The Thermometer of Suffering
From St Faustina's Diary for February 8:
True love is measured by the thermometer of suffering, Jesus. I thank You for the little daily crosses, for opposition to my endeavors, for the hardships of communal life, for the misinterpretations of my intentions, for humiliations at the hands of others, for the harsh way in which we are treated, for false suspicions, for poor health and loss of strength, for self-denial, for dying to myself, for lack of recognition in everything, for the upsetting of all my plans.
Thank You, Jesus, for interior sufferings, for dryness of spirit, for terrors, fears, and incertitudes, for the darkness and the deep interior night, for temptations and various ordeals, for torments too difficult to describe, especially for those which no one will understand, for the hour of death with its fierce struggle and all its bitterness.
I thank You, Jesus, You who first drank the cup of bitterness before You gave it to me, in a much milder form. I put my lips to this cup of Your holy will. Let all be done according to Your good pleasure; let that which Your wisdom ordained before the ages be done to me. I want to drink the cup to its last drop, and seek not to know the reason why. In bitterness is my joy, in hopelessness is my trust. In You, O Lord, all is good, all is a gift of Your paternal Heart. I do not prefer consolations over bitterness or bitterness over consolations, but thank You, O Jesus, for everything! It is my delight to fix my gaze upon You, O incomprehensible God. . . .
O Uncreated Beauty, whoever comes to know You once cannot love anything else. I can feel the bottomless abyss of my soul, and nothing will fill it but God Himself. I feel that I am drowned in Him like a single grain of sand in a bottomless ocean.
St. Faustina, pray for me that Jesus will help me to see my sufferings in the same light in which you did during your short life.
True love is measured by the thermometer of suffering, Jesus. I thank You for the little daily crosses, for opposition to my endeavors, for the hardships of communal life, for the misinterpretations of my intentions, for humiliations at the hands of others, for the harsh way in which we are treated, for false suspicions, for poor health and loss of strength, for self-denial, for dying to myself, for lack of recognition in everything, for the upsetting of all my plans.
Thank You, Jesus, for interior sufferings, for dryness of spirit, for terrors, fears, and incertitudes, for the darkness and the deep interior night, for temptations and various ordeals, for torments too difficult to describe, especially for those which no one will understand, for the hour of death with its fierce struggle and all its bitterness.
I thank You, Jesus, You who first drank the cup of bitterness before You gave it to me, in a much milder form. I put my lips to this cup of Your holy will. Let all be done according to Your good pleasure; let that which Your wisdom ordained before the ages be done to me. I want to drink the cup to its last drop, and seek not to know the reason why. In bitterness is my joy, in hopelessness is my trust. In You, O Lord, all is good, all is a gift of Your paternal Heart. I do not prefer consolations over bitterness or bitterness over consolations, but thank You, O Jesus, for everything! It is my delight to fix my gaze upon You, O incomprehensible God. . . .
O Uncreated Beauty, whoever comes to know You once cannot love anything else. I can feel the bottomless abyss of my soul, and nothing will fill it but God Himself. I feel that I am drowned in Him like a single grain of sand in a bottomless ocean.
St. Faustina, pray for me that Jesus will help me to see my sufferings in the same light in which you did during your short life.
posted by Russ Rentler, M.D. | 8:19 PM
5 Comments:
Great post TJ! One of the sparks for my turning toward Rome was reading JPII's wonderful document on the Christian meaning of suffering, Salvifici Doloris, and wondering why my evangelical church didn't teach that sort of thing.
Of course it's not surprising that St. Faustina would be dear to the heart of JPII, a man who knew a lot of suffering himself.
Thanks Nancy!
I love the writings of Sister Faustina because of her intense love for Jesus, which did not diminish , but rather was fanned by the winds of suffering!
As you said, embracing our suffering was a concept totally foreign to us as well before our conversion.
I have read Salvifici Doloris but need to read it again.
BTW, I am still struggling with the LOTH but am determined to make it a part of my daily devotional life. Whew, I went to med school so I guess I can figure it out :)
"In our own lives too, the cross, becomes a blessing". "And accepting the cross, knowing that is it is and becomes a blessing, we learn the joy of being Christian, even in moments of difficulty."
Pope Benedict XVI 1-10-2007
My father-in-law was an MD, a General Surgeon. Two of his sons are MD's. One's an Anesthesiologist. He recently told us he refuses to take drugs before and after his own surgeries due to the high risk of addiction rates ... The other son's a Radiologist... My husband was a Pre-Med major but switched majors after we got married...I can't believe we'll be married for 24 years in March (civil only)-in the eyes of God, 4 years.
My suffering temperature reads about 107* but I'm rejoicing... Blessed Mother lead me to a D.O. who's using alternative medicine to reverse my chronic deteriorated organs. The lab results indicate what we're doing is working.. Yay!!!
I love love love St. Faustina! She's my heroine! She's my perfect example of suffering and worth imitating. If I could do a blog on any subject, there would be a list of the conditional promises in the Diary of Divine Mercy for mankind.
Here's a Divine Mercy miraculous testimony: In my local area, there was a Catholic man who was addicted to alcohol. He slowly read through her Diary and completed it. To his surprise after finishing the Diary, he discovered he was no longer addicted to alcohol!
God bless.
Cyndi
cyndi:
thanks for the post
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