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Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: O'Hara who wrote (31694)9/28/2000 1:49:40 PM
From: O'Hara  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 39621
 
†...To glory in the cross of the LORD...†

THE glory of a good man is the testimony of a good conscience. Therefore, keep
your conscience good and you will always enjoy happiness, for a good conscience
can bear a great deal and can bring joy even in the midst of adversity. But an evil
conscience is ever restive and fearful.

Sweet shall be your rest if your heart does not reproach you.

Do not rejoice unless you have done well. Sinners never experience true interior joy
or peace, for "there is no peace to the wicked," says the Lord (Isa. 48:22). Even if
they say: "We are at peace, no evil shall befall us and no one dares to hurt us," do not
believe them; for the wrath of God will arise quickly, and their deeds will be brought
to naught and their thoughts will perish.

To glory in adversity is not hard for the man who loves, for this is to glory in the cross
of the Lord
. But the glory given or received of men is short lived, and the glory of the
world is ever companioned by sorrow. The glory of the good, however, is in their
conscience and not in the lips of men, for the joy of the just is from God and in God,
and their gladness is founded on truth.

The man who longs for the true, eternal glory does not care for that of time; and he
who seeks passing fame or does not in his heart despise it, undoubtedly cares little for
the glory of heaven.

He who minds neither praise nor blame possesses great peace of heart and, if his
conscience is good, he will easily be contented and at peace.

Praise adds nothing to your holiness, nor does blame take anything from it. You are
what you are, and you cannot be said to be better than you are in God's sight. If you
consider well what you are within, you will not care what men say about you. They
look to appearances but God looks to the heart. They consider the deed but God
weighs the motive.

It is characteristic of a humble soul always to do good and to think little of itself. It is a
mark of great purity and deep faith to look for no consolation in created things. The
man who desires no justification from without has clearly entrusted himself to God:
"For not he who commendeth himself is approved," says St. Paul, "but he whom God
commendeth" (2 Cor. 10:18).
Thomas A. Kempis