We have never so much cause for consolation, as when we find ourselves oppressed by sufferings and trials; for these make us like Christ our Lord, and this resemblance is the true mark of our predestination.
~St. Vincent de Paul
No one has understood this great truth so well as St. Andrew the Apostle. At first sight of the cross on which he was to be crucified, he was filled with joy, and broke forth into this exclamation: “O cross so much desired, so much loved, and so much sought by me! behold how I come to thee full of security and joy! Do thou separate me from men, and restore me to my Master, so that by thy means He may receive me, who by thy means redeemed me.”
The Lord once said to St. Gertrude: “The more you are tried, and the more your way of life is disapproved without any fault of your own, the dearer you will be to Me, on account of the increased resemblance to Me which you will thus attain; for anyone who greatly resembles a king, is usually very dear to him; and I lived in constant suffering, and was opposed in all I did.”
When St. Matilda was suffering from a severe illness, Jesus Christ came to her and told her that when He beheld persons grievously afflicted and tormented, He embraced them with His left arm, to draw them very near His heart.
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