Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health Vailankanni

That person has not yet attained perfect love and profound knowledge of Divine Providence who, in time of trial, when affliction befalls, does not have magnanimity, but cuts himself off from love for the spiritual brethren. The aim of Divine Providence is to reunite by means of right faith and spiritual love those who were cut asunder and scattered by evil. It was in order to "gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (Jn 11:52) that the Savior suffered. So someone who refuses to bear the burden of arduous circumstances and endure sorrows or suffer pain, walks outside the love of God and the aim of Providence. If "charity is patient and kind" (1Cor 13:4), does not the person who is fainthearted in sorrows, who bears malice against those giving offense, or who severs the love due to them, fall short of the aim of Divine Providence?… They are long-suffering who await the end of the trial and receive praise for what they have endured. "Whoever is slow to wrath abounds in wisdom" (Prv 14:29 LXX); for such a one relates all that happens to the ultimate end and, in its expectation, bears all afflictions. And the end, says the Apostle, is everlasting life (cf. Rm 6:22). "And this is eternal life, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3).

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"By your perseverance you will secure your lives" (Lk 21:19)

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