n want, in
poverty, and in distress, be misunderstood, be thwarted, be cast down from
our highest hopes, and broken, at times, in every cheerful prospect--since
these and other countless ills were to be woven in our web of earthly
life, He, the divine Master, who came to save, to teach a lesson, to
suffer and die, would assume a body so sacred, so delicate, so pure and
sensitive that, when exposed to the rough and ruthless ways of life, He
could truly cry out from the depths of His anguish: "O all ye that pass by
the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow!"(8)

How comforting, then, it is for us to feel that we are not alone in
suffering, and to know that, while all we suffer is but just and due to
our sinful state, we can nevertheless make use of all our ills to attain
to joys unending in Heaven! If we must toil and struggle while on earth,
it is because these things are a result of our state; if we must be
subject to sickness, to weakness and fatigue, to cold and hunger, to
weariness and pain, it is not because God is pleased at the misery of His
creatures; neither does He rejoice on account of our misfortune. We are
simply reaping the harvest of sin and transgression, and sin is the work
of our own free choice and that of our ancestors. And even though it be
objected that we are born into this inevitable condition, and are made the
unconsulted heirs of a heritage we loathe but cannot escape, the solution
of our difficulty is not far to seek. We need but hearken to the
promptings of reason, and lift our sorrowing eyes to the realms of faith
to be convinced that God's mercy and goodness are above all His works,(9)
and that for reasons not less benevolent than holy He has called us into
life and permitted all our woes. God could not have created us for
suffering and punishment, because He is infinite goodness; He cannot be
pleased at our misfortunes, since He Himself has borne our sorrows and
carried all our pains.(10) If He Himself had not come into the world in
visible human form; if He had not explained our purpose and destiny, and
led the way to Heaven; if He had not, by His words and divine example,
provided us with the solution for all life's difficulties, then, in truth,
we might object, and sit and grieve and wonder. But in the light of the
life of Christ all this is altered; the picture takes on a different
coloring. Who now can rail at the crosses of life and think of the
sufferings of C