July 1

And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you. — 1 Pet 5:10 BSB

Beloved, are we learning love in the school of suffering? Are our hearts being softened and deepened by the heat of trials, so that the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control—is ripening for the harvest of His coming, and are we bearing our sufferings easily for His sake? Oh, this is the school of love, and it makes Him so much more dear to our hearts, just as we become dearer to Him. Only through this can we learn the heavenly love that suffers long and remains kind.

When we look at St. Paul’s description of love (1 Corinthians 13), we see that both the first and last characteristics of love involve pain and patient endurance—"suffers long" and "endures all things." So let us learn, in the school of love, to suffer and to be kind, to endure all things.

Surely it will not be hard to love through everything when it is the heart of Jesus within us, loving and continuing to love to the very end.

I want the love that suffers and is kind,
That envies not, nor boasts of pride or fame,
Is not puffed up, does no discourteous act,
Is not provoked, nor seeks its own to claim.