Patience and Interior Struggle
Perseverance in the Ascetical Struggle
On one occasion, Jesus went to the pool of Bethsaida. A paralytic was lying there, for thirty-eight years under his ailment, waiting to be cured. The Lord asked him, “Do you want to be cured?” Jesus did not ask to find out; he knew. It was to manifest the patience of that man who had stayed there for so long, without quitting, hoping to be freed of his sickness.
We, too, must be patient and persevere in the interior struggle to uproot our dominant defect, or in our effort to acquire that basic virtue which seems so difficult to attain. We need patience because Jesus requires of us a long period of fight, a lifetime, perhaps.
***
A Christian must be patient; he must fortify his heart to be victorious. But once he overcomes vice, he must be stronger and fight harder after the victory to avoid being conquered by the relapse. (St Gregory the Great, Book of Pastoral Care, III, 9).
***
Only the weak and the patient can join God’s combats. (Cassian, Collationes, 7, 5)
***
Every single day, do what you can to know God better, to get acquainted with him, to fall more in love with him each moment, and to think always of his love and his glory.
You will carry out this plan, my child, if you never, for any reason whatever, give up your times of prayer, your presence of God–with the aspirations and spiritual communions that set you on fire, your unhurried Holy Mass, and your work–finished off well for him. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 737)
***
Holiness is attained with the help of the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell in our souls, through grace given us by the sacraments, and as a result of a constant ascetical struggle.
My son, let us not have any false illusions about this: You and I–I’ll never tire of repeating it–will always have to struggle, always, until the end of our lives. Thus, we will come to love peace, spread peace around us, and receive our everlasting reward. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 429)
***
God awaits you. So, wherever you are, you must commit yourself to imitating him and uniting yourself to him, cheerfully, lovingly, keenly, though circumstances might require you–even permanently–to go against the grain.
God awaits you ... and needs your fidelity! (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 51)
***
Make an effort to respond at each moment to what God is asking of you; resolve to love him with deeds. They may be little deeds, but do not leave any out. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 82)
***
It is not a matter of hurriedly fulfilling your obligations, but of bringing them to a finish without pause, at God’s pace. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, 791)
***
The experience of our weaknesses and of our failings, the painful realization of the smallness and meanness of some who call themselves Christians, the apparent failure or aimlessness of some works of apostolate, all these things which bring home to us the reality of sin and human limitation can still be a trial for our faith. Temptation and doubt can lead us to ask: “Where are the strength and the power of God?” When that happens we have to react by practicing the virtue of hope with greater purity and forcefulness, and striving to be more faithful. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 129)
***
Do not ask for persecutions to prove your fidelity; it is better to accept the trials that God may send you. Your fidelity must be shown in your humility, serenity, and charity. (St Francis of Sales, Letters)
***
No one should look back, as Lot’s wife did; the Lord told us: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62). To look back is to grieve over the present and to once more relish worldly things. (St Athanasius, Life of St Anthony)
***
There was a man once, who was all fears at one moment, and all hopes the next. At last he threw himself down before the altar, and thus gave expression to the thoughts in his mind: “If I only knew that I was going to persevere!”
All at once he heard the divine answer in his heart: “Well, and if you knew, what would you do? Do now what you would do then, and you will be blessed.” (Imitation of Christ, I,25,2)
***
I have never found better people than those who persevere in their vocation. I have never found worse people than those who abandoned it. I think the Apocalypse speaks of them saying: “Let him who is holy continue to be holy; let him who is vile continue to be vile” (Apoc 22:11).(St Augustine)
***
On Acquiring Patience and Battling against Evil Desires
THE LEARNER: Lord God, I can see that patience is something vitally necessary to me because this life abounds in circumstances that thwart my happiness. No matter how carefully I try to live in peace, my days always have their share of conflict and sorrow.
THE BELOVED: That is so, my son; but the kind of peace I want you to aim at is not one in which temptations are not present or difficulties not felt. You will find peace only after having been harassed by various temptations and tested by much adversity. If you say you cannot stand much suffering, how are you going to stand the fire of purgatory? Strive to bear patiently for God’s sake the evils of this present life. Do you suppose worldly men have next to nothing of suffering? Put the question to those whose lives are rounds of pleasures; you will find that you are wrong.
