JOY IN SUFFERING
"A Little Child Shall Lead Them"
Suffering is the common lot of man. Many people spend their lives in an unbroken effort to plan ways of escaping it. All through the ages philosophers have racked their brains in an attempt to find a solution of the mystery of pain. Nineteen hundred years ago the Son of God came down from heaven and chose to be a "Man of Sorrows," that He might be the Way and Model for suffering mankind. But men either rejected or neglected His wholesome doctrine, and today God, who is ever rich in mercy and compassion, to recall these priceless lessons, has placed before the eyes of the world a tender maiden to teach them in a most attractive manner, both by word and example—one solicitous not about avoiding suffering, but about embracing it joyously with all her heart. The words of the prophet, "a little child shall lead them," are fully verified in St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.
Did St. Therese Suffer Much?
This question naturally suggests itself as one looks upon the cheerful, almost smiling countenance of the "Little Flower," pressing her rose-covered Crucifix to her heart. Even those with whom she lived for nearly nine years openly voiced their belief that she had not. She herself, however, gave a different answer as her last days drew near. Pointing to a glass containing medicine of a bright-red color, she said: "You see this little glass? One would suppose that it contained a most delicious draught, whereas, in reality, it is more bitter than anything else that I take. It is the image of my life. To others it has been all rose color; they have thought that I continually drank of a most delicious wine; yet to me it has been full of bitterness. I say bitterness, yet my life has not been a bitter one, for I have learned to find joy and sweetness in all that is bitter." A
