“SUFFERING is a trustworthy guide to the secrets of a man’s heart. That is why false friends never stand the test of adversity. (Eccles. vi. 8). Suffering is the furnace, so to speak, in which God puts his chosen ones to the test: ‘The furnace trieth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.’ (Eccles. xxvii. 6). ‘Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust He hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them. The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds.’ (Wisdom iii. 5-7). But for this suffering was necessary – ‘many are the afflictions of the just’ (Psalm xxxiii. 20) – in order to prove their forbearance, humility, gentleness, and perseverance to the end.”
— Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
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