A story for every day...
A traveler prevented from leaving for America.
The liner Hortensia was (1833) in the port of Hamburg ready to sail for America. As there was still some delay until the departure, one of the emigrants took a walk in the park, where a flower struck him which pleased him very much. He climbed onto the lawn and picked it, but a guard saw him and took him to the police station. In spite of his pleas and offers to pay the fine, he was kept, and yet the Hydrangea set sail. After a few days, it was learned that she had been shipwrecked, and the emigrant thanked God for the setback that had prevented him from leaving.
The world attributes these events to chance; the Christian sees in them the intervention of Providence. God often sends us minor misfortunes to spare us greater ones. Let us think about this in our misfortune.
Whom does it matter to please more?
The towers of the Dome of Cologne were near completion, and some curious people obtained permission to climb the scaffolding to see the state of the work. They expressed their astonishment at the finish of the figures and ornaments. “Why,” said one of them, “spend so much effort and art on this ornamentation? Let it be put down, so be it, because it is seen and admired, while here no one notices it.” A sculptor, who had been working on the steeple for twenty-five years, heard him and replied, “Pardon me, sir; if men do not see it, God sees it from heaven.”
So it is with many of our acts of virtue, such as prayer, fasting, almsgiving. Men do not see them or esteem them, but there is someone who sees them and will reward them: it is the Heavenly Father. The remembrance of God’s omniscience is therefore an energetic stimulus for the performance of good works.