All the same, you say, they have a lot of fun and follow their own sweet will, so that when they do come up against trouble it doesn’t weigh very heavily upon them.
Granted; but even supposing they have whatever they desire, how long do you think that’s going to last? Those rich in this world’s goods, you know, will fade out like smoke. They will leave not a memory behind of the pleasures that once were theirs.
Even during their lifetime, when such pleasures are the goal of their existence, their enjoyment of them is tinged with bitterness, boredom, and fear. The very objects from which they obtain pleasure often repay them with pain and unhappiness. In this they are only getting their due; those who throw off all restraint in their pursuit of pleasure cannot expect to enjoy it without feelings of shame, without finding the sweetness of it turning sour to the taste. Ah, how quickly gone, how false such pleasures are, how uncontrolled, how vile!
And yet, their devotees are so fuddled by them, so blinded. They don’t see their way. Like dumb beasts, they snatch at the paltry pleasures of this corruptible life, and so bring upon themselves the death of their souls. Do you, then, my son, “not follow the counsel of appetite; and turn your back on your own liking” (Sir 18:30). “Let all your longing be fixed in the Lord; he will give you what your heart desires” (Ps 36:4).
If you knew what true pleasure is, if you longed for a greater outpouring of my comfort! I tell you this: despise all worldly compensations, cut out of your life all base forms of pleasure, and you will be blessed for it. Be more than repaid by the comfort with which I shall flood your heart. The more you withdraw from the comfort you find in creatures, the sweeter and stronger will be the comfort you find in me.
To begin with, you will not reach this state without a hard struggle and a certain amount of pain. Lifelong habits will bar your way; acquire virtues that will wrest the victory from them. The body will complain, but a sense of commitment in your soul will hold it in check. The Old Serpent will goad you and work upon your feelings, but prayer and mortification will put him to flight. Moreover, by working in earnest and avoiding idleness, you will block one of his broadest means of access to your heart. (Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, 3, ch. 12)
***
We Are Never Safe from Temptation in This Life
THE BELOVED: You are never safe from this life, my son; as long as you live, you will always need spiritual weapons. You spend your days among your enemies; the attack may come from any quarter. If you fail to use the shield of patience on every trial, it will not be long before you get wounded.
Besides that, if you neglect to set your heart unwaveringly upon me, with the stark desire of enduring all for my sake, you will be unable to bear the brunt of the assault and will fail to win the palm of victory I award to my blessed ones. You must therefore make your way like a man through all that irritates you. You must strike hard at all that stands in your way. The man who pushes through is rewarded with the Bread of Heaven, while the fainthearted is left in the depths of his misery.
If you merely try to find rest in this world, you will never reach the rest of life everlasting. It is not long hours of rest you should envision here, but long hours of patient endurance. True peace must be sought not on earth, but in Heaven; not in men, not in other creatures, but in God alone. For the love of God you ought to endure with gladness all that comes your way; toil and sorrow, temptations, afflictions, anxiety, want, weakness, injury and slander, rebuke, humiliation, shame, correction, and scorn. All these things are means of sanctity. They test the man who has newly entered the service of Christ, and go to the making of his heavenly crown. For a swift period of work and self denial I will give a reward that lasts forever; for a brief moment of shame, glory without end.
Do you imagine you will always have spiritual comfort whenever you want it? That was never the way with my saints. What they had was a world of trouble, trials innumerable, utter desolation. Yet, for all that, they held out patiently in all that befell them, trusting in God and not in themselves. They did not “count these present sufferings as the measure of that glory which is to be revealed” (Rom 8:18), the prize they hoped to win. Are you asking to have here and now something that many people have only just managed to obtain after much toil and many a tear?
“Wait patiently for the Lord to help you; be brave, and let your heart take comfort” (Ps 26:14). Do not lose courage, do not retreat; be steadfast in giving yourself up, body and soul, for the glory of God. The reward I shall give you will surpass all measure. And in all your troubles I shall be at your side. (Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, 3, ch. 5)
***
Without our Blessed Mother’s aid, how can we manage to keep up our daily struggle?–Do you seek it constantly? (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, 692)
Tiredness in the Ascetical Struggle
There are many tests that patience has to overcome. First the limitations proper to human nature. To reach an objective, one has to toil steadily. Hence one has to overcome tiredness and the inordinate desire to reach the objective right away.
Sometimes we may seem tired of fighting against temptations. The difficulties and opposition seem unsurmountable.
