Page:HalfHoursWithTheSaints.djvu/53



St. Chrysostom, Pere  Croiset,  S.J.,  and St. Augustine.

"For all  Thy  ways  are  prepared,  and  in  Thy  Providence  Thou  hast  placed  Thy judgments." — Judith ix. 5.

Let us  place  our  trust  in  the  Providence  of  God. Let us cut  off  all  those  anxieties  which  serve  only  to  torture  our minds uselessly,  since,  whether  we  make  ourselves  uneasy or not,  it  is  God  alone  who  sends  us  all  these  things,  and who may  increase  them  until  He  sees  they  disturb  us  less.

Of what  use  would  all  our  cares,  anxieties,  and  troubles be to  us  if  they  only  served  to  torment  us,  and  made  us suffer  the  pain  of  having  had  them?

Our cares  are  only  the  cares  of  an  individual,  those  of God  include  the  whole  world. The more  we  trouble  ourselves with  our  own  interests,  the  less  will  God  interfere.

He who  is  invited  to  a  splendid  banquet  does  not  trouble himself about  what  he  shall  eat,  and  he  who  goes  to  a limpid  spring  does  not  make  himself  uneasy,  for  he  knows he will  be  able  to  appease  his  thirst.

Since, then,  we  have  the  Providence  of  God,  which  is richer  than  the  most  magnificent  feast  and  more  inexhaustible than  the  purest  spring,  do  not  be  uneasy — do  not cherish any  misgivings.

St. Chrysostom.

''Taken from his  Homilies  on  St. Matthew.