examination of the heart 152 you with heavenly bread, would you leave His table without showing gratitude? FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY Before Holy Communion 1. “And behold, there arose a great storm” (Mt 8:24). Notice how the danger of shipwreck and the rising sea waves proved the faith of the disciples. You can be sure that a similar test has happened to you or will happen to you. You should trust that those tempests and disturbances arising in your soul, which originate either from evil or from yourself, happen by the will and providence of God to test your constancy and fidelity in virtue and in the divine service. For we incessantly find ourselves on the sea, that is, in this miserable and calamitous life. We cannot possibly avoid the tempests of torments, the waves of temptations, the storms of sorrow. Neither should we be free from them. If the valor, knowledge, and aptitude of sailors are demonstrated by their skill in avoiding and overcoming the tempests, so the love for God, the fortitude, and the prudence of God’s servant are proven in his passing through the waves of misfortunes. David speaks about it, claiming that he, too, was tested in a similar way: “O Lord, [Y]ou have searched [f.19v] me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up” (Ps 139:1-2). It is as if he were saying: “O God, You wisely permitted various waves of temptations and calamities to harass me, and sometimes You helped me by Your grace to resist them. Sometimes You abandoned me so that I would be sustained by my own merits alone. Sometimes You even allowed me to suffer a shipwreck through my sins, but after the shipwreck, after the fall, You lifted me up again. Thus, You have come to know the strength and vigor of my spirit; You have probed and You have tested how weak and how strong I was, how much I could endure and remain standing, and how much was needed to make me fall.”
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