Page:The Eternal Priesthood - Manning.djvu/166

160 we shall live also with Him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." To be falsely accused is the last conformity of the servant to his Lord.

The third thought is, that our Divine Master has some greater work for us to do. He is fitting us for it by suffering, by taking away the sweetness, without which hirelings will not serve Him, by purifying our love from resentment against those who despitefully use us, and from all weak pity for ourselves. Till we have accepted our Master's lot, whose three companions, B. Angela of Foligno says, were Poverty, Sorrow, and Contempt, we shall not be worthy to be priests or soldiers of the Heart that was pierced. He gives to all His servants a measure of work according to their power. To the many He gives an easier task, to some a harder, to a few the hardest of all. All priests stand on Calvary; but some are nearer than others to His Cross. He measures out the share of His Cross as each can bear it. Some it touches only for a moment; on some it falls often; some have the prolonged lot of Simon of Cyrene; others have the mocking, others the vinegar and gall; some the desolation, and a few the false accusation under which He died. S. Romuald, S. Peter Martyr, Francis de Sales, S. Joseph Calasanctius, S. Vincent of