Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
“Indeed, the truth that many people never understand, until it’s too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most…This is another of the great perversions by which the devil uses our philosophies to turn our whole nature inside out, and eviscerate all our capacities for good, turning them against ourselves.”
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 105-106.
My son, Sammy, and I have arrived safely overseas. So far we have met with some wonderful people, and though long, the trip has been uneventful and quite peaceful. While abroad, we will undoubtedly experience discomfort, perhaps even difficulties. The human tendency is to label such times as bad, but we must welcome them as vital for our maturity. If we want our generosity to blossom, or our “capacities for good” as Merton put it, then we must not avoid suffering but count it pure joy! Generosity flows by the Spirit through tested characters.