: "Either to suffer or to die." St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi went so far as to say: "To suffer and not to die."

When the tyrant was preparing new torments for the martyr Procopius, the saint said to him: "Torment me as much as you please; do you not know that to him who loves Jesus Christ there is nothing more dear than to suffer for Jesus Christ."

St. Gordian, as St. Basil relates, being threatened with great torments if he refused to deny Jesus Christ, answered: "I am sorry that I can die but once for my Saviour, Jesus Christ." He afterwards intrepidly suffered death.

To the tyrant who threatened to make her die in a caldron of boiling pitch, St. Potamiena, virgin, said: I entreat you to let me down into this caldron, not at once, but by degrees, that thus I may suffer more for my Jesus. The tyrant complied with her request: she was let down gradually into the caldron, till the pitch having reached her neck, took away her speech and her life.

Baronius describes the celebrated martyrdom of three holy virgins, called Faith, Hope, and Charity, who when threatened with torments by the tyrant Antiochus courageously said: Do you not know that to Christians nothing is more desirable than to suffer for Jesus Christ? St. Faith was first scourged; her breasts were then cut off, she was afterwards tormented with fire, and finally beheaded. St. Hope was first beaten with the sinews of an ox; her ribs were then torn with iron combs, and she was afterwards thrown into a vessel of burning pitch. St. Charity was the youngest; she was not more than nine years old; hence the tyrant expected that she would yield through fear of torments. He said to her, My child, be you at least wise, unless you wish to be tortured like your sisters. The holy child answered: You deceive yourself, O Antiochus; all your torments shall not make me forsake Jesus Christ. The tyrant ordered her to be fastened to a rope, and to be cast several times from a height to the ground, until all her bones were dislocated. He then commanded her members to be pierced with sharp irons, so that she died exhausted of blood.

Let us come to more modern examples.

In Japan a certain married woman called Maxentia was subjected to torments for the faith. One of the executioners wished to alleviate her pains, but she rejected the offer, Seeing her continue firm in confessing the faith, one of her persecutors pointed a sword twice to her cheek in order to terrify her; but she said to him: O God, how do you expect to terrify me with that death which I desire? The way to fill me with terror is to promise me life. After these words she stretched her neck to the executioner, and he cut off her head.

In Japan, also, Father John Baptist Maciado, of the Society of Jesus, was confined in a damp prison, in which he remained for forty days in such intense pain, that he could not rest by night or by day. From this prison he wrote to another religious: My Father, notwithstanding all my pains, I would not exchange my condition for that of the first monarch of the earth.

From a prison in which he had a great deal to suffer Father Charles Spinola wrote to his companions: " Oh! how sweet is it to suffer for Jesus Christ! I have received the news of my condemnation. I pray you to thank the divine goodness for the great gift bestowed upon me." In the same letter he added: " Charles Spinola condemned for Jesus Christ." Soon after he was burnt alive on a slow fire. It is said that, in thanksgiving to God, when he was fastened to the stake, he intoned the Psalm, O praise the Lord, all ye nations.^[29] Thus he died.

But how, some one may ask with wonder, were the holy martyrs able to suffer with so much joy? Were they not flesh? or did the Lord make them insensible to pain? No, says St. Bernard, their patience and jubilation under suffering, says the saint, were the effect not of insensibility, but of the love which they bore to Jesus Christ; they were not exempt from pain, but through love for their Lord they conquered and despised it. 1 That great servant of God, Father Hippolitus Durazzo, of the Society of Jesus, used to say: " Let God cost what he will, the price is never too great." And St. Joseph Calasanctius said, that he who knows not how to suffer for Jesus Christ knows not how to gain Jesus Christ. Ah 1 souls that understand the language of love, being convinced that by embracing crosses they please God, know well how to find all their happiness in suffering.

Prayer.

