July 6

ow holy and salutary, how loving and gracious, to strengthen and comfort one who is so disturbed and afflicted, so disconsolate and forsaken, and indeed when one is passing through the fire of testing and the water of tribulation to lead him out into the coolness of repose and consolation! Even if one who is so troubled should not immediately obtain this repose and consolation of spirit which he desires, or even is without it for a long time he should nevertheless steadfastly hope that he should possess it in the end, because Many are the tribulations of the just, and from them all the Lord will deliver them.

Marvelous is your kindness, O most high, for you allow us to be tempted, not that we may succumb, but that we may take refuge from our fear in you, our most safe harborage. You act, Lord, like a good mother, who desires to see and embrace her son, removed far from her, and through some fearful happening strikes fear in him and, stretching out her arms, she welcomes her son as he flees, joyfully smiles on him and bestows on him loving kisses; and, for fear he may go off elsewhere, she exhorts him to ensure that nothing evil befalls him; she clasps him to herself, consoling him, and finally offers him her milk. O blessed temptation which compels us to take refuge in God's arms!

From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.

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