Ripe for Heaven
There was once a man whom God visited with many and great trials.
Scarcely had one trial passed before another one came upon him. But he was a
good Christian, and knew that these sufferings were the gift his heavenly
Father sent him, that he might gain a crown of glory hereafter.
He had a wife and one child, a bright and beautiful boy, and in his quiet
home, in their company, he found some little consolation when the burden was
heaviest.
It happened that a war broke out, and his wife and child were put to
death by the enemy. This was for him the severest of all the trials that he
had yet suffered, and his usual confidence in God seemed for a moment to
forsake him in his great grief.
"O my God," he cried out, "why hast Thou taken away from me the only
things I prized in this world, my wife and my child? Why did the balls of
the enemy spare me, when so many of my comrades were struck down by my side?
Oh! why hast Thou preserved me to heap on me so great an affliction?"
God consoled him in his grief. He seemed in his sleep to see a most
beautiful angel coming near him, having in his hand three grains of seed.
These he sowed in a field. Two of them grew up, and produced flowers of
magnificence and beauty far exceeding what he had ever seen before. But the
third grain of seed did not spring up. So he asked the angel, "Why is it
that two of the seeds you sowed have produced such beautiful flowers, and
the third one has not sprung up?"
The angel answered, "Because it is not yet ripe; have patience, it will
also appear." Soon afterwards he saw it also coming forth from the ground,
and the flowers it produced were still more beautiful.
When he awoke, he began to reflect on what he had seen. "O my God, he
said, "it was wrong in me to murmur against Thy holy will as I have done.
Pardon me, O my God; Thou hast taken to Thyself those whom I loved, because
Thou sawest that they were already ripe for Heaven, and Thou hast left me
still a little time on earth to purify me, and prepare me for a still
greater degree of glory in paradise."
From that moment he complained no more.
--Rép. du Cat.
Taken from: Stories from The Catechist (pp 111-112)
Compiled by: Very Rev. Canon G.E. Howe
Imprimatur: Edm. Canon Surmont, Vicar General Westminster
Published by: www.TanBooks.com
Copyright: Original 1898
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