Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Santhià, an 18th century Capuchin who served his brother friars as sacristan and confessor, and was also at times a military chaplain and a visitor to the sick. In the Office of Readings today we have one of his letters. This part struck me especially:
"If the Pope (Sommo Pontefice) were to send you from Rome a relic of the holy Cross, you would receive it with highest reverence and devotion, and you would thank him for such honor and favor. Well, Jesus Christ the High Priest (Sommo Pontefice) has sent you from heaven a part of his Cross: the evils which you suffer. Carry it for his love, bear it with resignation, even thanking him for such favors that He doesn't hold back from his favored souls."
4 comments:
Oh my, and we so often, if not always, shrink from trials and sufferings! If we truly look upon sufferings as a share in the cross of Jesus, then we should embrace them even as Jesus embraced His cross. I still have a hard time with that; I still shrink from trials but I do accept them even while shrinking. I know that some of our saints have asked the Lord to give them sufferings. I am definitely there yet. I don't know that I ever will be. If I remember correctly, our friend St. Gemma was one of those extraordinarily ascetic saints who did ask for sufferings. I think that a noble request. But I also wonder if it could become a masochistic trait. It is definitely is not for the fainthearted and I am definitely one of them!
Where can I get the entire letter of St. Ignatius of Santhia which you quote from today's Capuchin Office of Readings?
I don't think asking for trouble is even necessary but to have this approach to the moments would be a great grace. It shoud be the Christian nature to share Jesus' cross through our lives as he shares ours.
@Jozef The brethren here in Italy have propers of Capuchin saints printed in a couple of different forms; it was one of those that we used this morning. I looked around on the conference website, but didn't find any liturgical texts. I'll poke around the friary.
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