"And it is his wont to drive us, to kindle us incessantly to his love lest when we again love ourselves we mentally abide in this exile, lest the quiet of this life be so pleasing as to lead us to forgetfulness of the Kingdom, lest the mind, delighting in good fortune, grow sluggish. Thus he also mingles lashes with His gifts so that everything which delights us in this age grows bitter, and that glow arises in the spirit which always disquiets us to heavenly yearning, incites us, and, so to speak, delightfully stings, sweetly torments, and merrily saddens us."
Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel II.4.3
Illustration: "Christ Bearing the Cross", Raphael
3 comments:
This is so readily apparent in a life of ministry, that God allows a certain awareness of the spiritual battle within and without.
John of the Cross described our spiritual progress as "weaning."
Satan's great trick is to convince us that all hardships are signs of God's rejection instead of God's love.
Right, a reminder I need continually. Christ is present in our, and my, affliction.
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