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Lenten Weekday
March 23
SUBMISSION TO GOD IN SUFFERING
From the writing of Dom Columba Marmion 7
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When we thus submit ourselves entirely to Christ Jesus, when we
abandon ourselves to Him, when our soul only responds, like His own, with a
perpetual Amen to all that He asks of us in the name of His Father… then Christ
Jesus establishes His peace in us: His peace, not that which the world promises,
but the true peace which can only come from Himself…
Doubtless, here below, peace is not always sensible; upon earth we are in
a condition of trial and, most often, peace is won by conflict… We may be
slighted, opposed, persecuted, be unjustly treated, our intentions and deeds
may be misunderstood; temptation may shake us, suffering may come suddenly
upon us; but there is an inner sanctuary which none can reach; here is the
sojourn of our peace, because in this innermost secret of the soul dwell
adoration, submission and abandonment to God. “I love my God,” said St.
Augustine, “no one takes Him from me: no one takes from me what I ought to
give Him, for that is enclosed within my heart…
Death cannot trouble the soul that has sought only God. Has it not
confided itself to the One Who says: “He that believeth in Me, although he be
dead, shall live”…
In one of her “Exercises,” St. Gertrude allows her assurance, which the
infinite merits of Jesus give her, to overflow. “Woe, woe unto me, if, when I
come before Thee, I had no advocate to plead my cause!… Come Thou with me
to judgment… there let us stand together. Judge me, for the right is Thine; but
remember Thou are also my Advocate. In order that I be fully acquitted, Thou
has but to recount what Thou didst become for love of me, the price wherewith
Thou hast purchased me…
For souls moved by such sentiments, death is but a transition; Christ
comes Himself to open to them the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem… There will
be no more darkness, trouble, tears, or sighs; but peace, infinite and perfect
peace. “Peace first becomes ours with the longing and seeking for the Creator;
it is in the full vision and eternal possession of Him that peace is made perfect.
7 Marmion, Dom Columba, O.S.B. Suffering with Christ: An anthology of the Writings of Dom Columba Cmarmion, O.S.B.
Compiled by Dom Raymund Thibaut, O.S.B. Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1954. 220-221, 232-233.