De divino solacio in tribulatione pro Christo
The Compassionate Physician
Christ is the ultimate companion and comforter for those who suffer, as promised in the Scriptures.
In the world you will have trouble, but take heart: I have overcome the world. People often say in their proverbs: it's a comfort to the miserable to have a companion in their suffering. Who is this companion, so good and kind, who knows how to sympathize with the miserable and the weak? It is our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered and was crucified for us; who in the Gospel calls himself the physician and shepherd of souls, and the comforter of the troubled, the poor, the weak, the fallen, and the wounded. He says, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." Saint David speaks similarly of this same thing, bringing comfort to the sad. The Lord is near to those who are brokenhearted. And again in another psalm, so that no one who is tempted or troubled might despair, God speaks through himself, saying:
The Logic of the Cross
Affliction is a necessary medicine and a shared burden that links the servant to the innocent suffering of the Lord.
When I am with Him in tribulation, I will rescue Him and honor Him. It is a great comfort to those who are afflicted and suffering in various ways, because Christ Himself was tempted and afflicted with many sorrows for our sake. If it weren't useful and healthy for our souls to suffer and be troubled in this world, God would not allow it, since He is supremely good and just in all His ways. Therefore, who are you to dare to contradict your Lord when He, for His own Son, did not spare Him from the scourges, being guilty of many sins? It is just that a bad and useless servant should not contradict his Lord when he is struck, at least a little, since the Son, who is beloved in all things and guiltless in none, was struck with such great blows. It is also just that a sick person, who is to be healed, should drink a little briefly from the same cup; from which a healthy doctor drinks the whole cup of bitterness offered to him, so that he may cleanse the whole poison of death and perfectly heal a man killed in soul and body, and free him from eternal death. Therefore, let the servant's burden be lightened by considering the much heavier burden of his innocent Lord. The pain of the sick person is greatly mitigated if he diligently considers that this affliction is a purification for sins and a hope of eternal salvation.
Clothed in the King's Purple
Suffering is an honorable garment of humility and patience that prepares the soul for eternal glory.
It's a great and honorable thing for a poor servant if he is clothed in the same garments as his Lord, and marked with the purple of the King's Son—the very mark that makes him worthy to enter the wedding feast of the eternal King. Jesus's garments are humility of heart, poverty in necessities, patience in adversity, and perseverance in virtue. Whoever accepts the rod of God as a gift brings back the health of his soul from the blow, and will receive a crown of greater glory in heaven. Blessed is the one who understands the needs of the poor and needy Jesus—who for our sake became naked and destitute, though he was the richest of all—and follows him by patiently bearing his own cross in daily labors for the salvation of his soul, even unto death.
Read the original Latin
In mundo pressuram habebitis: sed confidite ego vici mundum. Dicitur in proverbiis a multis: solacium est miseris socium habere in poenis. Quis est iste socius tam bonus et pius; qui scit compati miseris et infirmis? Iste est Dominus noster Iesus Christus pro nobis passus et crucifixus; qui in evanasgelio dicit se medicum et pastorem esse animarum: et consolatorem tribulatorum pauperum, et infirmorum lapsorum et vulneratorum. Non est inquit opus sanis medicus: sed male habentibus. Et similiter de eodem loquitur sanctus David: ita consolando tristes. Iuxta est Dominus his qui tribulato sunt corde. Et iterum in alio psalmo de quolibet temptato et tribulato ne desperet: ita per se ipsum loquitur Deus dicens.
Cum ipso sum in tribulatione: eripiam eum et glorificabo eum. Est enim vere magna consolatio tristibus et variis modis afflictis quia Christus fuit etiam temptatus tristis et in multis doloribus pro nobis afflictus. Nisi enim esset utile et salubre animae nostrae pati et tribulari in mundo; non permitteret hoc Deus fieri: qui est summe bonus et iustus in omnibus viis suis. Qui ergo proprio Filio suo non pepercit a flagellis; tu quis es qui audes contradicere verberibus eius, reus in multis peccatis? Iustum est enim ut servus malus et inutilis non contradicat Domino suo percussus saltem in modico quando Filius in omnibus dilectus et in nullo culpabilis tantis plagis fuit percussus. Iustum etiam est ut de eodem calice aegrotus sanandus modicum breviter bibat: de quo medicus sanus totum amaritudinis poculum sibi oblatum bibit; ut totum mortis venenum purgaret: et hominem in anima et corpore necatum perfecte sanaret etao ab aeterna morte liberaret. Alleviatur igitur multum onus servi: in consideratione gravioris ponderis innocentis Domini sui. Mitigatur valde dolor languentis, si diligenter pensat quoniam haec afflictio spie tolerata est purgatio pro peccatis: et spes aeternae salutis.
Magnum namque et honorificum est pauperi servo si ipse fuerit Domini sui panno eodem vestitus, et purpura Filii Regis insignitus: cum qua meretur ad Regis aeterni nuptias introire. Panni Iesu sunt humilitas cordis, paupertas in necessariis: patientia in adversis, perseverantia in virtutibus. Qui virgam Dei pro munere accipit; salutem isanimae ex verbere reportat: et coronam amplioris gloriae in caelo recipiet. Beatus qui intellegit super egenum et pauperem Iesum pro nobis nudum et inopem factum cum esset ditissimus omnium: et sequitur eum patienter ferendo crucem suam in cotidianis laboribus pro salute animae suae usque ad mortem.
The Little Garden of Roses & The Valley of Lilies companion
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