St. Monica

Patience – Twenty-Second Day of April

Patience

He that does not take up his cross and follow Me, is not worth of Me.” — St. Matt. 10:38.

TWENTY-SECOND DAY. 

Our Lord sends us tribulations and afflictions to give us a means of paying the immense debt we have contracted against Him. Accordingly, those who are sensible will receive them with joy, and think more of the good they may derive from them than of the pain they may feel. — St. Vincent Ferrer.

This saint, to make his hearers understand better this truth which he had preached to them, related the following parable: “A king held in prison two of his subjects who owed him a sum of money. Seeing them incapable of paying it, as they possessed nothing, he went into the prison and threw a purse of gold at the head of each. The blow was painful, and it was received in quite a different manner by the two. One was enraged at being so struck, showed much ill-feeling, and took no notice of the purse; the other, more reasonable, took the purse which had been thrown at him, and thanking the king, used the money to pay his debt, thus delivering himself from prison. Our case is that of these prisoners,” said the saint; “we have contracted immense debts against God, through the benefits He has bestowed upon us and the sins of which we have become guilty. Touched with compassion for our state, He sends the gold of patience in the purse of tribulation. Those who bear these tribulations with patience with this gold satisfy God and become His friends, while those who, far from thanking Him, murmur and are impatient, increase their debt and make themselves still greater enemies of God.”

Prayer.

O my God, what debts have I not contracted against Thy justice! I can cancel them by suffering for love of Thee. When Thou sendest me no cross, let me impose one upon myself by practicing some mortification.

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