This opposition may be coming from many different causes. At times it may have a real basis such as physical exhaustion, lack of financial means, friction in dealing with others, misunderstandings in professional work, or obstacles in the apostolate. Much more often, though, the opposition arises from our pride and sensuality, which create unnecessary difficulties.
When everything is dark, we must be patient, sincere, docile; we must allow ourselves to be guided. With sincerity and fortitude, we must discover the root, what really separates us from God: perhaps lack of rectitude of intention, self-love, veiled sensuality, or desires of compensation.
***
Persevere in your life of piety, willingly and with love, even if you feel dry. Don’t worry if you find yourself counting the minutes or days still to go before you finish that act of piety or that task, with the turbid delight of the lazy schoolboy who in similar situation is looking forward to the end of the term, or of the petty criminal who can’t wait to get back to his tricks once he is out of jail again.
Persevere–I insist–with a real and effective determination. Don’t cease, not even for a moment, to want to fulfil and benefit from those means of piety. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 447)
***
You are ashamed before God, and before the others. You have discovered filth within yourself, both old and renewed; there is no evil instinct or tendency that you do not feel under your skin. And you also carry a cloud of uncertainty in your heart. Furthermore, temptation arises when you least want it or expect it, when your will is weakened by tiredness.
You no longer know if it really humiliates you, although it hurts you to see yourself like this. Let it hurt you because of Him, and for Love of Him; this contrition of love will help you to remain vigilant, for the fight will last as long as we live. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 174)
***
I must warn you against a ploy of satan–yes, not in capital letter, because he deserves no more–who tries to make use of the most ordinary circumstances to turn us away, slightly or greatly from the path that leads us to God.
If you struggle, and even more if you are truly dedicated in this struggle, you should not be surprised at feeling tired or having sometimes to “go against the grain,” without any spiritual or human consolation. This is what someone wrote to me some time ago; I kept it for those who naively consider that grace does away with nature: “Father, for a few days now I have been feeling a laziness and tremendous apathy in fulfilling the plan of life. I have to force myself to do everything, and have very little enthusiasm. Pray for me so that this crisis may soon pass, for it makes me suffer a lot to think it could make me turn from my path.”
I answered only: “Didn’t you know that Love demands sacrifice?” Read the words of the Master slowly, “Whoever does not take up his Cross cotidie–every day–is not worthy of Me.” And further on, “I will not leave you orphans....” Our Lord allows that dryness of yours, which you find so hard, for you to love Him more, to trust only in Him, to co-redeem with the Cross, to meet Him. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, 149)
***
I once heard of a curious thing that reoccurs in great battles. Although victory may be certain beforehand because of the superiority in numbers and means, later, in the heat of combat, there are times when defeat threatens through the weakness of one flank. Then peremptory orders come from the high command, and the breach is covered in the threatened flank.
I thought about you and me. With God, who does not lose battles, we will always be the victors. Thus, in the struggle for sanctity, if you feel lacking in strength, listen to the commands, do what you are told, let yourself be helped,... for He does not fail. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, 151)
***
“Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem....” Blessed is the man who suffers temptation for, after he has been tested, he will receive the crown of Life.
Is your heart not filled with joy when you realize that this interior challenge is an inexhaustible fountain of peace? (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, 160)
How to Grow in Patience
True patience is not merely a character trait of a cautious person. It is part of the fortitude of one who fights to avoid being overcome with sadness and distress by the ordinary difficulties of life.
To acquire patience and make it thrive we must:
- Accept the Will of God, who knows better than we what is good for us; thus, he sometimes sends us sufferings and hardships.
- Consider the patience of God suffering and tolerating our sinful way of life; we should make reparation by voluntarily accepting suffering in atonement for our sins.
- Contemplate Christ’s patience during his life and in his Passion, suffering for us; a sincere desire to imitate him should be born in our hearts.
- Consider the patience of the saints, especially of our Lady, incomparable model of patience.
- Recall the blessings resulting from this virtue. In this life, it makes up for our past sins; in the next life, an eternity of happiness awaits us if we know how to suffer with patience. The suffering passes, the merit remains.
- Recall the misfortunes that result from impatience. It does not lessen the evil we face, but increases the number and weight of the trials we bear; often that impatience itself becomes a worse torment than the evil we encounter.
