153 part i: sunday meditations for the entire year 2. “but [H]e was asleep” (Mt 8:24). Think about what frequently happens to people who dedicate themselves to the spiritual life and try hard to serve God: They suffer great neglects and they feel as if they were abandoned by God, like a ship abandoned by the captain while the storm is at its full intensity. Complaining loudly about it, the great friend of God, the Hebrew king, sings: “[W]hy have [Y]ou cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” (Ps 43:2). However, in this abandonment, as we understand it to be, the most merciful Lord does not usually move away from us entirely, but only pretends to be asleep in order to teach us to fight with our own strength and thus accumulate greater merits. Therefore, when St. Catherine of Siena, His illustrious handmaid, was complaining amicably and asking where and why He departed from her during her greatest temptations, He responded that He was in her heart, and that He only permitted the evil spirits to attack her so that she might earn the merit of perseverance, and to test her fortitude, but that He did not allow her to fall into a disgraceful defeat and condemnation.46 3. “Save us, Lord; we are perishing” (Mt 8:25). Here is the most powerful remedy which Jesus’ disciples, endangered at sea, [f.20r] offer and suggest to you when in danger, in temptations, in dejection, or in misfortunes: Prayer. God wants to give pardon, and therefore, He permits us to be tempted, afflicted, or assaulted. A soldier, armed with a sword and other kinds of weapons, either fights the attacking enemy or flees before him. The servant of God should resist the infernal enemy by the power of prayer. This is exactly how the man 46 Cf. St. Catherine of Siena, Breviario di Perfezione, Intro. and Notes by P. Mariano F. Cordovani, Salani, Firenze 1942, p. 238 (Ch. 20 § 10): (Conversation between Jesus Christ and St. Catherine): “she said: ‘O sweet and good Jesus, where were You when my soul was in affliction?’ Sweet Jesus, the Immaculate Lamb, replied to her: ‘I was with you …’.” Cf. St. Catherine of Siena, Le Lettere di S. Caterina da Siena, vol. 3, G. Barbèra, Firenze 1860, p. 245 (Letter #221).
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