Book II, Chapter VIII

He that can best tell how to suffer, will best keep himself in peace

(On these words) — “He that can best tell how to suffer, will best keep himself in peace.” B. ii. c. 7-

Question. — By what road can we arrive at true peace in this world?

Answer. — By patience. This path is difficult, and almost unknown to those who think that peace consists in abundant worldly goods, and in sensual pleasures, being unable to believe that it can be found elsewhere. It is true that it is found only in satisfaction of some kind, but not in that which they love and seek so passionately. For there are two sorts of satisfaction, one low, the other lofty. The first, which serves only to delight the senses, is the most loved, and is preferred to the second, which is pure, and wholly spiritual. Yet peace is contained in this last, and we can never possess it, except we repose on truly good things; that is, on those spiritual treasures that God has promised and reserved for His servants. Those who imagine it to be found in fleshly enjoyments are grossly deceived. In truth, it cannot be obtained but by the way of suffering; for it is impossible in this life to content both flesh and spirit, and to satisfy the spirit, we must mortify the flesh.

Moses says, in speaking of the flood, that the waters increased, and bare up the ark9 and it was lift up above the earth. Gen. vii. 17. In like manner we may say, that afflictions, signified by these waters, assist the soul in raising itself and approaching to Heaven. When a sudden inundation covers the lower

GAINS THE TRUEST PEACE. 89 story of a house, we mount to the second floor; and if the waters continue to increase, we climb even to I the roof. Thus the good man who is afflicted in his J flesh and in his senses, that is, the lower part of his; soul, takes refuge as we may say in the upper part, where he finds peace, and the God of peace Himself but he does not leave this lower part, unless tribulations attack him there; and as long as he abides there, he is a sensual man, constantly exposed to the temptations of the evil one, and in danger of perishing.

A man should consider that it is natural to him to love those things which gratify his sensuality; but that there are a thousand obstacles to hinder him from satisfying this violent passion, and thus he never enjoys solid peace. All is serene in the upper regions of the air; it is in the lower that thunderstorms and tempests are found. The true spring of peace is freedom of heart. Is it possible to conceive a greater blindness than that of the world, which makes it a rule to flee from all that causes pain? People desire to be well treated, well lodged, honoured and applauded in all things. Those who set up their rest in good things of this kind cannot be fully satisfied, because their joys are mixed with innumerable sorrows. Those, on the other hand, who despise them, and who love sufferings, have their minds calm even in the midst of affliction, by virtue of that grace which strengthens them. But it is to be observed, that in the enjoyment of this peace, which is the effect of a long habit of suffering, there are, as it were, three degrees of perfection; so that from the first we ascend to the second, and from the second to the third.

1. The first degree consists in receiving placidly all vexations here below; and this is called patience. The patient man, who is desirous only of imitating the Saviour, most willingly accepts poverty, sickness, the inconveniences of cold or of heat, persecutions, i 3

90 WHO CAN BEST TELL HOW TO SUFFER and in general all things that are most hard and unendurable in life, for the love of the Cross alone, through a generous desire to crush in himself all selflove, whose ordinary nourishment is the delight of the senses.

In this the soul feels a pleasure which sweetens ail bitterness, calms all uneasiness, and removes her natural repugnance to endure insults without excusing herself or accusing others. Thus she becomes hardened to sufferings, and is at last in such a state as no longer to apprehend present evils; being fully persuaded that they are sent her by God, and that He is pleased to try her patience, as He has done that of the Saints, without sparing even His own Son. She therefore resigns herself to the Divine Will, feels no impatience, abstains from all complaint, and thereby acquires a placid calmness, wherein consist true peace of mind. As fon those who resist Grace, and rest on created things, they enjoy indeed some slight pleasure, but not perfect satisfaction, such as that of the lovers of the Cross, who, by accepting sufferings, raise themselves above sensible objects, in which the others think to find their blessedness on earth.

2. The second sort of peace obtained by those who learn to suffer, is no less sweet, but it is more firm and more constant than the former. It is a disposition of mind which abandons itself, and even takes pleasure in adversities, in humiliations, in sufferings, with humble submission to the Divine Will, and with the design of seeking conformity to Jesus’ Suffering. When a man thus resolves upon patience, and can overcome the weakness of nature always averse to crosses, he feels within him a calm, a firmness of i courage, a strength and a power able to resist persecutions, and the severest pains. He appears immove-; able as a rock amidst the waves, and is never more firm than when he seems overcome, so that he may;

GAINS THE TRUEST PEACE. 91 say with the Apostle, When I am weak, then am 1 strong. 2 Cor. xii. 10.

