A Gem from Imitation of Christ

Imitation of Christ

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS

"As we approach to God by faith, and not by the senses, and as faith of itself is dry and obscure, we must not be surprised if we sometimes experience dryness and desolation, and at other times consolation and joy All consists in receiving consolation with humility, and in supporting desolation with fortitude and courage. Silver and gold, says the Wise Man, are tried in the fire; and souls, before they can become worthy of being admitted to an intimate friendship with God, are tried in the furnace of the most painful and humiliating tribulations. Humble, then, thy heart, under the all-powerful hand of God, and bear with patience the trials of the Lord, who, by the temptations which we resist, makes us little humble, and dependent upon Him, and would have us, in imitation of the holy martyrs, love Him in suffering, suffer in loving Him, and honor His greatness by our entire destruction of self-love."