"If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity."
- Saint Ignatius Loyola
Our Lord Jesus himself, all the great Saints, and the whole of Sacred Scripture teaches that trials and suffering have a purifying effect on the soul (taking up our cross [Mark 8:34]) . We are born with a natural inclination and propensity to forget God when things are going too well.
"Two things I ask of thee;
deny them not to me before I die:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full, and deny thee,
and say, "Who is the LORD?"
or lest I be poor, and steal,
and profane the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:7 - 9)
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