I,
who can aver that I now begin to be a disciple of Christ amid the
greatest pain and confinement of prison, even when my strength seemed
failing from hunger alone, I was always refreshed by such delights of
consolation, that I deemed all my sufferings undergone in the divine
service richly rewarded. Were I still to pass several years in this
dungeon, the time would seem to me short in my intense desire of
suffering for His love, who so lavishly rewards the labors of this
life and makes even torture itself sweet and desirable. Yet God is to
be served chiefly for himself alone, for He is the fountain of all
goodness, and merits all our devotion without any hope of reward.
-–
Blessed Charles
Spinola
