Lent With Saint Thomas More

From The Sadness of Christ:

Over a river called Cedron into a village which is named Gethsemani.’
This river Cedron runneth between the city of Jerusalem and the mount of Olives. And this word
Cedron, in the Hebrew tongue, signifieth sorrow or heaviness. And Gethsemani in the same speech is as
much to say as a very fat and plentiful valley, or otherwise the valley of Olivet

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And since Cedron signifieth sorrow and blackness too, and besides that is the name, not of the
river only which the evangelists do here make mention of, but also, as we may well perceive, of the
valley that the river passeth through, which valley lieth betwixt Jerusalem and Gethsemani, these names
(but if we be too slothful and negligent) do put us in remembrance that as long as we live here (as the
apostle with), like strangers sequestered from our Lord, we must needs pass over, ere ever we come
unto the fruitful mount of Olivet, and the pleasant village of Gethsemani (a village, I say, not displeasant
or loathsome to look upon, but full of all delight and pleasure), we must first pass over, as I said, this
valley and river called Cedron, a vale of misery and river of heaviness, the water whereof may clean,
purge, and wash away, the foul black filthiness of our sins.

Most of us wish for a pleasant life.  Few consider that the hardships and woes we encounter in this Vale of Tears may come from God to help make us into saints.  Sorrow is often a teacher, a harsh and painful one, but a teacher nonetheless.