St. Teresa, the Little Flower of Jesus, said: "I fear only one thing - to keep my own will; take it, my God for I choose all that You choose." At another time she said: "Since I belong to Jesus to give Him pleasure and to console Him, I should not oblige Him to do my own will instead of His own."

Whatever happens to us is the best possible thing that could happen to us. If this is something good, our God of Love wills it directly; if it is not something good, He permits this to happen for some greater good. Our God is a God of Love and all that happens is nothing but a gift to us from the loving hand of a God of Merciful Love. God in His Merciful Love knows best and so He permits these little thorns from time to time to purify our souls so that we can love Him more. A consoling thing for us to remember is that this painful cutting and pruning of our faults and imperfections come from Him and so nothing is too hard or too painful to bear. All of these trials are suited to our needs and God proportions all of them to our ability and strength. Our God of Love has measured out not only how painful these trials will be, but all of them are measured as to how long they will last. He watches over all so that these work out our salvation and help other souls besides our own.

He chose this path for me
Though well He knew sharp thorns would pierce my feet,
Knew how the brambles would obstruct the way,
Knew all the hidden dangers I would meet.
Knew how my feet would falter day by day;
And still the whisper echoed,
"Yes, I see this path is best for thee."
He chose this path for me.
What need I more: This sweeter truth to know,
That all along these strange bewildering ways,
O'er rocky steps and where dark rivers flow,
His loving Arms will bear me all the days.
A few steps more and I myself shall see
This path is best for me.

If we could be there in Heaven with God and see that what He has permitted to happen to us will fit in with all the rest of our lives, we would be making the same choice with Him for we would then see how wise and loving this was for us. We are so close to some of these trials and sufferings that it is hard for us to see things with the eyes of faith and what God sees as best for us.

Our Lord's own words:

"Behold He is with Me and has not left Me alone because I do always the things that are pleasing to Him."

And in a short prayer, at times given the title, "A Scout Prayer," we find these words:

 

Lord Jesus,
teach me to be generous to serve you as you deserve,
to give without counting the cost,
to fight without heeding the wounds,
to work without looking for rest,
to spend myself without receiving any other recompense
than to know that I am doing your holy will.

And from Thomas Merton -

"But in all that happens, my one desire and my one joy should be to know: 'Here is the thing that God has willed for me."'

All of this takes faith, deep faith, but we get this faith by asking for it, by praying for it. In all the trials, sufferings, and signs of disappointments, and the like, we can be sure of this:

God permits this to happen for a greater good, either for myself or for others; it comes from a God of Love and if there were no good coming out of it, God would not be a God of Love. Either I, myself, or some other person or persons will benefit from my generosity in this suffering, this trial, this disappointment. Many have found the following words very helpful as they say them repeatedly together with faith and trust in God.

"THY WILL BE DONE! THANK YOU, DEAREST JESUS!"

In joining the two together we are then not only accepting God's holy Will and being resigned to it, but we are thanking Him for His loving Goodness in permitting this for us; no matter how painful it might be, no matter how miserable we might be at the time, no matter how much it might cost us. People have found these words very consoling to them and at the same time they have found that they are much calmer with the suffering and trial.

"GOD IS LOVE."