Patience
“He that does not take up his cross and follow Me, is not worth of Me.” — St. Matt. 10:38.
THIRTEENTH DAY.
If the Lord sends you great tribulations, it is a sign that He has great designs upon you, and that He wills that you become a saint. Would you become a great saint, pray that He send you sufferings. There is no wood more proper to enkindle and feed the fire of divine love than the wood of the cross. — St. Ignatius Loyola.
St. Teresa, whom God created to perform such great things on earth, and to be elevated to so high a degree of glory in heaven, had much to suffer from many, even virtuous, persons. They regarded her revelations as illusions of the devil; some would even have her exorcised as if she were possessed. They went so far as to accuse her at the tribunal of the Inquisition. Still more, how her patience must have been tried by contradictions on the part of her Superiors when she was laboring to reform the houses of her Order and to found new ones!
Prayer.
My God, I have not the courage to say, Give me more to suffer, because I fear sufferings; but I will often say, Give me the cross Thou knowest is best for me; and when I suffer, I will unite myself to my Saviour and beg the assistance of His grace to bear it.