No matter how much evil befalls us, Providence will use it to make us stronger and more determined souls, benefiting us and future generations.
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Newsroom (14/10/2024 15:25, Gaudium Press) I was told that while exploring the Russian countryside, a German engineer came across a gigantic pine tree stuck in the mouth of a deep chasm. The tree had been felled by a violent storm centuries before and, over time, had turned into solid stone. At that moment, it lay there to serve as a strong and safe bridge for passers-by.
My interlocutor told me yet another fact, this time taken from the life of St. Gerard Majella, an ardent disciple and spiritual son of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori: accused of immorality and with letters “proving” this calumny, he was forbidden by the venerable founder to receive Communion and to come into contact with people outside the Order, which meant that he suffered the vexation and suspicion of his brothers in vocation for more than two months. This upright soul, aware of the fraud that tarnished his dignity, accepted being treated like a delinquent by his own superior – a saint, moreover! – whom he loved so much.
What connection is there between the two situations, apparently so different?
What led the Redemptorist saint to overcome such an ordeal with serenity was the certainty that his existence was in the hands of God, who was tracing, through thorns, the path by which he would ascend to heaven and fulfill his mission. St. Gerard had engraved in the depths of his soul the unshakeable conviction that he would not be abandoned. He wasn’t afraid of receiving bad news, because his heart, like that of the psalmist, was “steadfast and confident in the Lord” (Ps 111:7).
This attitude is well illustrated by the situation of the pine tree, whether fictitious or not. Everything indicated that it would be like the others: tall, strong, robust. Birds and squirrels would live in its branches. Perhaps one day, when it died, it would be used to make first-class furniture… Until a huge blizzard knocked it to the ground.
It should be noted, however, that the fury of the wind caused him to fall in a providential way: his extremities were each on one side of the precipice. And, resigned to its sad fate, the pine tree languidly petrified over the years until it acquired a usefulness it could never have imagined.
The huge felled tree illustrates the disappointments and challenges that life throws up throughout human existence: a financial collapse, the death of a loved one, a personal flaw that we never manage to overcome… In situations like these, what keeps us firm are the certainties rooted in the Faith that we carry within our souls, just like St. Gerard Majella in his period of incomprehension.
Does our life not belong to God? Isn’t it true that he cares for us with infinite paternal care, from whose knowledge not even a hair on our head escapes (cf. Mt 10:30)? Don’t we have the best protector in the world, the Mother of God herself? Has it ever been said that anyone who turned to Our Lady was helpless?
An interesting image of petrified wood! In the past, it was just wood, but later it became a hard and beautiful stone, that can be used to make objects, rosaries, decorations… or even the bridge of our legend! This means that, when the weight of misfortunes, difficulties, and sadness falls on our shoulders, we must never allow ourselves to be distressed. No matter how much evil befalls us, Providence will use it to make us stronger and more determined souls, resulting in benefits for us and for future generations, like the Redemptorist saint.
Text extracted from Heralds of the Gospel Magazine no. 232, April 2021. By Sr. Ana Belén Espínola Gravo, EP
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