This extraordinary strength proceeds from Grace, which endures all things, and which renders him so courageous, so eager for sufferings, that he says boldly to God, “ Give me crosses, Lord, give me crosses; more, yet more; augment my toils, multiply my sorrows.” His fervour arrives at such a pitch, that he cannot endure to live without suffering, and that when he does not suffer, he languishes like a man pressed and tormented by hunger; but directly God begins anew to afflict him, his strength and courage return, and he is vigorous as after repose. As soldiers, accustomed to a hard life, despise delicacies and comforts, so a generous spirit asks not for consolations, but rather for hard trials, and painful labours for the glory of Christ.

Those who desire to strengthen children, and to accustom them to fatigue, nourish them with plain food, occupy them in laborious exercises, and give them a horror of every thing approaching to effeminacy. So does God deal with those whom He destines to be instruments of His glory. He sends them afflictions, that suffering may become to them a custom and a pleasure; and when they are fully convinced of the great advantages of the Cross, He gives them such a taste of its fruits, that they cannot do otherwise than desire them, that they seek them eagerly, that they can never have enough of them, and find them wonderfully sweet and delicious. In this peace there is then not only sweetness but strength; and the man who obtains it becomes so fervent, that, like the Apostles, and many other Saints, he ardently desires to be ill-treated, outraged, persecuted even to death. Divine love is like a lamp, and the oil which maintains it is labour and suffering. The knowledge of the excellent fruits produced by the Cross, gives to

92 WHO CAN BEST TELL HOW TO SUFFER lofty souls an insatiable desire for suffering, and a constancy in afflictions far greater than is shown by others amidst the pleasures of life. They must either “ die or suffer,” said St. Theresa.

The third sort of peace is a sublime and tranquil disposition of the soul which loses itself in God, and which finds in that Fountain of true pleasures satisfaction, a rest, which St. Paul calls the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, Phil. iv. 7, and which is found, neither in the good things of this world, nor in good things above this world, which are not the supreme Good; a peace, in short, whose sole foundation is the joy of beholding the satisfaction of God; a happiness incomparably greater than all sensible joys.

In this state man is most closely united with his Creator, and begins to live a heavenly and more than human life. From thence it often arises, that those who, in the extremest anguish, abandon themselves to the will of God without once swerving, however desolate they be, speak of the things of God in so lively, so animated, so touching a manner, that they give marvellous comfort to the most afflicted. That which gives so much energy to their words is, that their peace is in the higher part of their spirit, and depends not on the operations of their senses, either external or interior. It even happens sometimes, that though some of them, overwhelmed by the deepest melancholy, think themselves cast-aways, they do not cease to convert sinners, and to lead them efficaciously to love Him by Whom they think themselves abandoned. This comes not, and cannot come, from any sensible pleasure, for in the lower part of their soul there is nothing but gloom and sorrow. It can then proceed only from that peace which is above the reach of disquiet and of trouble.

But what is the cause of this perfect tranquillity?

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It is suffering; and we may venture to say, that the more the soul is afflicted to her inmost depths, the more her peace enlargeth, there being nothing which contributes more to establish it than privation of spiritual joys, inward desertion, and many other sufferings, which are the favours that God bestows upon His chosen friends. He is pleased truly to treat them as strangers and enemies, but it is only to teach them to trust all things to Him, and that dying to themselves, they may rest peacefully within His Heart, that lofty Heart®, inaccessible to all sorrows, according to the words of the Prophet, There shall no evil happen unto thee9 neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. Ps. xci. 10. He offers them, then, His Heart as a place of refuge. There they dwell with Him, forgetting themselves, regarding Him alone, loving and desiring none but Him. There also is shed over all the powers of their soul a secret virtue, which so fortifies them, that no evil accident has power to shake them. 41 Lord,” say they, 44 Thy will be done,” and not ours; fearing nothing in this world but the anger of God. God alone acts on their will, and on their reason, He only has the key of their heart, and this is the cause that in the superior part of the soul they enjoy a peace which all created things together can never trouble.