"Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great"
Only Christians have a true sense of values; their joys and sorrows are not the same as other people’s. The sight of a wounded boxer wearing a victory crown would make someone ignorant of the games think only of the boxer’s wounds and how painful they must be. Such a person would know nothing of the happiness the crown gives. And it is the same when people see the things we suffer without knowing why we do so. It naturally seems to them to be suffering pure and simple. They see us struggling and facing danger, but beyond their vision are the rewards, the crowns of victory — all we hope to gain through the contest! As Paul said: “We possess nothing, and yet we have everything” (2Cor 6:10)…
We too, then, when we suffer anything for Christ’s sake, should do so not simply with courage, but even with joy. If we have to go hungry, let us be glad as if we were at a banquet. If we are insulted, let us be elated as though we had been showered with praises. If we lose all we possess, let us consider ourselves the gainers. If we provide for the poor, let us regard ourselves as the recipients… Above all remember that your struggles are for the sake of the Lord Jesus. Then you will easily rise above them, and live out your lifetime in happiness; for nothing brings more happiness than a good conscience.
St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars