Kneel and pray, asking that God's will be done and not yours


Nothing is accidental on earth, nothing is done without God's providence! We resist divine providence and grumble, as a child does when his mother or father forbids him. And he reacts out of selfishness and stubbornness that are evident in his request. He may even leave home and curse his parents because they did not do his will. When you have a suffering, a temptation, a spiritual, physical, or economic hardship, whether it is illness, temptation, or any other evil, kneel down and pray, asking that God's will be done and not yours. And God, Who permits temptation, at the same time offers man the means by which he can overcome it.

Pain also exerts its work on the saints, in order to multiply their glory in Heaven, thanks to the patience they show! But often, saints also suffer to be an example to other people, as happened with the much-tried Job, with Saint Singlitichia, and with so many other saints.

Abba Ephrem the Philotheus

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