- Consider the sins provoked by impatience, especially sins against charity.
***
When you feel the sting of impatience and are overtaken by sadness in tribulations and humiliations, stand firm against this temptation. Remember your many sins, for which you deserve much harsher punishments than those you are now enduring. Adore the infinite justice of God and receive his blows with docility; these are your sources of mercy and grace.
If only you understood how good it is to be wounded in this wretched life by the hand of such a sweet Father as God, certainly you would abandon yourself completely into his hands. Repeat often with St Augustine: “Here in this life, burn and cut in me whatever you wish; do not spare me any suffering here; forgive me and spare me the sufferings of eternity.” To refuse tribulations is to rebel against the justice of our Father God, to reject the chalice that he mercifully offers us and from which Christ himself–although innocent–wanted to drink first. (G. Pecci [Pope Leo XIII], The Practice of Humility, 35)
***
Through the exercise of the virtue of patience, acts of mortification will flow that will make the patient soul a humble soul, and one very much united to God, if the trials are embraced out of love of God.
On one occasion, Jesus went to the pool of Bethsaida. A paralytic was lying there, for thirty-eight years under his ailment, waiting to be cured. The Lord asked him, “Do you want to be cured?” Jesus did not ask to find out; he knew. It was to manifest the patience of that man who had stayed there for so long, without quitting, hoping to be freed of his sickness.
We, too, must be patient and persevere in the interior struggle to uproot our dominant defect, or in our effort to acquire that basic virtue which seems so difficult to attain. We need patience because Jesus requires of us a long period of fight, a lifetime, perhaps.
***
A Christian must be patient; he must fortify his heart to be victorious. But once he overcomes vice, he must be stronger and fight harder after the victory to avoid being conquered by the relapse. (St Gregory the Great, Book of Pastoral Care, III, 9).
***
Only the weak and the patient can join God’s combats. (Cassian, Collationes, 7, 5)
***
Every single day, do what you can to know God better, to get acquainted with him, to fall more in love with him each moment, and to think always of his love and his glory.
You will carry out this plan, my child, if you never, for any reason whatever, give up your times of prayer, your presence of God–with the aspirations and spiritual communions that set you on fire, your unhurried Holy Mass, and your work–finished off well for him. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 737)
***
Holiness is attained with the help of the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell in our souls, through grace given us by the sacraments, and as a result of a constant ascetical struggle.
My son, let us not have any false illusions about this: You and I–I’ll never tire of repeating it–will always have to struggle, always, until the end of our lives. Thus, we will come to love peace, spread peace around us, and receive our everlasting reward. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 429)
***
God awaits you. So, wherever you are, you must commit yourself to imitating him and uniting yourself to him, cheerfully, lovingly, keenly, though circumstances might require you–even permanently–to go against the grain.
God awaits you ... and needs your fidelity! (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 51)
***
Make an effort to respond at each moment to what God is asking of you; resolve to love him with deeds. They may be little deeds, but do not leave any out. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 82)
***
It is not a matter of hurriedly fulfilling your obligations, but of bringing them to a finish without pause, at God’s pace. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, 791)
***
The experience of our weaknesses and of our failings, the painful realization of the smallness and meanness of some who call themselves Christians, the apparent failure or aimlessness of some works of apostolate, all these things which bring home to us the reality of sin and human limitation can still be a trial for our faith. Temptation and doubt can lead us to ask: “Where are the strength and the power of God?” When that happens we have to react by practicing the virtue of hope with greater purity and forcefulness, and striving to be more faithful. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 129)
***
Do not ask for persecutions to prove your fidelity; it is better to accept the trials that God may send you. Your fidelity must be shown in your humility, serenity, and charity. (St Francis of Sales, Letters)
***
No one should look back, as Lot’s wife did; the Lord told us: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62). To look back is to grieve over the present and to once more relish worldly things. (St Athanasius, Life of St Anthony)
***
There was a man once, who was all fears at one moment, and all hopes the next. At last he threw himself down before the altar, and thus gave expression to the thoughts in his mind: “If I only knew that I was going to persevere!”
