Salesian Literature

Chapter 2  :  Trials are the chief source of union between the human will and God’s permissive will

​

There is nothing attractive about trials in themselves; only when seen as coming form providence, enjoined by God’s will, are they infinitely lovable.  On the ground Moses’ staff was a frightful serpent; in his hand it was a miraculous wand (cf. Ex. 7).  Trials, in themselves, are dreadful; seen as part of God’s will, they are attractive, delightful.  Noting is commoner than to experience reluctance at taking remedies prescribed by a doctor; yet, were they to come form someone we love, we should take them gladly – love conquering disgust.  Love either rids work of its disagreeableness or renders our experience of it pleasant; that is certain.

 

Had Abraham failed to se God’s will when it came to sacrificing Isaac, imagine the sorrow and heartache he would have felt.  Since he saw that it was God’s permissive will, it took on a new aspect, so that he embraced it lovingly.  If the martyrs had failed to see God’s permissive will in their tortures, how could they have broken into song in face of dungeon, fire and sword? The man, who truly loves God, loves the divine permissive will when things go badly no less than if they go well.  In fact his love for God’s will is greater amid crosses, toil and trouble; love chiefly shows itself in suffering for the one we love.

 

The Holy Spirit, in the Scriptures (cf. Jn. 15:13; Rom. 5:8-9; 1 Jn. 3:16), makes it quite clear that our Lord’s love for us reached its peak in the passion and death which he endured for our sakes.

 

To love God’s will when all goes well is to live aright, as long as we really do love his will and not the comfortable effects of it.  Nevertheless, it is a love that knows no opposition, no reluctance, no effort; surely anyone would love a will so deserving of love, so attractively portrayed.

 

To love God’s will in his commandments, counsels, inspirations, is a stage higher, much more perfect.  This leads us to give up and forgo our own wills, our own desires, so that we deprive ourselves of pleasure up to a point.

 

To love suffering and distress out of love for God is charity’s highest degree.  There is nothing, then, to attract us but God’s will; it goes very much against the grain of our nature; it leads to more than giving up pleasure – we actually choose toil and trouble.

 

There was Job – king, it would seem, of this world’s outcasts – seated on his dung-hill as upon a throne of utter wretchedness, arrayed with sores, scabs and putrefaction in guise of robes befitting his style of kingship.  So great was his lowliness, his self-abasement, you could not have told man from dung-hill, but for the voice.  Listen to that voice, I tell you – to Job’s voice exclaiming: What, should we accept the good fortune God sends us, and not the ill? (Jo. 2:10).  Heaven knows, that voice throbbed with love!

 

Job pondered the fact that God had sent him good fortune; thus he showed that he did not value his possessions simply because he benefited from them, but rather because they were the Lord’s gift. T hat was the reason he came to the conclusion that misfortune was to be lovingly endured; God sends it, and he has equal claim upon our love whether he sends distress or comfort.

 

Good fortune is readily acceptable to everybody; only perfect love embraces misfortune.  Love of misfortune is all the greater, since the only attraction to be found there is the fact that it is sent by God.

 

In springtime hounds are constantly at a loss, apparently lacking all sense of smell, because the scent of fields and flowers is stronger than that of hart or hare.  Amid the springtime of consolations love is but dimly aware of what pleases God, since the sense pleasure afforded by consolation distracts attention from the will of God.

 

When our Lord offered St. Catherine of Siena the choice of two crowns, one of gold and one of thorns, she chose the crown of thorns as more in keeping with love.  Choosing to suffer, said the saintly Angela of Foligno, is a certain proof of love; while St. Paul declared that he would not make a display of anything, except the cross (Gal. 6:14; 2 Cor. 12:5, 10), except the weaknesses that humiliated him, except the persecutions he underwent for Christ.

​

Back to Top

​