The source of all spiritual discouragement: a faltering faith, an unwillingness to believe in God’s way of doing things, a reluctance to accept the revealed truth that all salvation, all growth in holiness, all progress in spiritual maturity, and all apostolic fruitfulness must pass along the way of the cross.
When things go wrong, it doesn’t mean God has abandoned us — the Crucifixion isn’t the end of the story; the Resurrection is.
When we expect life to be without the cross, our expectations are false, and they will always end up being shattered. The cross was necessary.
Jesus summarized it with one of his favorite images, that of a seed: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24).
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