[Saint Bridget of Sweden – XIV Century AD; born: Uppland, Sweden/died: Rome, Papal States; Patron Saint of Europe, Widow, Mystic, Spiritual Writer]
Answer to the sixth question. ”As to why the wicked sometimes have greater worldly success than the good"
Answer to the sixth question. ”As to why the wicked sometimes have greater worldly success than the good, I answer: This is an indication of my great patience and love and a testing of the righteous. If I were to give temporal goods to my friends alone, then the wicked would despair and the good would grow proud.
Instead, temporal goods are granted to all, so that I, God, the giver and Creator of all things, may be loved by all and so that good people who become proud may be taught righteousness by means of the wicked. It is also in order that everyone may realize that temporal things are not to be loved or preferred to me, God, but are only to be possessed for the sake of sustenance, and in order that they may be all the more zealous in my service the less they rely on temporal possessions.”
Answer to the seventh question. ”As to why one person is called at the beginning and another toward the end, I answer: I am like a mother who, seeing the hope of life in her children, gives stronger medicine to some and lighter medicine to others. And to those for whom there is no hope, she also shows compassion and does as much as she can. But if the children just get worse from her medicine, why should she take further pains? This is the way I treat my human children. The person who is foreseen to be more fervent in resolution of will and more steadfast in humility and perseverance receives grace in the beginning, and it continues to the end. A person who struggles against vice and yearns to be better deserves to be called toward the end of life. An ungrateful person, however, does not deserve to be admitted to his mother's breast.”
Image: BERNINI, Gian Lorenzo - Altar Cross