De divina consolatione in tribulatione
The Fellowship of the Cross
In times of tribulation and unjust treatment, the believer is invited to find consolation by identifying with the suffering and silence of Christ.
The Lord is near to those who are troubled in heart. No one is found so good and devout that they don't encounter some burden and weight. When, therefore, you are in tribulation and sorrow of heart, you are then with Jesus on the cross. But when you are comforted again in prayer through the grace of the Holy Spirit, you then rise from the grave as if from the dead with Christ, and you celebrate Easter in the newness of life with Jesus in a jubilant heart. When, however, you hear someone saying unworthy and harsh words to you, you are then given the cup of the Lord to drink as medicine for your soul. Be silent and drink the cups of salvation without complaining, and the Lord will answer for you in life and in death. God won't forget you. Nothing is more glorious than to stop the mouth of one speaking unjustly by being silent and enduring, and to follow the example of Christ, who was silent before Pilate, to whom many false things were brought as charges.
The True Lover of the Crucified
True devotion is proven through the willingness to endure adversity and self-denial, ultimately leading to a longing for eternal union with Christ.
You aren't better than your God, who was whipped, mocked, and finally killed by wicked men for your sake. A person doesn't know how good and virtuous they are until they've been tested by adversity. Christ has many who love him and share his table, but few who follow him in his self-denial. A true lover of the Crucified doesn't shrink from suffering pain or being shamed by the perverse, so that they might be like Christ in the scandal of the cross. For to the one for whom Christ is life, suffering and dying for Christ is the greatest gain. The more ardently someone loves God, the less they fear death, and the more they long to be set free so they can live happily with Christ and rejoice forever with the angels. Blessed is the soul that loves Jesus from the depths of its heart; it counts present goods as nothing for the love of eternal things, patiently endures evils for the name of Jesus, and humbly prostrates itself at the feet of Jesus, praying that it may grow in virtue and persevere with constancy.
Read the original Latin
Iuxta est Dominus his qui tribulato sunt corde. Nemo invenitur tam bonus et devotus: cui non occurrit aliquid oneris et gravitatis. Cum ergo fueris in tribulatione et cordis maerore: tunc es cum Iesu in cruce. Cum autem iterum consolaris in oratione per gratiam sancti Spiritus; tunc quasi ex mortuis cum Christo resurgis de sepulchro: et celebras pascha in novitate vitae cum Iesu in corde iubilando. Cum vero audieris aliquem indigna et dura verba tibi dicentem: tunc datur tibi de calice Domini bibere, pro medicina animae tuae. Tace et bibe salutis pocula sine murmure: et Dominus respondebit pro te in vita et in morte. Non obliviscetur tui Deus. Nihil gloriosius: quam silendo et patiendo obstruere os loquentis iniqua; et sequi exemplum Christi tacentis coram Pilato: cui multa falsa fuere obiecta.
Non enim es melior Deo tuo pro te flagellato ac deriso: et tandem a malignis occiso. Nescit homo quam bonus sit et virtuosus: nisi cum vexatus fuerit adversis. Christus multos habet amatores et sodales mensae: sed paucos sectatores abstinentiae. Verus amator Crucifixi, non refugit pati dolores, nec confundi a perversis ut sit Christo conformis in scandalo crucis. Nam cui Christus vivere est: huic pati et mori pro Christo lucrum est maximum. Quanto ardentius Deum quis diligit: tanto minus mortem timet; et amplius dissolvi concupiscit ut cum Christo feliciter vivat: et in perpetuum cum angelis gaudeat. Felix anima quae Iesum medullitus amat; praesentia bona amore aeternorum vilipendit: pro nomine Iesu mala patienter tolerat; et ad pedes Iesu humiliter se prosternit et orat: ut in virtutibus proficiat et constans perseveret.
The Little Garden of Roses & The Valley of Lilies companion
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