The Second Letter to the Corinthians allows us to know the inner life of the Apostle Paul. In Chapter 12 St. Paul shared the visions and revelations he received and the “thorn in the flesh” which helped to keep him humble.

St. Paul wrote, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows … On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses” (2 Cor 12:2, 5).

St. Thomas Aquinas commented: “For it should be noted that there are two things to consider in man, namely, the gift of God and the human condition. If a person glories in a gift of God as received from God, that glorying is good … But if he glories in that gift as though he had it of himself, then such glorying is evil.”

St. Paul shared his weaknesses writing: “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited” (2 Cor 12:7).

St. Augustine pointed out that the providence of God draws good out of evil: “‘And so,’ they ask, ‘is the devil good because he is useful?’ On the contrary, he is evil insofar as he is the devil, but God who is good and almighty draws many just and good things out of the devil’s malice. For the devil has to his credit only his will by which he tries to do evil, not the providence of God that draws good out of him.”

Even though Paul was a saint, his prayer was not answered when he prayed that the “thorn in the flesh” be removed: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor 12:8–9).

Reflecting on his own experience of suffering, Venerable Fulton Sheen wrote, “The first lesson I learned, but only gradually, is that all sufferings come from either the direct or the permissive Will of God. God has two kinds of medicines, bitter and sweet. Job asks if God gives good things why can he not also give us trials. St. Paul suffered during his whole apostolic life from what some translations call ‘a thorn in the flesh.’ The original Greek word is skolops, which means a stake. No one knows precisely what it was and though St. Paul prayed to have it removed, the Lord refused to do so, as he refused to remove stuttering from the speech of Moses.”

The sixth century Cassiodorus commented on the advantage of unanswered prayer: “Paul begged that the flesh’s thorn be removed from him, but he was not heard by the Lord. The devil prayed that he might strike Job with the harshest of disasters, and we know that this was subsequently granted him. But Paul was denied the fulfilment of his prayer for his glory, whereas the devil was granted his for the devil’s pain. Thus it is often an advantage not to be heard even though postponement of our desires depresses us.”

St. Jerome said, “The Lord is good because he often does not give us what we desire, in order to give us something we would prefer.”

The Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor 12:9). St. John Chrysostom commented: “God’s power of deliverance is shown, and the gospel triumphs in spite of persecution. The more the trials increased, the more grace increased as well.”

St. Faustina said, “Suffering is a great grace; through suffering the soul becomes like the Saviour; in suffering love becomes crystallized; the greater the suffering, the purer the love.”

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「有我的恩寵為你夠了」
 

格林多後書使我們窺見保祿宗徒的內在生命。在第12章，聖保祿分享他所見的顯現和啟示，以及那「身體上的一根剌」，幫助他保持謙卑。

聖保祿寫道：「我知道有一個在基督內的人，十四年前，被提到三層天上去 – 或在身內，我不知道，或在身外，我也不知道，惟天主知道。… 對這樣的人，我要誇耀；但為我自己，除了我的軟弱外，我沒有可誇耀的。」(格後12:2,5)

聖多瑪斯阿奎那指出：「人該思量二件事：一是天主的恩賜，二是人的本性。若人因領受神恩而誇耀，是好的；若以為那是自己所得，就成了惡。」

保祿也謙卑地分享自己的軟弱：「免得我因那高超的啟示而過於高舉自己，故此在身體上給了我一根剌，就是撒殫的使者來拳擊我，免得我過於高舉自己。」(格後12:7)

聖奧斯定提醒我們，天主的慈愛善用邪惡：「有人問：『因魔鬼得益處而是好嗎？』恰恰相反，他是邪惡的，但全能的上主從魔鬼的惡意中，仍引出許多正義與良善。」

雖然保祿是聖人，對「去除身體上的一根剌」的祈求並未被應允：「關於這事，我曾三次求主使它脫離我；但主對我說：『有我的恩寵為你夠了，因為我的德能在軟弱中纔全顯出來。」所以我甘心情願誇耀我的軟弱，好叫基督的德能常在我身上。』(格後12:8–9)

反思祂的苦難，真福Fulton Sheen寫道：「我上的第一課，只漸漸學到的，一切苦難，都是出於直接或天主許可的旨意。天主擁有苦藥與甘霖。約伯問既然上主賞賜良善，為何不能讓我們免受試煉？保祿一生受那「身體上的一根剌」所苦，原文 skolops 意為木樁。沒人確知是何物，但他曾祈求刺脫離他，主卻不允，如同不去除梅瑟的口吃。」

六世紀的Cassiodorus也說，未蒙應允的禱告或許更有益：「保祿求刺脫離他未蒙允；魔鬼求以最嚴重的災難擊打約伯卻被允。保祿的祈求未獲應允，那是為了光榮他；魔鬼被允許卻使魔鬼自己受痛苦。因此，有時未被聽見雖令人失望，反而是好事。」

聖熱羅尼莫說：「天主常不將我們所期盼的賜與我們，為的是賜與我們更美好的。」

當天主對保祿說：「有我的恩寵為你夠了。」(格後12:9) 金口聖若望注解：「天主的拯救力量顯明，聖言戰勝迫害。苦難越多，恩寵越豐盛。」

聖女傳天娜說：「苦難是偉大的恩寵；透過苦難，靈魂得以俏似救主；在苦難中，愛被結晶；苦難越深，愛愈純潔。」

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