When Our Lady came to Saint Bernadette at Lourdes, what she asked for most insistently was penance. When, later, she appeared to the children at Fatima, she told them to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices. On the day following the proclamation of her glorious Assumption, the Holy Father took up this same theme, reminding his children of those "virile penances of old," complaining that we are degenerating from the spirit of selfsacrifice, telling us that it is his conviction that God's enemies are succeeding, precisely because we Catholics are neglectful of the practice of selfdenial.
It is one of the most difficult lessons to master and reduce to practice. It has been suggested that the wars we have seen have been permitted by God, partly to bring back the spirit of sacrifice. "Even those who have suffered least can see, often from their own doors, the rubble of bombblasted wreckage. For many, nights of vigil brought long, solemn thoughts. God in His mercy had driven His children back to those vigils, fasts and other privations which had been for so long discarded as outworn relics of medievalism, sufferings which the saints have run to embrace." [Suso, Saint and Port, by SMC (Blackfriars Publications). ]
Unquestionably this lesson too is underlined in Christ's last sermon. There are those who, like Blessed Henry Suso, when they contemplate seriously the bleeding Christ on the Cross, are moved to close imitation by imposing sharp pains on their bodies. Suso, consumed with love, took a style and with it carved on his breast the name of Jesus; later he fashioned for himself a wooden frame, all studded with nails, which he wore next to his naked body. He could not move without agony, and one day, believing that his penance was excessive, he blunted the nails. But soon he was heartily ashamed of his "unmanly cowardice," and with a file he pointed them again.
Not all of us are called to these "holy follies." But the danger is, as the Pope teaches, lest we permit ourselves, in a world that thinks only of luxury and selfindulgence, to forget the principle itself of penance, and, because we cannot do what Suso and men like him did, to conclude that there is nothing we can do.
A young man was lying on his deathbed, his brokenhearted mother kneeling by his side. "Mother," he gasped, "the thirst is terrible; a drink, please." And willingly the mother filled a glass of sparkling water and helped the dying boy to raise it to his lips. At that moment the clock struck three. "My son," whispered the mother hoarsely, "that is three o'clock. It is Friday. Another died on this day and at this hour. He thirsted also." And the boy, looking longingly at that glass, passed it back untouched. "You are right, mother. It is my last chance of making a sacrifice for Him."
Sanctified suffering is a sort of sacrament. It is sanctified by being united with the sufferings of Jesus and Mary on Calvary. Just as water placed with the wine in the chalice takes on a new value and is offered in the same chalice with the wine to God, so suffering united to Calvary is shot through with the merits of Christ. It has powerful efficacy to draw down on the world the healing grace souls.
A group of men were sitting round the fire one night. In the course of conversation, X went out of his way to make cutting remarks at Y. Only Y, possibly, saw through their import. X had already done the same on several occasions. Y,s first reaction was to retaliate by a heated attack on X, in which to point out the number of times he had been victimized. Instead, he made no reply, passing off the unpleasant incident as if he had not noticed it.
Next, he was inclined to call upon X on the following day and let him have what he considered was due to him. But once more he resisted the inclination and when he met X was just as friendly as ever. Lastly, he wanted very much to talk over the unpleasantness with a sympathetic listener, but he didn't. Why ? Because the second lesson in Christ's last sermon had so impressed itself upon him. An insult. a false accusation, humiliation, is such a valuable treasure that we should never cease thanking those who send it along
Jesus, this is folly indeed, in the eyes of the world. If I could but learn this folly; I would soon become truly wise. The process is slow, but even a few lines each day should ensure that ultimately I become proficient in the school of sanctified suffering, filling up in my flesh what is wanting to Your sufferings.