Consolation
As soon as we suffer, our first impulse is to seek someone who will have pity on us and who can comfort us. Alone, we can neither bear the weight of our pain nor even taste our joys personally. Naturally, we want to share our feelings with those close to us or with a generous soul who will understand us. If we find the sympathy and compassion we seek, it seems to us that our burden is lighter, but this is not the case.
While it is normal to seek comfort when we are faced with trials, it is nevertheless Jesus alone who will understand our suffering best, it is He who will console it most effectively, and it is still He who will fertilize it most widely. Jesus knows our heart as a worker knows his work. He knows what we are made of, He probes our weaknesses and strengths better than we do, nothing escapes His gaze. He calls all pains by their name, and He alone is capable of measuring the intensity with which, as they pass over our poor heart, they make every fiber vibrate.
Furthermore, He has experienced all physical and moral pains. Whatever trials break our body or soul, He knows them for having endured them. Even if it is difficult to admit, our trials are perhaps the means that God has chosen to dry up the sources of our sins, purify our intentions, and detach us from all too human concerns. His mercy mysteriously passes through this too. Let us put our trust in God alone, He is the One and only true comforter. Once our trust is given, let us abandon ourselves to His mercy!
(Comments on the posts zealots of Sr Marie of the Sacred Heart Bernaud – canon J.Théloz 1908