A grace granted only to a few: to be injured by no one

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From Heliotropium: Conformity of the Human Will to the Divine by Fr. Jeremias Drexelius:

A grace granted only to a few: to be injured by no one

A writer of undoubted credit makes mention of a certain Religious whose clothes, if they were merely touched, restored many to health, so that he began to be held in veneration by the sick, and in admiration by his brethren; but all the while no single virtue seemed to shine conspicuously in him, for he spent his life in a Monastery, like the rest, and did not afflict himself with any extraordinary austerities. About this one thing alone he was accustomed to show the utmost solicitude, never to will anything but that which God willed. And so when he very often cured people without the aid of drugs, and was asked by the Superior what was the reason of it, he used to reply that he himself was surprised, and was filled with shame, because he scarcely equalled others in fasting and prayer, much less surpassed them.

… The Religious said,—“I have good reason to think that this favour is shown to me by God, because I have so conformed myself to the Divine Will that I should never wish to make a single movement in opposition to that Will. And not only do I not fear that things will ever be in such perplexity as that I should willingly lose my confidence or complain, but no amount of prosperity will, as I think, so far beguile me as that I should on that account allow myself to be filled with immoderate joy. For I accept all things, without distinction, from the Hand of God; nor do I desire that what happens should be done according to my own will: but I desire that all things should be done as they are done. And so nothing affects me with pleasure or pain, nothing disturbs me, nor does anything make me happy, except this single thing—the one and only Will of God. … I feel no anxiety as to whether we have little or much for sustaining life. I trust in God, Who can as well support any one of us on a crust of bread as with a whole loaf. And so I live happily and cheerfully.”

… The Superior was horrified at these words, and almost turned to stone. A silence ensued on both sides. At length he said,—“Go, good Father, go, and remain as firm as you can in your purpose. You have found a Heaven this side of Heaven; and on this account you can exemplify to us a grace granted but to a very few. It is a marvellous state of freedom to be capable of being disturbed by no one, and of being injured by no one! He who absolutely conforms himself to the Divine Will dwells in a fortress of perfect repose.”

… That conversation, then, between the two Religious is not hard to be understood, and we are constrained to confess that the way to such a height of tranquillity is not barred against anyone, and that the door to this paradise is not shut against anyone; he who is capable of this one thing,—to will that which God wills,—has entered it already. None are repelled, of whatever rank, or sex, or age.

 

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From St Alphonsus Liguori, Sunday Sermons:

He that reposes in the Divine will, is like a man placed above the clouds: he sees the lightning, and hears the claps of thunder, and the raging of the tempest below, but he is not injured or disturbed by them. And how can he be ever disturbed, when whatever he desires always happens? He that desires only what pleases God, always obtains whatsoever he wishes, because all that happens to him, happens through the will of God. Salvian says, that Christians who are resigned, if they be in a low condition of life, wish to be in that state; if they be poor, they desire poverty; because they wish whatever God wills, and therefore they are always content. If cold, or heat, or rain, or wind come on, he that is united to the will of God says: I wish for this cold, this heat, this rain, and this wind, because God wills them. If loss of property, persecution, sickness, or even death come upon him, he says: I wish for this loss, this persecution, this sickness; I even wish for death, when it comes, because God wills it. And how can a person who seeks to please God, enjoy greater happiness than that which arises from cheerfully embracing the cross which God sends him, and from the conviction that, in embracing it, he pleases God in the highest degree? So great was the joy which St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to feel at the bare mention of the will of God, that she would fall into an ecstacy.

 

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From “A treatise on the knowledge and love of Our Lord Jesus Christ” by Fr. Jean-Baptiste Saint-Jure:

We must not be too sensible to injuries

We ought to strive not to be so sensible to injuries, and not to be easily offended at many little things which may be said and done; but to raise ourselves above all this, to render ourselves so strong that we shall not be easily troubled by the adverse occurrences which cannot be avoided in this life. It is a mark not only of generosity but also of wisdom, to despise injuries and not to permit them to disturb our interior peace. We must as far as possible be independent of them, and neutralize their power of annoying us. A man having struck Cato accidentally, wished to make him satisfaction; but this illustrious personage answered in these remarkable words: I do not remember that you struck me. He had rather not avow the injury than pardon it, says Seneca, who adds: It is peculiar to great courage to contemn injuries; many make the injury worse by seeking to draw vengeance from it. A noble and glorious heart disdains even to mention an injury or notice it; as the mastiff does not seem to hear the barking of a little dog.

To give our souls this temper of steel, and to render them insensible to injuries, we must consider them from a point of view in which they cannot hurt us. … It is much more secure to turn from the dangerous side, and to consider only that he who offends you, is the image of God, a Christian like you, and your brother; that by patiently bearing this injury you do a noble and generous action which is very pleasing to God, and very meritorious for yourself; that it is, as it were, an assurance of your salvation, the mark of your predestination, an infallible disposition to obtain pardon of your sins, because you can then say with confidence: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them who trespass against us. It is thus we ought to consider our enemies, it is with the eyes of faith that we must regard the evils they do us; it is with a spirit thus prepared that we ought to expect and receive them.