Saint Margaret Mary and the theology of suffering

I have mentioned something like this recently, and it should be a constant theme. The world does not like suffering and goes so far as to ignore suffering whenever possible. Worldly success is measured by how far we are able to enjoy life, by how much we can get out of life. But, without suffering. Which is why when some unforeseen calamity, such as a terminal illness, arrives without warning and makes the end inevitable, we're all so very sorry, even if we don't know the person who is suffering. 'Oh, how sad,' we say, 'and she's so young, too.' And what about disability? I know of heroic families that care for the disabled, their relatives and friends, and draw into the world an extraordinary love, while the world passes by and says such rotten things as, 'that person should not be alive, they are better off dead.' This is a world that campaigns endlessly for the preservation of species of animals approaching extinction, but is able to tolerate the killing of small babies approaching birth, especially when these babies are disabled, because it cannot accept any suffering for either the babies or their families.

So, I have reached to this point in Saint Margaret Mary's autobiography, where she describes a vision of heaven which she found so absolutely delightful that she was prepared to die right away and enter into that enjoyment (pp. 62-63). Then she hears the ancient Voice say something to her, and she set it down in verse. In English, the book presents it as:

"In vain thy longing heart desires

to find an entrance there,

who to this heavenly bliss aspires,

on earth the cross must bear."

God is love we are told, and we are to abide in his love. But true love endures the cross for the sake of the beloved. We live in a world that refuses to love. May we not be a part of it. We must remember the warning of Christ: 

"'Do to other men all that you would have them do to you; that is the Law and the Prophets. Make your way in by the narrow gate. It is a broad gate and a wide road that leads on to perdition, and those who go in that way are many indeed; but how small is the gate, how narrow the road that leads on to life, and how few there are that find it!'" - Gospel of S. Matthew, 7:12-14