| "I'll Never Stop Hoping in God" - ST JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL - (1572-1641) |
| “I’ve had these temptations for 41 years…I’ll never stop hoping in God, though He kill me, though He grind me into the dust of eternity. “Most often, there is a confused sort of strife in my soul. Between feelings of being plunged into impenetrable darkness that I am powerless to do anything about, I have a kind of spiritual nausea that tempts me to give up trying. When these trials are their most severe, they hardly let up at all, and they cause me unimaginable torment so that I would almost be willing to do anything to be relieved of this torture…On the one hand, I am caught between the excruciating pain and on the other hand, my love for our holy Faith that is so deep I would die rather than deny the least article of it. “If I can keep from offending God in spite of all this, then I am content with whatever it may please Him to allow me to suffer, even if I must suffer for the rest of my life. I want only to do it knowing that He wants me to and that in suffering I am being faithful to Him.” [The Times Book of Saints by Bert Ghezzi] |
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