Patience too is an efficacious means of salvation: "In patentia possidebitis animas vestras," says the Lord.Patience too is an efficacious means of salvation: "In patentia possidebitis animas vestras," says the Lord.
This virtue was so deeply rooted in the heart of Saint Vincent that he felt uneasy whenever he was deprived of any affliction, either in his own person or in that of his children. He said to them one day: "I was thinking . . . that the Company was suffering nothing, that everything was successful and prospering; let us even say that it was blessed by God in every way, without experiencing either reverses or vexations. I began to mistrust this tranquillity, knowing that it is God's Way to exercise those whom He loves. I remember what was related of Saint Ambrose, who on one of his journeys stopped at a house, where he heard that the master did not know the very meaning of affliction; on hearing this the holy bishop, enlightened by heavenly wisdom, concluded that this house, being treated so mildly, was near its ruin. 'Let us leave this place,' he exclaimed, 'the anger of God is going to fall upon this house.' And, in fact, no sooner was he outside than the lightning, overthrowing it, buried in its ruins all those who were within!
"On the other hand," he continued, "I saw several Communities who were troubled from time to time, and a prey to terrible persecutions . . . and I said to myself: 'This is how God would treat us if we were solidly established in virtue. But, knowing our weakness. He lifts us up and feeds us with milk, like little children, and makes everything succeed with us, almost without our putting out a finger; I was right therefore, on these grounds, to fear that we were not pleasing to God nor worthy to suffer anything for love of Him. . ."
What he said to the whole Community in general he said to one of the Superiors of his houses, who was explaining the difficulties he found in governing: "Oh, sir, would you like to be without any suffering? It would be better for you to be seized by a devil than to be without a cross. Yes, for in that case the devil could do no injury to the soul; but if one had nothing to suffer, neither soul nor body would be conformed to Jesus Christ suffering; and nevertheless this conformity is the sign of our predestination. Therefore do not be astonished at your troubles, since the Son of God has chosen them for your salvation."
To one of his Missioners he said: "Is not your heart greatly consoled to find that you have been found worthy in God's sight to suffer in His service? Certainly you owe Him special gratitude for this, and you are bound to ask Him for the grace to make a good use of it."
To another: "Well, sir, we must go to God per infamiam et bonam famam, and His Divine Goodness shows us mercy when He allows us to be publicly blamed or to be despised. I have no doubt that you accepted patiently the shame of what took place. If the glory of the world is nothing but smoke, the reverse is something very solid if it is accepted in the right way, and I hope that great good will come to us out of this humiliation. May God grant us the grace of many other humiliations, that through them we may deserve to be more pleasing to Him. We must ardently desire to have crosses, and I will say, with Saint Francis Xavier: 'Still more, O Lord, still more.'"
The patience of the Saint in hardships, or rather his love of sufferings, never appeared with so much splendour as in his sickness. A Missioner, who was touched by the state in which he saw the venerable old man, allowed this complaint to escape his lips: "Oh, father, how grievous are your sufferings!"
"What!" interrupted the saintly invalid, "do you call the work of God and what He ordains grievous, in making a miserable sinner like me to suffer? May God forgive you, sir, for what you have just said, for that is not the language of Jesus Christ! Is it not just that the guilty should suffer? In any case, do we not belong to God rather than to ourselves?"
He said to his Community: "We must acknowledge that the state of sickness is a difficult one, and almost unbearable to nature, and yet it is one of the most powerful means of which God makes use to bring us back to our duty, to detach us from affection to sin, and to fill us with His gifts and graces. It is by this means, gentlemen, that souls are purified, and those who possess no virtue have an efficacious means of acquiring it. Indeed, one could not find a better chance to practise it. In sickness faith is marvellously tried; hope shines brightly therein; resignation, the Love of God and all the virtues find ample scope for practice."
