Page:Life and life-work of Mother Theodore Guerin Foundress.djvu/40

28 that recoils before difficulties, that timidly cringes under the law of suffering, and breathes only pessimistic vapors is not capable of high and noble things, is not a fit instrument in the hands of God for the accomplishment of any great work. In order that good may be done great courage is needed. Opposition must come, must be expected; this is only nature's law requiring for growth an expansive force with its consequent pain. Hamlet's "Only that good may be done without obstruction" is an impossible condition. Obstruction there will always be; but the meeting of opposition with firmness, the adjusting of difficulties with skill, and the prudence to use but not to force issues combine to give us the valiant type, rare among the sons of men; the only type, however, through which the plans of God can be carried so as to present anything worthy the divine originator. Nature alone does not provide all the qualifications for doing good; grace must supplement; and it is in the combination of natural and supernatural powers that will be found the key to that fitness which made the Apostle of the nations say, I can do all things in Him who strengthened me.

This courage of soul, implying a more than ordinary degree of faith, is the power that will enable one to meet resistance with resistance; nay more, to surmount obstacles and advance. It is the indispensable power in the accomplishment of noble and zealous enterprises, whereby human agency combines with the divine in the sublime work of the apostolate. It must not be forgotten that the missionary vocation of every