Augustine (354-430), Discipleship, Page: Quotes, Quote Author, Quote Topic, Suffering
Christians must imitate Christ’s sufferings, not set their hearts on pleasures. He who is weak will be strengthened when told: “Yes, expect the temptations of this world, but the Lord will deliver you from them all if your heart has not abandoned him. For it was to strengthen your heart that he came to suffer and die, came to be spit upon and crowned with thorns, came to be accused of shameful things, yes, came to be fastened to the wood of the cross. All these things he did for you, and you did nothing. He did them not for himself, but for you.”
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
Page: Quotes, Quote Topic, Suffering
There are times when He Himself allows terrible sufferings, and then again there are times when He does not let me suffer and removes everything that might afflict my soul. These are His ways, unfathomable and incomprehensible to us. It is for us to submit ourselves completely to His holy will. There are mysteries that the human mind will never fathom here on earth; eternity will reveal them.
— Saint Faustina (1905-1938)
Evangelization, Page: Quotes, Quote Topic, Suffering
It is not God’s way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth is to be spread to any wide extent among the people, how can we dream, how can we hope, that trial and trouble shall not accompany its going forth.
–Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
Page: Quotes, Quote Topic, Suffering
One day, I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end of the road without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And there numbers were so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness, and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings.
–Saint Faustina (1905-1938)
Adversity, Page: Quotes, Quote Topic, Suffering
The more we are afflicted in this world, the greater is our assurance in the next; the more sorrow in the present, the greater will be our joy in the future.
–Saint Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636)
Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), Page: Quotes, Quote Author, Quote Topic, Suffering
Ask God for grace to suffer much. To whom God gives this he gives a great gift: all his other benefits are included in this single one.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
