Patience
“He that does not take up his cross and follow Me, is not worth of Me.” — St. Matt. 10:38.
SIXTEENTH DAY.
Those who have arrived at perfection never ask of God to be delivered from afflictions or temptations; they long for them and esteem them as much as worldlings appreciate gold or precious stones. They know that the time of affliction and temptation is the time to enrich one’s self in grace. — St. Teresa.
When St. Francis Xavier received a cross, he always made this prayer: “My God, do not take from me this cross unless it be to give me a greater.” The Venerable Anne-Marie of St. Joseph, a Carmelite, was asked to moderate her great austerities. “No,” she replied, “I will never cease to carry no cross, since Jesus Christ was loaded with sorrow and opprobrium. I desire only a cross, to be crucified thereon with Jesus Christ.”
Prayer.
My God, I will not fly from the cross; I will desire it, I will embrace it, I will carry it; I will beg nothing but to be charged with it. What is more precious than the cross? What is there that makes us more like unto Jesus Christ? It is the great means to enrich one’s self for heaven. O my Saviour, grant that I may passionately desire the cross.