, striving against sin. And ye have
forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
children, My son, demise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor
faint when thou art rebuked of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what
son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards,
and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which
corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much
rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For
they verily for a few days chastened us after their good
pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of
His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby." [Heb. 12:4 ff.] Who must not be terrified at these
words of Paul, in which he plainly states that they who are
without the chastisement of God are not the sons of God! Again,
what greater strengthening and what better comfort can there be
than to hear that they who are chastened are beloved of the Lord,
that they are sons of God, that they have part in the communion
of saints, that they are not alone in their sufferings! So
forceful an exhortation must make chastisement a thing to be
loved.

Nor is there here any room for the excuse that some have lighter,
others heavier, evils to bear. For to every one is given his
temptation according to measure, and never beyond his strength.
As it is written in Psalm lxxix, "Thou shalt feed us with the
bread of tears, and give us for our drink tears in
measure";[25] [Ps. 80:5] and as Paul says, "God is faithful, who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but
will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may
be able to bear it." [1 Cor. 10:13] Where there is, therefore, a
greater evil, there is also more of divine help, and an easier
way to escape; so that the unequal distribution of sufferings
appears to be greater than it actually is. Does not the example
of St. John Baptist, whom we commemorate on this day[26] as
beheaded by Herod, shame and amaze us all!--that so great a man,
than whom there was none greater born of woman, [Matt. 11:11] the
special friend of the Bridegroom, [John 3