Pope Francis

Saturday 21 March 2015

The practice of Humility - 35

When you feel the sting of impatience and are overtaken by sadness in tribulations and humiliations, stand firm against this temptation.  Remember your many sins, for which you deserve much harsher punishments than those you are now enduring.  Adore the infinite justice of God and receive his blows with docility; these are your sources of mercy and grace.
If only you could understand how good is to be wounded in this wretched life by the hand of such a sweet Father as God, certainly you would abandon yourself completely into his hands.  Repeat often with St Augustine: “Here in this life, burn and cut in me whatever you wish; do not spare me any suffering here; forgive me and spare me the sufferings of eternity.”  To refuse tribulations is to rebel against the justice of our Father God, to reject the chalice that he mercifully offers us and from which Christ himself – although innocent – wanted to drink first.

J. Pecci (later Pope Leo XIII)

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