October 31
Suffering
he fastest beast
that will carry you to your perfection is suffering, for no one will enjoy
more eternal sweetness than those who endure with Christ in the greatest
bitterness. There is nothing more gall-bitter than suffering, and nothing
more honey-sweet than to have suffered; nothing disfigures the body more
than suffering, and nothing more adorns the soul in the sight of God than
to have suffered. The firmest foundation on which this perfection can stand
is humility, for whichever mortal crawls here in the deepest abasement,
his spirit will fly up into the highest realms of the divinity, for love
brings sorrow, and sorrow brings love. And therefore, whoever longs to
attain to perfect detachment, let him struggle for perfect humility, and
so he will come close to the divinity.
That we may all be brought to this, may that supreme detachment help
us which is God himself.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from
Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
HTML text prepared by David P. Steelman
