Life of St John Vianney.pdf - the Catholic Kingdom!

"A"The"We"There278 THE CUR OP ARS.firing ; no one dared pass over it ; Napoleon seized thestandard, went forward, and all followed him. Let us dothe same ;let us follow our Lord, who has gone before us.soldier told me one day, that in a battle he hadwalked for half an hour upon corpses ; he could hardlyfind a spot to set his foot upon ; the ground was red withblood. It is thus that in the journey of life we musttread upon crosses and sufferings,in order to reach ourhome.Cross is the ladder of Heaven. How consolingis it to suffer under the eye of God, and to be able to sayto ourselves, in the evening, in our examination of conscience, Come, my soul, thou hast had two or three hoursto-day of resemblance to Jesus Christ. Thou hast beenscourged, crowned with thorns, and crucified with Him.Oh, what a treasure for the hour of death ! How sweetto die when we have lived on the Cross !"must suffer whether we will or no. Somesuffer like the good thief, and some like the bad. Bothalike suffer. But one knows how to render his sufferingsmeritorious ;he accepts them in a spirit of reparation, and,as he turns to Jesus crucified, he catches those blessedwords, To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise. Theother, on the contrary, howled, cursed, and blasphemed,and died in the most frightful despair.are two ways of suffering to suffer with ; love,-Mid to suffer without love. The Saints suffered all thingswith patience, joy, and perseverance, because they loved,We suffer with vexation, impatience, and anger, becausewe love not. If we loved God, we should love crosses ;we should desire them and delight in them. We shouldbe able to suffer for Him who vouchsafed to suffer for us.What have we to complain of? Alas 1 the poor heather*