Oh, if you had tasted the delights with which God fills the souls of those who serve him and suffer for him, how would you condemn all that the world can promise! I now begin to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, since for his love I am in prison, where I suffer much. But I assure you, that when I am fainting with hunger, God hath fortified me by his sweet consolations, so that I have looked upon myself as well recompensed for his service. And though I were yet to pass many years in prison, the time would appear short, through the extreme desire which I feel of suffering for him, who even here so well repays our labours. Besides other sickness, I have been afflicted with a continual fever a hundred days without any remedies or proper nourishment. All this time my heart was so full of joy that it seemed to me too narrow to contain it. I have never felt any equal to it, and I thought myself at the gates of paradise.
--Blessed Charles Spinola

Blessed Charles Spinola (1564 – 10 September 1622), also known as Carlo Spinola, was an Jesuit missionary from Genoa, Italy, martyred in Japan as a missionary.

Charles (or Carlo) Spinola was born in January 1564 in Madrid, Spain,^[1] the son of Ottavio Spinola, Count of Tassarolo. He was educated in Spain and in the Jesuit school in Nola, where he lived with his uncle, Philip Cardinal Spinola, Bishop of Nola. He entered the noviatiate in December 1584, and studied in Naples, Milan, and Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1594, and assigned to serve parishes in Cremona.

In 1596, he received a letter appointing him to the missions in Japan. His journey was marked by shipwrecks and delays, which included captivity in England, and he reached his destination only in 1602, six years later. The first ship he took from Genoa struck a rock and was forced to return to Genoa for repairs. Setting out again, he arrived in Barcelona and made his way on foot to Lisbon.^[2]
Spinola and his companions set from Lisbon on 10 April 1596. A violent wind damaged the ship's rudder and they were forced to make for Brazil, where they landed on the 15 July. After five months they left Brazil, but a severe storm drove them Puerto Rico, arriving on 24 March 1597. The missionaries found the general state of morality among the Spanish sugar plantations deplorable, and Spinola considered their arrival providential.^[2] Based in San Juan, he and the small band of Jesuits preached and taught catechism, visiting outlying settlements. On one occasion, Spinola was nearly drowned when his horse lost its footing crossing a river. Setting sail from Puerto Rico on 21 August 1597, Spinola's ship was captured by English pirates off the Azores and the Jesuits arrived in Yarmouth on 5 November.^[2]
He studied Japanese before going to Miyako (Kyoto) where he was minister at the Jesuit College, and a teacher of mathematics and astronomy.^[1] For twelve years, he worked at ministering to the growing Christian community in Japan. In 1614, all foreign missionaries were banished so Spinola went into hiding, eluding capture for four years. After being arrested in 1618, he, together with Brother Ambrose Fernandes and their catechist, John Chogoku, were imprisoned for four years in a birdcage-like confinement under harsh conditions.^[1] He was burnt at the stake at Nagasaki on 10 September 1622. Charles was declared Blessed in 1867, along with 30 other Jesuits, over half of whom were Japanese.^[2]

A falsehood has been recently brought to our attention.
It is claimed that the late Bishop Louis Vezelis OFM had raised a certain “Fr. Gustavo de Jesus, OSB” to the episcopacy on December 24, 2010. in the "Sedevacantist Ukrainian Uniate Chapel of the Patronage of Our Lady" located in Temperley (Partido de Lomas de Zamora) Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is a complete fabrication.
May God have mercy on the demonic instruments promoting this deception.

+Bishop Giles OFM (2018 April 23)

I always want to see you behaving like a brave soldier who does not complain about his own suffering but takes his comrades' wounds seriously and treats his own as nothing but scratches.

 How can the good God Who loves us so much, be happy when we suffer? Never does our suffering make Him happy; but it is necessary for us, and so He sends it to us while, as it were, turning away His Face. . . I assure you that it costs Him dearly to fill us with bitterness.

 He longs to give us a magnificent reward. He knows that suffering is the only means of preparing us to know Him as He knows Himself, and to become ourselves divine. - 

St. Therese of Lisieux

Looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

 St. Paul

 



Dear brothers and sisters, I pray God may open your eyes and let you see what hidden treasures he bestows on us in the trials from which the world thinks only to flee. Shame turns into honor when we seek God's glory. Present affliction become the source of heavenly glory. To those who suffer wounds in fighting his battles God opens his arms in loving, tender friendship. That is why he (Christ) tells us that if we want to join him, we shall travel the way he took. It is surely not right that the Son of God should go his way on the path of shame while the sons of men walk the way of worldly honor: "The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant greater than his master."
--from a letter by Saint John of Avila

 
Our Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: "Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven."

When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemed to place me in the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people of every age, sex and status: "Hear, O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: We cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions. We must heap trouble upon trouble to attain a deep participation in the divine nature, the glory of the sons of God and perfect happiness of soul."

"If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men."

--from the writings of Saint Rose of Lima

36.  To say frequently to yourself, I have come to the convent, not to indulge in pleasure, but to suffer; not to lead a life of comfort, but of poverty; not to be honored, but to be despised; not to do my own will, but the will of others.

37.  To renew always the purpose to become a saint, and not to lose courage in any state of tepidity in which you may find yourself.

38.  To renew every day the vows of your profession.

39.  To conform to the divine will in all things opposed to the senses, in sorrows, infirmities, affronts, contradictions, losses of property, death of relatives or of other persons that are dear to you.  And to direct all your actions, Communions, and other prayers to that end, always asking of God to make you love him, and fulfil His holy will in all things.

40.  To recommend yourself to the prayers of other devout persons; but to recommend yourself more to the saints in heaven, and particularly to the Blessed Virgin, setting a great value on the devotion to this divine mother, and endeavoring to infuse it into others.