On Patience in Sufferings

First Point - When great evils oppress the sinner, the thought of hell ought to be a powerful motive of patience. Ought the sinner to complain of any evil, however great it may appear, when he realizes that he has deserved the pains of hell, that is to say, an infinite, an eternal evil? If a lost soul could exchange places with you, you who murmur on account of your evils, he would esteem himself happy; your state would be paradise to him. At present, your state seems a hell to you because you do not meditate on the pains of hell, nor fully realize that you have deserved hell as your portion. No suffering should appear unbearable to one who has deserved the pains of hell.

Second Point - The thought of Calvary should be a great motive of patience to a Christian. Compare your sufferings with those of Jesus Christ, and you will be ashamed to complain of them. Christ did not complain, because He knew that He was suffering for you; yet you dare complain, knowing, as you do, that you suffer for Christ and with Him. He suffered and He was innocent, yet He did not complain. You suffer and you are guilty, yet you complain. The sufferings that He endured were almost without number; moreover He had no one to comfort Him; your sufferings are few and easy to bear; and God sends you many graces to give you strength to bear them. Christ was taunted to come down from the cross. He could have done so had He willed it, but He preferred to remain there and die on the cross. Christ has placed you on a cross; He desires you to remain on it. You can not be assured of your salvation unless you remain there crucified with Christ; yet you make every effort to come down from that cross.

Third Point - The thought of heaven ought to be a great motive of patience to one that suffers. "I beseech thee, my son, look upon heaven" (2 Machabees 7:28) said the mother of the Machabees to one of her sons. When your sufferings are most severe, the thought of the eternal happiness which will be yours, if you bear them in the spirit of Christ, should make you rejoice to suffer. As soon as Saint Paul was converted, God announced to him that He must endure great sufferings for His name. And the Apostle tells us that these sufferings were excessive. "For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, of our tribulation, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above our strength, so that we were weary even of life" (2 Corinthians 1:8). Yet the Apostle assures us that although his sufferings were many and hard to bear, they were nothing in comparison with the recompense for which he hoped. I exceedingly abound with joy in all our tribulation. (2 Corinthians 7:4) In the midst of our greatest sufferings, then, should we not be filled with joy? The martyrs were so possessed by the thought of the crown they were about to receive, that they scarcely felt the torments inflicted upon them. You that are so impatient in your sufferings, meditate on the eternal happiness that awaits you.

Accustom yourself to meditate often on hell, Calvary and heaven when you feel your courage weakening in the midst of your tribulations.

The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us. - Romans 8:18

When the soul is filled with the thought of heaven, it is scarcely sensible to the sufferings of the body. - Tertullian

- text taken from Meditations for Every Day in a Month, by Father François Nepveu