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In the Gospel our Lord said: "I am the true vine;
and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me,
that beareth not fruit, He will take away; and every one
that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring
forth more fruit."[1146] Commenting on this,
St. Thomas says: "In order that a vine may be more
fruitful, the growers cut away the superfluous shoots.
So it is in man. For when a man who is well disposed and
united with God allows his affections to incline to other
things, his power to do good is weakened and made less
efficacious. Hence it is that God, in order that man
may be more fruitful, often cuts away such obstacles and
purges him, sending him trials and temptations, by which
he becomes stronger. And therefore our Lord says, "He
will purge it," even though the man is pure, because no
one in this life is so pure than he cannot be made purer.
St. John says: "If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in
us."[1147] God tries a man "that he may bring
forth more fruit," that is, increase in virtue, that
being purer he may be more fruitful, as the Scripture
says: "He that is just, let him be justified still;
and he that is holy, let him be sanctified
still";[1148] The word of the truth of the Gospel
"bringeth forth fruit and groweth";[1149] "they
shall go from virtue to virtue."[1150]
Thus the just man who is purified brings forth more
fruit. St. Thomas explains: "He bears a threefold
fruit in this life. The first is to abstain from
sin..... The second is to give himself to works of
holiness..... The third is to work for the
sanctification of others. He brings forth a fourth fruit
in eternal life." The reason for this efficacy is that
the just man remains in Christ, who said, "without Me
you can do nothing." This is the first reason for the
trials of the just.
The second reason for these trials is that the just man is
united with Christ, and by the same means as Christ used
he cooperates in the salvation of others. St. Paul
said: "And if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God,
and joint-heirs with Christ: yet so, if we suffer with
Him, that we may be also glorified with Him. For I
reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed
in us."[1151]
Commenting on the words, "yet so, if we suffer with
Him," St. Thomas says: "Christ, who is the
principal heir, came into the inheritance of glory by His
sufferings. 'Ought not Christ to have suffered these
things, and so to enter into His glory?'[1152]
We cannot come into the possession of our inheritance by
an easier way, and so we also must attain our inheritance
by suffering. In the Acts of the Apostles we read,
'through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom
of God.'[1153] Hence he says, "yet so, if we
suffer with Him, that is, suffering with Christ, we
undergo the tribulations of this world that we may be
glorified with Christ. 'For if we be dead with
Him,....we shall also reign with
Him.'"[1154]
Therefore our Lord said: "If any man will come after
Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,
and follow Me";[1155] and, "he that taketh not
up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of
Me."[1156] In his commentary St. Thomas says:
"This was said because he who loves father and mother
more than Me is not worthy of Me. So also he who loves
himself more than Me is not worthy of Me, because God
alone can completely satisfy man's affections.....
Hence he who is not prepared to suffer death for the
truth, and especially that cruelest death, the death of
the cross, is not worthy of Me. Indeed a man should
glory in the cross, as St. Paul said, 'God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ.'[1157] He takes up the cross who
mortifies his flesh, as we read again, 'And they that
are Christ's, have crucified their flesh, with the
vices and concupiscences.'[1158] The cross is also
borne in the heart when a man is contrite for his sins, as
the Apostle says, 'Who is scandalized, and I am not
on fire?'"[1159]
This was verified in the apostles. St. Paul wrote:
"With Christ I am nailed to the cross. And I live,
now not I; but Christ liveth in me";[1160] and,
"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ."[1161] Commenting on
these words, St. Thomas writes: "Behold, where the
philosopher of this world is ashamed, the Apostle found a
treasure. What appeared to be foolishness to the
philosopher, became wisdom and glory for the Apostle, as
said St. Augustine. Everyone glories in that by which
he becomes great, for example, riches. The Apostle
gloried in nothing except in Christ, especially in the
cross of Christ, because in the cross are found all
things about which men glory. Some men glory in the
friendship of the great, but in the cross is the sign of
divine friendship. Some glory in knowledge, but the
Apostle found the most sublime science in the cross:
'For I judged not myself to know anything among you,
but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.'[1162]
For in the cross is the perfection of the whole law and
the complete art of living well. Some men glory in
power, and St. Paul found the greatest power in the
cross: 'For the word of the cross, to them indeed that
perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that
is, to us, it is the power of God.'[1163] So
the Apostle glories in the cross for the liberty he has
received, for his acceptance into the heavenly kingdom,
and for the victory over the devil and sin."[1164]
According to St. Thomas, therefore, the tribulations
of the just are explained by two reasons: 1. that the
just may be purified and bring forth more fruit; 2. that
they may cooperate with Christ in the salvation of
souls.[1165] Tribulation is the fire that tries the
elect; in this fire evils are confounded because the
temporal allurements are destroyed, but not the
elect.[1166] The tribulations of the impious,
however, are more grievous, because the impious do not
have the love of God to support them.[1167]
Some philosophers have objected that this doctrine of the
cross and of the trials of the just is not only above
reason but contrary to reason.
