In Small Matters

Hence it is that the bitterness of the trial is
sweetened by the balm of God's goodness and mercy.
Praise be to God who can so marvelously alternate joy and tears
so as to lead the soul by unknown paths to the attainment of perfection,
a flower which the merciful God causes to bloom
amid the thorns of suffering,
watered by tears of the soul that suffers patiently,
the humbly conforms to the divine will and prays with warmth and fervor.

-- St. Pio of Pietrelcina