The devout Father John Tauler relates this personal experience: For years he had prayed God to send
The devout Father John Tauler relates this personal experience: For years he had prayed God to send him someone who would teach him the real spiritual life. One day, at prayer, he heard a voice saying: “Go to such and such a church and you will have the answer to your prayers.” He went and at the door of the church he found a beggar, barefooted and in rags. He greeted the mendicant saying:“Good day, my friend.”“Thank you, sir, for your kind wishes, but I do not recall ever having had a ‘bad’ day.”“Then God has certainly given you a very happy life.”“That is very true, sir. I have never been unhappy. In saying this I am not making any rash statement either. This is the reason: When I have nothing to eat, I give thanks to God; when it rains or snows, I bless God’s providence; when someone insults me, drives me away, or otherwise mistreats me, I give glory to God. I said I’ve never had an unhappy day, and it’s the truth, because I am accustomed to will unreservedly what God wills. Whatever happens to me, sweet or bitter, I gladly receive from his hands as what is best for me. Hence my unvarying happiness.”“Where did you find God?”“I found him where I left creatures.”“Who are you anyway?”“I am a king.”“And where is your kingdom?”“In my soul, where everything is in good order; where the passions obey reason, and reason obeys God.”“How have you come to such a state of perfection?”“By silence. I practice silence towards men, while I cultivate the habit of speaking with God. Conversing with God is the way I found and maintain my peace of soul.”Union with God brought this poor beggar to the very heights of perfection. In his poverty he was richer than the mightiest monarch; in his sufferings, he was vastly happier than worldlings amid their worldly delights.- St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Uniformity with God’s Will -- source link
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