To this we reply that this doctrine contains something
that is entirely in agreement with good reason, namely,
tribulation shows the absolute insufficiency of a life
lived according to the senses and passions, as Spinoza
explains in his Ethics. Man, he says, living according
to the senses and his passions wants to be the center of
all things, and he becomes the slave of all, he becomes a
slave, and finds himself in contradiction with himself and
with others. The tribulation which we find in the sensual
life arouses the desire to live according to right reason,
and there we find freedom. The sensual man becomes the
slave of external circumstances, of his passions, and of
other men. On a higher plane, the tribulations which we
find in the rational, intellectual, and moral life,
excite the desire of living according to the divine life.
The philosophy of pessimism, according to Spinoza, is
the result of sensualism, whereas right reason rising
above the senses disposes us to optimism, for the senses
know nothing but particulars, but reason considers the
good of the universe on account of which evils are
permitted. But a higher optimism is found in the
supernatural life, according to St. Paul, "To them
that love God, all things work together unto
good."[1168] Better than the ancient Greek
philosophers, Christianity knows that perfect happiness
is not found in this valley of tears but in the life to
come.
On the other hand, he who does not wish to live
supernaturally descends from the spiritual life to a merely
intellectual life. There he is met with difficulties and
if wishes to overcome them he must ascend. If he does not
ascend, he descends to bitter pride and a sensual life.
He who does not conquer is conquered; he who does not
ascend, falls.
St. John Chrysostom enumerates these eight reasons for
the trials of the just, taken from St. Paul.
1. The remedy against pride: "Lest the greatness of
the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a
sting of my flesh."[1169]
2. The remedy against vainglory: "Lest any man should
think of me above that which he seeth in me, or anything
he heareth from me"[1170]
3. That the virtue and power of God might shine forth
in weak men: "Gladly therefore will I glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in
me."[1171]
4. That the patience of the just might be manifested in
persecution and that the purity of their intentions might
be made known, as in the case of Job.[1172]
5. That the just man might fix his thoughts on the life
to come and his eternal reward when he sees that he has
almost no reward in this life. Amid persecution and
incessant contradictions, St. Paul wrote: "If in
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men
most miserable."[1173]
6. That those who mourn may have consolation when they
see the tribulations of the saints and their
steadfastness. In his Epistle to the Hebrews, St.
Paul exhorts the Hebrews to remember the heroic examples
of faith in adversity in the Old Testament.[1174]
7. That we might understand that the saints, whom we
are to imitate, had natures like ours: "Elias was a man
passible like unto us."[1175]
8. That we might distinguish the true evils and the true
good from the false: "For whom the Lord loveth, He
chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth";[1176] "We are reviled, and we
bless; we are persecuted, and we suffer it..... We
are made as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of
all even until now."[1177]
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