God’s love is behind everything bad that happens to us

December 4, 2021 • 2 min

From The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, page 57
By His friend, Jean Pierre Camus, Bishop of Belley

You find some difficulty, it seems, my sisters, in understanding how all things, as St. Paul says, [Rom. viii. 28.] whether good, bad, or indifferent, can in the end work together for good to those who love God.

To satisfy you, I quote the words of Blessed Francis on this subject in one of his letters. He says:

Since God can bring good out of evil, will He not surely do so for those who have given themselves unreservedly to Him?

Yes; even sins, from which may God in His goodness keep us, are by His Divine Providence, when we repent of them, changed into good for those who are His.

Never would David have been so bowed down with humility if he had not sinned, nor would Magdalene have loved her Saviour so fervently had He not forgiven her so many sins. But He could not have forgiven them had she not committed them.

Again:

Consider, my dear daughter, this great Artificer of mercy, who changes our miseries into graces, and out of the poison of our iniquities compounds a wholesome medicine for our souls.

Tell me, then, I beseech you, if God works such wonders with our sins, what will He not effect with our afflictions, with our labours, with the persecutions which we have to endure?

No matter what trouble befalls you, nor from what direction it may come, let your soul be at peace, certain that if you truly love God all will turn to good.

And though you cannot see the springs which work this marvellous change, rest assured that it will take place.

If the hand of God touches your eyes with the clay of shame and reproach, it is only to give you clearer sight, and to cause you to be honoured.

If He should cast you to the ground, as He did St. Paul, it will only be to raise you up again to glory.