Suffering With Joy

St. Peter of Alcantara

When my siblings and I were attending Catholic schools as youngsters, we were told to avoid “bad company”.  That is, people who were likely to lead us astray.  In connection with that we were also told to avoid the “near occasions of sin.” That is, persons, places, objects, or behaviors we can easily encounter and which are likely to cause us to break one of the Ten Commandments.

Logic says that if we avoid bad company, we ought to seek out good company.  If we avoid the near occasions of sin, we ought to seek out occasions to practice virtue and live up to the two Great Commandments.

When we are ill, in mourning, or otherwise suffering great trials, we may not feel like having company at all.  But these are just the ideal times when we can invite into our hearts the members of the Church Triumphant who now see the face of God, to consider and imitate their virtues in the privacy of our souls so that we may join them one day in heaven.

Spain produced many great saints in the 1500s and St. Peter of Alcantara was one.  As a youth he entered a convent of Discalced (barefoot) Franciscans to do penance and suffer for the sins of the world.  At the age of forty, he founded the first convent of the “Strict Observance”, living an even more severe lifestyle and inspiring many to follow him.  St. Peter was known to be a great preacher and a learned man, bringing many young people to vocations in religious life and the priesthood.  He was spiritual director to St. Teresa of Avila, now a Doctor of the Church, encouraging her in the reformation of the Carmelites. She likewise encouraged him.

The mutual encouragement St. Teresa and St. Peter gave one another is a good example of keeping good company.  The time spent in pursuing holy discourse was an occasion to practice virtue. 

We do not have to leave behind us great accomplishments as these saints did in order to get to heaven.  We only need to imitate their commitment to fulfilling the will of God for us.  He always gave them the grace to do what He asked no matter how difficult the circumstances – and these two endured prodigious difficulties.  He will do the same for us.  All we have to do is say is “Yes” to Him and with His grace, we can endure anything.  Suffering becomes the occasion to practice virtue and be blessed by God. 

St. Peter of Alcantara died at age sixty-three in 1562.  October 19th is his feast in the 1962 liturgical calendar.

Tags: near occasions of sin, virtue

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