You will be consoled…
You will be consoled according to the greatness of your sorrow and affliction; the greater the suffering, the greater will be the reward.
–Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi (1566-1607)
Taking up our cross…
Taking up our cross means obediently and humbly submitting ourselves to those temporary sorrows and afflictions that Divine Providence sees fit to allow against us for the cleansing away of our sins. Then the cross will serve us as a ladder from earth to heaven. The thief in the Gospels who ascended this ladder ascended from out of terrible crimes into most radiant heavenly habitations. From his cross he pronounced words filled with humility of wisdom; in humility of wisdom he entered into the knowledge of God, and through the knowledge of God, he acquired heaven. We receive the due reward of our deeds, he said. ‘Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.’ (Lk. 23:41–42) When sorrows encompass us, let us also, beloved brothers and sisters, repeat the words of the good thief—words that can purchase paradise!
–Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov (1807-1867)
Take up your cross and follow…
Lift your eyes up to Heaven often; you are invited to take up your cross and follow Jesus Christ. “Through many tribulations one enters the Kingdom of Heaven.”
–Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)
By our acceptance of the Cross…
The consolation is this and this our faith too: by our suffering and our failures, by our acceptance of the Cross, we unleash forces that help to overcome the evil in the world.
–Dorothy Day (1897-1980)
In darkness one finds light…
Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.
–Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
To come to God…
To come to God who is everything and consequently all good, no fatigue must seem to us too great; we must not be put off either by the difficulties we meet on the way, but accept bitterness and welcome every kind of cross with eagerness. By these means, which are precisely those of Jesus Christ, it is not difficult to come to the true God, to live in charity, to walk in love.
–Saint Teresa Margaret (1747-1770)
About
