Daily Thought For January 10, 2017
Our Neighbors Bring Out Our True Character
Your neighbors will bring out your true character.
In the good they elicit good, in the wicked, evil. The proud cannot harm a truly humble person. Nor can an unbeliever shake the faith of someone who truly believes. Their lack of faith will not diminish your faith, but rather strengthen it, if your heart is rooted in love of me.
In the same way patience, benignity, and kindness—if they are real and true—will blossom in the face of another’s envy, anger, annoyance, and hatred.
Indeed, it is often true that not only is your virtue proved when you return good for evil, but that when you reply to hatred and rancor in another’s heart with the coals of your own fiery love, their hatred will be extinguished.
Good can come from evil when you respond to evil with love and patience, with fortitude and perseverance, with endurance in the face of those who would turn you away from the love of me.
St. Catherine of Siena – from Set Aside Every Fear – Love and Trust in the spirituality of Catherine of Sienna