My crucified Jesus, Thou hast suffered so many sorrows and insults for my sake; Thou hast died in order to gain my love, and I have so often renounced Thy love for nothing. Have mercy on me and pardon me. Blessed be Thy mercy which has borne with me so long and with so much patience. During that time I neither loved Thee nor cared to be loved by Thee. I now love Thee with my whole soul ; and the greatest of all my pains is that which arises from having offended Thee, who hast loved me so tenderly. Yes, this is my greatest pain. But it is a pain that consoles me, because it gives me confidence that Thou hast already pardoned me. Oh! that I had died rather than have ever offended Thee. My God, if I have not hitherto loved Thee, I now give myself entirely to Thee. I wish to renounce all things to love only Thee, my Saviour, who art worthy of infinite love. I have sinned enough against Thee. The remainder of my life I wish to spend in loving Thy heart, which is so enamoured of me. Tell me all Thou wishest from me : I wish to do it. Give me strength to execute this wish. I love Thee, O infinite Goodness, I love Thee with my whole heart ; and for Thy sake I accept all the pains which Thou shalt be pleased to send me.

Mary, my Mother, assist me by thy intercession: in thee I trust.

1. "Patientia autem opus perfectum habet." — James, i. 4.
2. "Melior est patiens viro fortl." — Prov. xvi. 32.
3. " Nolite fieri sicut equus et mulus, quibusnon est intellectus." — Ps. xxxi. 9.
4. " Una eademque tunsio bonos producit ad gloriam, malos redigit in favillam." — Serm. 52, App. E. fi.
5. " Qui timent pruinam, irruet super eos nix."— Job, vi. 16.
6. "Quern enim diligit, Dominus castigat; flagellat autem omnem filium quern recipit." — Hebr. xii. 6.
7. Auferetur zelus meus a te, et quiescam, nee irascar amplius." — Ezek, xvi. 42.
8. Tunc magis irascitur Deus, dum non irascitur. Volo irascaris mihi, Pater misericorriiarum." — In Cant. s. 42.
9. " Petite et dabitur vobis." — Matt. vii. 7.
10. " Digna factis recipimus." — Luke, xxiii. 41.
11. "Et hnec mihi sitconsolatio, ut, affligens me dolore, non parcat." — Job, vi. 10.
12. " Gravior erit ille ignis, quam quidquid potest homo pati in hac vita." — In Ps. xxxvii.
13. "Non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam, quae revelabitur in nobis." — Rom. viii. 18.
14. "Momentaneum et leve tribulationis nostra? . . . aeternum gloria? pondus operatur in nobis." — 2 Cor. iv. 17.
15. " Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem; quoniam, cum probatus fuerit, accipiet coronam vita?."— James, i. 12.
16. " Si bona suscepimus de manu Dei, mala quare non suscipiamus ?" —Job, ii. 10.
17. " Quando consolaberis me ?" — Ps. cxviii. 82.
18. " Quos prsscivit, et pradestinavit conformes fieri imaginis Filii sui." — Rom. viii. 29.
19. " Si tamen compatimur, ut et conglorificemur." — Ibid. 17.
20. "Qui cum malediceretur, non maledicebat; cum pateretur, non comminabatur." — 1 Pet. ii. 23.
21. "In patientia vestra, possidebitis animas vestras." — Luke, xxi. 19.
22. "Christus passus est pro nobis, vobis relinquens exemplum, ut sequamini vestigia ejus." — i Pet. ii. 21.
23. "Si quis vult post me venire, abneget semetipsum, et tollat crucem suam, et sequatur me." — Matt. xvi. 24.
24. "Est enim amicus secundum tempus suum; et non permanebit in die tribulationis." — Ecclus. vi. 8.
25. "Charitas patiens est, . . . omnia suffert." — 1 Cor. xiii. 4.
26. " Tamquam aurum in fornace, probavit illos." — Wisd, iii. 6.
27. 1 "Quia acceptus eras Deo, necesse fuit ut tentatio probaret te." — Tob. xii. 13.
28. "Vincenti dabo manna absconditum." — Apoc ii. 17.
29. " Laudate Dominum omnes gentes." — Ps. cxvi.