But it is especially in the great trials of life that the doctrine of God's providence is necessary for us, and full of consolation, and perhaps it is at just such times that it is the most often forgotten. When some heavy trouble comes, how often does the sufferer fail to acknowledge that it is sent by Almighty God--that is, an ordering of his providence, and therefore to be submitted to with patience and humility. "Dearly beloved," says St. Peter in the Epistle of to-day, "be you humbled under the mighty hand of God." To be humble is to acknowledge our true position in God's sight, to confess that we are his creatures altogether in his power, and that he has the right to do with us as he pleases. Our faith assures us that he will not use this right to our disadvantage. Away, then, with all silly murmurings and complaints that God is unjust. Good sense alone will teach that that cannot be. If you understood the full extent of the malice of even venial sin you would see that you receive but a small part of what you really deserve. Follow, then, the counsel of Solomon, and "reject not the correction of the Lord, and faint not when thou art chastised by him; for whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth." But if the burden seem too hard for you to bear alone, Jesus is ready to help you. "Come to me," he says, "all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you." Go to him in the Blessed Sacrament, pour out your grief to the Sacred Heart, and you shall find rest for your soul. "Cast thy care upon the Lord," said David in the Psalms, "and he shall sustain thee." {300} Then, having humbled yourself under the mighty hand of God, he will exalt you in the time of his visitation and fill you with his peace. And "the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, _when you have suffered a little_, will himself perfect, and confirm, and establish you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." ------------------- Sermon XC. How To Bear Burdens. _Cast thy care upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee._ --Gradual of the Mass.