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Ember
PT

Fortitude, Patience

  1. It is better when burdened to be with th< strong, than unburdened with the weak. When you ar< loaded with afflictions you are with God, Who is your strength, anpl He is with the afflicted. When you are unburdened you are by yourself, who are weakness itself, for the virtue and fortitude of the soul grow and are made strong in tribulations.

  2. Your flesh is weak, and no worldly thing can strengthen or comfort your spirit ; that which is born of the world is worldly, and that which is born of flesh is flesh : a good spirit is born only of the Spirit of God, and is communicated neither through the world nor the flesh.

  3. The most delicate flower is the first to wither, and to lose its fragrance : therefore take care you do not walk in the way of spiritual sweetness, for you will never be firm. Choose rather a strong spirit, attached to nothing, and you will find sweetness and abundance of peace. Savoury, sweet, and lasting fruit is gathered only in a dry and cold soil.

  4. Though the road be plain and pleasant for men of good will, he who travels on it will travel little, and that with difficulty, if not possessed of courage, strength, and resolution.

  5. Feed not in forbidden pastures, which are those, of this life : the blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be filled.

  6. Verily he has overcome all things in whom pleasure in them excites no joy, and the bitterness of them no sadness.

  7. By fortitude the soul labours, practises virtue, and overcomes vice.

  8. Let your heart be strorig against everything that may draw you to that which is not God, and be at home in the sufferings of Christ.

  9. Rejoice in God always, for He is your salvation, and consider how blessed it is to suffer whatever may come from Him who is the true good.

  10. If you incline to aridities and suffering for the love of God, He will esteem that in you of more value than all the spiritual visions, meditations, and consola tions you may ever have.

  11. Never, for good or for evil, suffer your heart to be otherwise than calm in the affections of love ; that you may endure whatever may befall you.

  12. We are not to measure our trials by ourselves, but ourselves by our trials.

  13. If souls knew how much suffering and mortification help to the attainment of great blessings, they would never seek for consolation anywhere.

  14. If a soul has more patience under suffering, a greater endurance in the absence of sweetness, that is a sign of greater progress in virtue.

  15. The way of suffering is more secure and also more profitable than that of joy and action. In suffering, the strength of God is given to the soul, while in joy and action it has to do with its own weakness and imperfections : in suffering also virtues are required and practised ; the soul is purified, and is rendered more prudent and cautious.

  16. The soul that is not tried and proved in tempta tions and afflictions can never attain unto wisdom, as it is written in the book Ecclesiasticus : ' What doth he know that hath not been tried ? '

  17. The most perfect suffering brings with it the most perfect understanding.

Chapter 22 of 30