Self-Knowledge

 Without self-knowledge you have no root in yourselves personally; you may endure for a time, but under affliction or persecution your faith will not last......They endure not, because they have never tasted that the Lord is gracious; and they have never had experience of His power and love, because they have never known their own weakness and need.---Cardinal John Henry Newman (Famous Anglican convert to the Catholic Church in October 1845, England)

The better we know our own weaknesses the better we will be able to endure when we are tested. I know that when I am tested and want to give up because of the pressure, confusion, or fear I may be dealing with, that I still do not know myself well enough. If we know that we are capable of any sin, false humility, pride, spiritual laziness, etc.. then we can recognize it when the test comes and plead for mercy and grace to persevere. In this pleading, we are now asking for strength to endure the affliction, not for the affliction to end. There is a huge difference. The affliction, or cross, is a gift to help us grow closer to the Lord Who carried His cross and had to endure. He is giving us these crosses to make us like Him in all things. When we plead with Him to take away the gift, we are basically saying, I don't want to grow. But, when we know ourselves and realize why we want the cross taken away, we can then adjust it a bit or maybe move it to the other shoulder and carry on. Of course, this sounds much simpler than it really is. This is why we cry often for mercy.

wkm

John Henry Newman