Saturday of Lent Week 5

"By sufferings and distress He has caused you frequently to recall Him in your heart, and by fear of adversities He incites you to turn towards the gate of his mercy. By liberating you from these [troubles] He sows in you causes of love unto Him. And when you have found love he brings you near to the honor of the sons, He shows you the richness of His bounty and the steadfastness of His care for you. Then He will make you perceive the holiness of His honor and the hidden mysteries of the nature of His greatness. How should you have become acquainted with these things if there had not been adversities? For through these the love of God is able to increase, viz. by understanding His acts of bounty and by recalling His various acts of care. All this good is born for you from things causing grief, if you know to give thanks" (from The Mystical Treatises of Isaac of Niniveh, Homily 5, 72).