Quote, from True Spouse:
Let us, then, in the first place, ask this patience of God; without asking it we shall never obtain this great gift. When afflictions come upon us, let us be careful to do violence to ourselves, and not to break out into words of impatience or complaint. The fire that burns in a vessel is soon extinguished when the vessel is closed. To him that overcometh, I will give the hidden manna. When a person does violence to conquer himself in adversity, by instantly embracing the cross that God sends him, oh ! what sweetness does the Lord make him afterwards experience in the very tribulation that he suffers a sweetness hidden from men of the world, but well known to souls that love God. St. Augustine used to say, that to enjoy a good conscience in the midst of afflictions is sweeter than to live with a guilty conscience in the midst of delights. 2 Speaking of herself, St. Teresa said; I have several times experienced that when I generously resolve to do an act, God instantly makes the performance of it pleasant to me. He wishes the soul to feel these terrors in the beginning, that she may have greater merit."
1 " Vincenti dabo manna abscond hum." Apoc ii. 17.
2 " Jucundius gaudere de bona conscientia inter molestias, quam de mala inter delicias." De catech. rud. c. 16.
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