"Fancy a sculptor who sends for a piece of wood which he wishes to form into a fine statue. The wood-choppers carry to his shop a rough and shapeless log. The sculptor begins to smooth it down, using first the hatchet, then the saw, afterwards the plane, and finally the chisel. What does the wood do ? Does it make any resistance ? No, it allows itself to be worked upon until it becomes a beautiful statue.
"Thus acts the Divine Artist. With a view of freeing the soul from her imperfections and, as it were, of polishing her, He permits the demons to torment her by temptations, and then He tries her by means of aridities and desolations. If she bears these trials with patience and longanimity, she perfects herself and becomes a very beautiful statue, worthy of a place in the art gallery of heaven."
~ St. Paul of the Cross ~
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