Forgive and pray

( written over 100 years ago )

     I would, brothers and sisters, that we all could imitate the pearl oyster. A hurtful particle intrudes itself into its shell, and this vexes and grieves it. It cannot eject the evil, and what does it do but cover it with a precious substance extracted out of its own life, by which it turns the intruder into a pearl. oh that we could do so with the provocations we receive from our fellow Christians, so that pearls of patience, gentleness, long suffering, and forgiveness might be bred with in us by that which else had harmed us.