“Whatever the troubles and difficulties that weigh you down, bear them all patiently and keep in mind that these are the things which constitute your cross. Offer your help to the Lord and carry the cross with Him in gladness of heart. There is always something to be endured, and if you refuse one cross, be sure that you will meet with another, and maybe a heavier one. If we trust in God and rely on His help, we shall overcome the allurements of vice. We must never let our efforts flag nor our steps grow weary, but must keep our hearts under steady discipline.
Consider the afflictions and great trials which the holy Fathers endured in the desert. And yet the interior trials they suffered were far more intense than the physical penances they inflicted on their own bodies. One who is never tried acquires little virtue. Accept then whatever God wills to send, for any suffering He permits is entirely for our good. Christ assures us in the Gospel, “Who wishes to follow me must deny himself. He must be forgetful of self; he must regard himself as nothing; he must despise himself and desire to be despised by others.”
The attitude derives from Our Lord’s command that we are to take up his cross and follow Him. We are to accept sufferings of mind and body for love of Him, just as He bore His sufferings for love of us. It is true that the Jews lifted the cross from our Savior’s shoulders, but this was out of concern lest He die from blows and exhaustion before reaching the place where He was to be crucified.
And when they laid the weight on Simon’s shoulders he submitted most unwillingly, even though aware that he was not destined to die on the cross he carried. Christ, by contrast, willingly and gladly carried His cross and died upon it, breathing forth His soul at last into His Father’s hands. Let us follow Him and imitate all He did.
You have various afflictions which constitute your cross. Bear them willingly to the very end, when you will finally yield your soul to God. Give Him praise and thanks for calling you to His service. Scorn no-one, for it is God’s will that you love each one of your neighbors as you do those of your own community. Strive to curb all unruly instincts within you. To this end try one remedy today and another tomorrow, so that gradually you will subdue your unruly impulses, and when the Lord sees your good will and your perseverance, He will give you the support of His grace, enabling you to sustain to the end the burdens of religious life. Through His love nothing will be too difficult for you to bear.”
Blessed Françoise d’Amboise (May 29, 1427 – November 4, 1485), was born in the castle of Thouars. She was the daughter of the rich noble Louis d’Amboise, prince of Talmont and Viscount of Thouars. To escape from the violence of the times, she fled with her mother, Louise-Marie de Rieux, to the court of Brittany, which resided in Vannes and, later on, in Nantes. At the age of three she had been engaged to Pierre, the second son of Jean VI, Duke of Brittany, for political reasons. She married him at the age of fifteen, in 1442. In 1450, after the unexpected death of Pierre’s elder brother, her husband came to rule Brittany as Pierre II. Françoise d’Amboise became the Duchess of Brittany and had a discrete but active share in governing Brittany. She came to help the poor and the sick. She had also a strong feeling about justice. Her husband died of a disease in 1457. She then entered into a conflict with King Louis XI who wanted to marry her. A widow without children, she founded, together with Jean Soreth, the first monastery of the Carmelites in France, in 1463. She took the veil in 1468, when entering the convent of the Three Maries at Vannes. She died in Nantes, at the monastery of the Carmelite nuns. In 1863, she was beatified by Pope Pius IX.
Source: Meditations from Carmel Podcast from the Order of Carmel Discalced Secular in St. Louis, Missouri.
