Patience
“He that does not take up his cross and follow Me, is not worth of Me.” — St. Matt. 10:38.
TWENTY-NINTH DAY.
If you look upon the ground at the rod which Moses used before Pharaoh, it appears a frightful serpent; but if you regard it in the hand of Moses, it is a wand with which he performed the greatest prodigies. So it is with tribulations. Considered in themselves, they are horrible; but when one views them in the hand of God, they become sweet and delicious. — St. Francis of Sales.
St. Magdalene of Pazzi was accustomed to say: “I think there is no torment in the world so frightful, no adversity so hard, that I would not suffer voluntarily and with joy for the single thought alone that it is the will of God.” In the time of most acute suffering it sufficed for her to repeat the words, “It is the will of God“, when instantly she was filled with joy.
Prayer.
O my God, I will receive all tribulations from Thy fatherly hand with joy. I will think that Thou chastisest me for my good as a tender father. I will bless Thy name because Thou strikest me here to spare me in eternity.