No matter where one lives on earth, trials must be endured. There is no escape from difficulty, pain and suffering. However, our struggle can have purpose. That which is to give light must always endure burning. This is why the candle, like the saint, consumes itself in order to light the way for others. Love endures all things. Bears all things. Love never fails.
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
While undergoing trials let us submit ourselves to the will of the Creator and consider ourselves deserving of sorrows. If we do this we shall find rest. When we become very despondent and begin to complain about our trials, there is a danger of becoming an atheist. I can only achieve peace when I submit myself completely to the will of God.
If you struggle, then your way is not far from the road of God’s righteous, who walk among many struggles. Having bloodied their feet they reach the Heavenly City of Jerusalem. Set aside your wish to find peace on this earth pre-maturely in order to receive it in time, that is, upon your death.
Let us prepare the heart, with gratitude and praise knowing that grief comes from the Hand of God.
Remembrance of Death. The only thing left for you to do is to forsake all earthly concerns and prepare your soul for departure from its physical dwelling for life in the heavenly realms. Our grumbling and worried voices we will change to words of gratitude and praise, for our Lord forges our salvation through unknown means and accomplishes it through small trials not worthy of the name of sorrow.
Good Deeds. I, as a sick man, should have as harbor for my hope, not my works, not my merits, but the mercy and merits of the God Man Jesus. Anything done without a struggle becomes unreliable and what you sow, and do not water with your tears grows un-predictably.
+ Glory to God for All Things +
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov - Biography
"The Basics of Spiritual Life" - by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
"Faster and faster time passes, and the hour of our entrance into eternity draws nigh. Make use of your days on earth to prepare for this. Such preparation dispels temporal sorrows and brings consolation, thereby indicating that this preparation is indeed a preparation for blessedness…"