rstand it; all feel the weight of it, but all do not know
the power of it. Like fortune, it knocks at every door, into every heart
it endeavors to enter and make known its deeper significance, its hidden
secrets, lest any of us should suffer in vain, and our lives be altogether
a failure. To be able to suffer patiently and gladly for God's sake, is
thus a great wisdom; it is a sign of future blessedness. It is the wisdom
of God, which is foolishness to men. "If thou hadst the science of all the
astronomers," says Eternal Wisdom; "if thou couldst speak and discourse
about God as fully and well as all angels and men; if thou alone were as
learned as the whole body of doctors; all this would not bestow on thee so
much holiness of life as if, in the afflictions that come upon thee, thou
art able to be resigned to Me and to abandon thyself to Me. The former is
common to good and bad, but the latter belongs to My elect alone."

We know that our Saviour took upon Himself the cross of sorrow and
suffering, not alone that He might satisfy for our transgressions and be
our ransom from bondage, but also that He might be unto us an example and
a leader. And knowing that our unfaithfulness had incurred severest
maladies from which none could escape, He bore our infirmities and carried
our sorrows for us, in order that we, in our time, might bear our
inevitable afflictions for His sake, for love of Him, and thereby attain
to unending glory with Him. "For the spirit himself giveth testimony to
our spirit, that we are the sons of God. And if sons, heirs also; heirs,
indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ: yet so, if we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified with him."(57) "If you partake of the
sufferings of Christ," says St. Peter, "rejoice that when his glory shall
be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."(58) The chains of
sorrow which bind us here below, our Shepherd thus would turn to golden
cords of love, which draw and hold us to Himself. We cannot, as we see,
ascend to Heaven, rise to blessedness, except by the way of the cross. And
our degree of glory in Heaven, the eternal happiness which we shall enjoy,
will be in proportion to the degree of charity or love of God which our
souls possess at death; and this divine charity, which is to measure our
future beatitude, is acquired and augmented by faithfully doing the will
of God--by patiently and lovingly bearing the cross of life. Sacrifice is
the test of