Patience hath a perfect work - 2

"Let man understand," says St. Augustine, "that God is a physician, and that tribulation is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation." Hence we ought to thank God when He chastises us, for His chastisements are a proof of His love for us, and that He wishes to number us amongst His children.

I. Be persuaded, says St. Augustine, that when the Lord sends you suffering He acts as a physician; and that the tribulation He sends you is not the punishment of condemnation, but a remedy for your salvation. "Let man understand," says the holy Doctor, "that God is a physician, and that tribulation is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation." Hence you ought to thank God when He chastises you; for His chastisements are a proof that He loves you, and receives you into the number of His children. Whoever the Lord loveth, says St. Paul, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth (Heb. xii. 6). Hence, St. Augustine says: "Do you enjoy consolation? Acknowledge a father who caresses you: Are you in tribulation? Recognise a parent who corrects you." On the other hand, the same holy Doctor says: "Unhappy you, if after you have sinned God exempts you from scourges in this life. It is a sign that He excludes you from the number of His children." Say not, then, for the future, when you find yourself in tribulation, that God has forgotten you; say rather that you have forgotten your sins. He who knows that He has offended God must pray with St. Bonaventure: "Hasten, O Lord, hasten, and wound Thy servants with sacred wounds, lest they be wounded with the wounds of death." Hasten, O Lord, wound Thy servants with the wounds of love and salvation, that they may escape the wounds of Thy wrath and of eternal death.

II. Let us rest assured that God sends us crosses not for our destruction but for our salvation. If we know not how to turn them to our own profit it is entirely our own fault. Explaining the words: the house of Israel is become dross to me, all these are... iron and lead in the midst of the furnace (Ezech. xxii. 18), St. Gregory says: "As if God should say: 'I wished to purify them by the fire of tribulation, and sought to make them gold, but in the furnace they have become unto me iron and lead.'" I have endeavoured by the fire of tribulation to change them into pure gold, but they have been converted into lead. These are the sinners who, though they have several times deserved hell, when visited with any calamity, break out into impatience and anger; they almost wish to look upon God as if guilty of injustice and tyranny, and even go so far as to say: But, O Lord, I am not the only one who has offended Thee. It would appear I am the only person whom Thou chastisest. I am weak; I have not strength to bear so great a cross. Miserable man, alas! What do you say? You say to God: I am not the only one who has offended Thee. If others have offended God, He will punish them also in this life if He wills to show mercy to them; but do you not know that, according to the word of God—My indignation shall rest in thee, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and... I will be angry no more (Ezech. xvi. 42) the greatest chastisement God can inflict on sinners is not to chastise them on this earth? I have no more zeal for your soul, and therefore as long as you live you shall never more feel my anger. But St. Bernard says: "God's anger is greatest when He is not angry. I wish, O Father of Mercies, that Thou mayest be angry with me." God's wrath against sinners is greatest when He is not angry with them, and abstains from chastising them. Hence the Saint prayed the Lord, saying: Lord, I wish that Thou shouldst treat me with the mercy of the Father of Mercies, and therefore I wish that Thou shouldst chastise me here for my sins, and thus save me from Thy everlasting vengeance. Do you say, I have not strength to bear this cross? But if you have not strength why do you not ask it of God? He has promised to give His aid to all who pray for it: Ask, and it shall be given you (Matt. vii. 7).