Strength in Suffering

It is the incomprehensible fact of God entering into history; that he stepped into our law, into our space, into our existence -- and not only like one of us, but as one of us. That is the thrill and the incomprehensibility of this event.

History now becomes the Son's mode of existence; historical destiny becomes his destiny. He is to be encountered on our streets. In the darkest cellars and the loneliest prisons of life, we will meet him. And that is already the first blessing and consecration of the burden: that he is to be met under its weight.

Along with the first blessing, there is a second: All those hauling the same load feel it when a new, powerful shoulder places itself under the burden and joins in carrying.

And let the third blessing be spoken simultaneously with the other two: ever since that Holy Night, the divine-human life became the primordial model of existence, according to which all life will be formed by God, if we do not resist this formation. The strength for mastery of life grows through the influx of divine life among those to whom Christ has made himself known, among the greater human community as well as small groups brought together by circumstance.

We will be better able to cope with life, more efficient and capable of life, if we open ourselves to the instructions of this coming night. Let us hike and journey onward, neither avoiding nor shunning the streets and terror of life. Something new has been born in us, and we do not want to tire of believing the star of the promises and acknowledging the singing angels' Gloria -- even if it is sometimes through tears. Our distress has truly become transformed, because we have been raised above it.

--Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J. (died 1945) was condemned to death in Germany during WWII.

Mary's Magnificat

The soul of Mary magnifies the Lord because she herself is magnified by the Lord. For unless she were first magnified by the Lord, Mary's soul could not magnify the Lord. Therefore she magnifies him by whom she is magnified, magnifies him not only by the speech of her lips, not only by the holiness of her body, but the unequaled quality of her love...

How do you magnify him? Do you make greater him whose magnificence has no end? Great is the Lord, says the Psalmist, and greatly to be praised. Great he is, and so great that his greatness has neither comparison nor measure. How then do you magnify one whom you cannot from small make great nor from great greater? But you magnify because you praise, you magnify because amid the darkness of the world, being brighter than the sun, lovelier than the moon, more fragrant than the rose, whiter than snow, you spread abroad the splendor of the knowledge of God. You magnify him therefore not by increasing his surpassing greatness but by bringing the unknown radiance of the true deity to the world's darkness...

Your soul stretches so far through its longing for love that it reaches the very word of God. For you are Moses' basket, you are the vessel containing the Word, you are the storehouse of the new wine by which the soberness of believers becomes inebriated. You are the Mother of God, the limit set to sin, by whom men rise from the depths of vice and reach the delights of angels.

--Fr. Adam of Perseigne (died c. 1221) was an abbot in a monastery in France and a counselor to nuns, priests, and kings.

Secret Greatness

Jesus in the praetorium is the image of man who has "given God's power back to him." He expiated all the abuse we have made and continue to make of our freedom; this freedom we want no one to touch and which is nothing other than slavery to ourselves. We must impress this episode of Jesus in the praetorium well into our hearts, because the day will come when we will also find ourselves in this state, either due to man or to age, and then only Jesus will be able to help us understand and sing, amid tears, our new-found freedom. There is an intimacy with Jesus that can only be obtained by staying close to him, cheek to cheek, in the hour of his and our ignominy, we too bearing "his abuse" (see Heb 13:13). Many people have been condemned by illness or a disability to a helplessness similar to Christ's in the praetorium and have to spend their lives in wheelchairs, or in bed. Jesus reveals the secret greatness hidden in these lives if lived in union with him.

--Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap.

Purgatory

I would go so far as to say that if there was no purgatory, then we would have to invent it, for who would dare say of himself that he was able to stand directly before God. And yet we don't want to be, to use an image from Scripture, "a pot that turned out wrong," that has to be thrown away; we want to be able to be put right. Purgatory basically means that God can put the pieces back together again. That he can cleanse us in such a way that we are able to be with him and can stand there in the fullness of life. Purgatory strips off from one person what is unbearable and from another the inability to bear certain things, so that in each of them a pure heart is revealed, and we can see that we all belong together in one enormous symphony of being.
--Pope Benedict XVI

The Fruit of Sorrows

The tragedies of this world take on their full meaning when one looks at life from a realistic point of view... We should not struggle against what has been decided by God. Men are only instruments, and if this seems obscure to those living in the world, it is not so for those who must share in this work of mercy. Certainly, it is not easy, and we must endure a very painful ordeal, but with the trial come graces, and then sadness is turned into joy.

Believe me, Mama, there is no injustice willingly accepted that does not bear fruit a hundredfold, and receive its just reward, prodigal beyond our comprehension. Do not think that all the sorrows that have overwhelmed our family in recent years are useless. On the contrary, they are necessary, in order that just reparation may be made, and that through this the love of Christ may be given us in all its fullness. The law of life is that some pay for others, young branches full of sap are cut back and old, unproductive boughs left in their place. This seems unjust, and it would be, if compensation far outweighing anything life could offer were not given to these victims, who are by the very fact privileged. Joy, then, not sadness! If life is worth living and if you feel weary and exhausted to the point of death, it is because your soul is famished for the life-giving nourishment which will yield unending joy.

It is only recently that I have come to understand the meaning of the cross. It is at once prodigious and atrocious: prodigious because it gives us life, and atrocious because if we do not accept to be crucified all life is denied us. This is a great mystery, and blessed are the persecuted.

--Jacques Fesch

Renew the Face of the Earth

There is a saying: "Send forth your Spirit and all things will be created and you shall renew the face of the earth." Do you realize that that is true--that he can come like a gentle breath "blowing where it listens and you hear the sound thereof but cannot tell whence it comes, and where it goes," and that he can touch your soul and make everything different? What was real before still remains, yet everything has been renewed. Then you become aware that you have a heart and that you, too, have received the ability to love, and things are filled with a gentle and holy meaning, and you know that everything is good and that it is worthwhile--divinely worthwhile--to be alive and to persevere.

--Monsignor Romano Guardini

To Thirst

Christ, the source of life, addressed his clear call to all generations: "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink." Only one condition is laid down: to thirst.
--Fr. M.M. Philipon, O.P.