Trials and Tribulation

Our life in this earthly pilgrimage cannot be without trials, our progress can only be by way of our trials, and we do not know ourselves if we have not suffered temptation. There is no reward for the one who has not persevered, no victory for the one who has not fought, no fighting except in face of the enemy or in temptation.

In Christ you were tempted, because Christ had taken his flesh from you to give you his salvation, his death from you to give you his life, his insults from you to give you his honor, and the temptations from you to give you his victory. If we have been tempted in him, in him also we triumph over the devil. Recognize yourself in his temptation, recognize yourself in him in his victory. He could have prevented the devil from coming to him; but had he not been tempted how could he have taught us how to overcome temptation?

Remember the Gospel: “On this rock I will build my church.” But who became rock so that the Church could be built on the rock? Listen to what St. Paul says: “The rock was Christ.” So on him we are built up. That is why this rock on which we are constructed was the first to be buffeted by winds, flood and rains when Christ was tempted by the devil. So our voice does not cry out in vain, but it is heard. We are in a place of hope: “You will set me on a rock.”

—Augustine, Commentary on Psalm 60