Saint Vincent had always been subject to a slight fever, which lasted sometimes for three or four days, and sometimes a fortnight or more. During these attacks he would not seek any relief, and never interrupted his labours or exercises. To this fever was added a quartan ague, which attacked him once or twice every year; he took no more notice of it than of the former. Although in similar cases he would have had the least of his brethren taken to the infirmary, he himself never did go, at any rate not before he was more than eighty years old and the weakness of his body got the better of his courage. The remainder of his life became an ever-increasing complication of troubles. In 1656 a fever, which lasted several days, brought on a serious inflammation of the leg; he had to keep to his bed for many days. His brethren took advantage of this opportunity to install him in a room with a fire, for up to this it had been impossible to persuade him to make use of one.
This slight relief soon became far more necessary for him. The inflammation in his legs increased so much that he needed the patience of a Saint to endure his sufferings. The disease spread to the two knees, and in the end the left leg broke out at the ankle. Two years later fresh ulcers formed, and early in 1659 the pain of the knees became so great that it was no longer possible for him to leave the house. Nevertheless he continued for some time to go down to the church for meditation and Mass. But towards the end of the same year this too became impossible and he was obliged to celebrate Holy Mass in the infirmary chapel. Some time after his legs failed him altogether, and he could no longer ascend the altar and had to content himself with hearing Holy Mass, which he did until the day of his death.
To these habitual infirmities another was added; it caused him such suffering that he exclaimed sometimes, in the words of Saint Bernard: "If it is thus Thou treatest Thy friends in the time of mercy, what wilt Thou do to Thy enemies in Thy vengeance?"
The state to which the Saint was now reduced showed him plainly that the end was not far, although as yet there was no indication of failure or decline. Sickness, which usually saddens those who pass through great sufferings, seemed to produce the contrary effect on him. All those who came to visit him (and they came at all hours, both strangers and inmates) always found him with a serene and smiling face, his words and manner mellowed by that sweetness which wins all hearts. If he were asked about his health he spoke in such a way as to give the impression that it did not matter; then, turning the conversation from his own sufferings, he began to discuss their trials. When the pain became almost intolerable no other words escaped his lips but this very tender exclamation: "Oh! my Saviour; my good Saviour!" Then he gave a glance at the Crucifix which he kept before him, and he felt fresh strength to endure his sickness. In all his behaviour one could recognize the solid Christian principles which Saint Vincent contemplated in the Life of Our Lord, his Great Model, Who had willed to pass through the most severe trials and endure the bitterest hatred let loose against Him on the shameful cross of Calvary.
Again, what rendered him so calm in the midst of his greatest sufferings was that, on the one hand, sorrows never pour upon us except by the Will of God, according to the words of the prophet (Amos 3:6): "Shall evil befall a city, and the Lord hath not done it?"; and on the other hand, the Lord only afflicts His servants when He has merciful designs upon them. He thence concluded that those who suffer are loved by Heaven and cherished in the same proportion, and at the very time they receive: desolation upon desolation, and trouble upon trouble.
He said that "one single day of temptation brings more merit than many years of tranquillity; a soul always in a state of calm and repose resembles those stagnant waters which become muddy and infected; on the contrary, the soul shaken by tribulation resembles those streams that run through rocks and pebbles, and the waters of which are sweet and pure as crystal. Crosses teach us not only patience, but also compassion towards our neighbour, and Jesus Christ willed to suffer so much that we might possess in His Person a Pontiff Who could have compassion on our weakness."
His last principle on this point was that of Saint Paul: that "God does not permit us to be tempted or afflicted beyond our strength, but that He helps us by His grace to draw profit from the pains and contradictions that we have to bear." He maintained that these troubles and contradictions are a pledge of the happiest success. Indeed experience had proved to him a hundred times that Missions and other exercises of his Congregation never succeeded better than when they had cost much to nature. It was just this conviction which made him say, about some serious affliction which befell several of his priests, that if they knew how to make the same use of their persecutions as the Apostles did they would overthrow the devil by his own weapons.
Practice - Let us take courage in suffering for the Love of God. If our soul is filled with joy at the thought of the greatness of the promised reward, we must not be frightened at the thought of what we must suffer in order to take possession of it. My Jesus, accept, for Thy greater Glory, and for my own spiritual advantage, all the pains which I shall have to endure until the hour of my death.
- text taken from Virtue and Christian Refinement According to the Spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul, by Saint John Bosco