All at once he heard the divine answer in his heart: “Well, and if you knew, what would you do? Do now what you would do then, and you will be blessed.” (Imitation of Christ, I,25,2)
***
I have never found better people than those who persevere in their vocation. I have never found worse people than those who abandoned it. I think the Apocalypse speaks of them saying: “Let him who is holy continue to be holy; let him who is vile continue to be vile” (Apoc 22:11).(St Augustine)
***
On Acquiring Patience and Battling against Evil Desires
THE LEARNER: Lord God, I can see that patience is something vitally necessary to me because this life abounds in circumstances that thwart my happiness. No matter how carefully I try to live in peace, my days always have their share of conflict and sorrow.
THE BELOVED: That is so, my son; but the kind of peace I want you to aim at is not one in which temptations are not present or difficulties not felt. You will find peace only after having been harassed by various temptations and tested by much adversity. If you say you cannot stand much suffering, how are you going to stand the fire of purgatory? Strive to bear patiently for God’s sake the evils of this present life. Do you suppose worldly men have next to nothing of suffering? Put the question to those whose lives are rounds of pleasures; you will find that you are wrong.
All the same, you say, they have a lot of fun and follow their own sweet will, so that when they do come up against trouble it doesn’t weigh very heavily upon them.
Granted; but even supposing they have whatever they desire, how long do you think that’s going to last? Those rich in this world’s goods, you know, will fade out like smoke. They will leave not a memory behind of the pleasures that once were theirs.
Even during their lifetime, when such pleasures are the goal of their existence, their enjoyment of them is tinged with bitterness, boredom, and fear. The very objects from which they obtain pleasure often repay them with pain and unhappiness. In this they are only getting their due; those who throw off all restraint in their pursuit of pleasure cannot expect to enjoy it without feelings of shame, without finding the sweetness of it turning sour to the taste. Ah, how quickly gone, how false such pleasures are, how uncontrolled, how vile!
And yet, their devotees are so fuddled by them, so blinded. They don’t see their way. Like dumb beasts, they snatch at the paltry pleasures of this corruptible life, and so bring upon themselves the death of their souls. Do you, then, my son, “not follow the counsel of appetite; and turn your back on your own liking” (Sir 18:30). “Let all your longing be fixed in the Lord; he will give you what your heart desires” (Ps 36:4).
If you knew what true pleasure is, if you longed for a greater outpouring of my comfort! I tell you this: despise all worldly compensations, cut out of your life all base forms of pleasure, and you will be blessed for it. Be more than repaid by the comfort with which I shall flood your heart. The more you withdraw from the comfort you find in creatures, the sweeter and stronger will be the comfort you find in me.
To begin with, you will not reach this state without a hard struggle and a certain amount of pain. Lifelong habits will bar your way; acquire virtues that will wrest the victory from them. The body will complain, but a sense of commitment in your soul will hold it in check. The Old Serpent will goad you and work upon your feelings, but prayer and mortification will put him to flight. Moreover, by working in earnest and avoiding idleness, you will block one of his broadest means of access to your heart. (Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, 3, ch. 12)
***
We Are Never Safe from Temptation in This Life
THE BELOVED: You are never safe from this life, my son; as long as you live, you will always need spiritual weapons. You spend your days among your enemies; the attack may come from any quarter. If you fail to use the shield of patience on every trial, it will not be long before you get wounded.
Besides that, if you neglect to set your heart unwaveringly upon me, with the stark desire of enduring all for my sake, you will be unable to bear the brunt of the assault and will fail to win the palm of victory I award to my blessed ones. You must therefore make your way like a man through all that irritates you. You must strike hard at all that stands in your way. The man who pushes through is rewarded with the Bread of Heaven, while the fainthearted is left in the depths of his misery.
If you merely try to find rest in this world, you will never reach the rest of life everlasting. It is not long hours of rest you should envision here, but long hours of patient endurance. True peace must be sought not on earth, but in Heaven; not in men, not in other creatures, but in God alone. For the love of God you ought to endure with gladness all that comes your way; toil and sorrow, temptations, afflictions, anxiety, want, weakness, injury and slander, rebuke, humiliation, shame, correction, and scorn. All these things are means of sanctity. They test the man who has newly entered the service of Christ, and go to the making of his heavenly crown. For a swift period of work and self denial I will give a reward that lasts forever; for a brief moment of shame, glory without end.
Do you imagine you will always have spiritual comfort whenever you want it? That was never the way with my saints. What they had was a world of trouble, trials innumerable, utter desolation. Yet, for all that, they held out patiently in all that befell them, trusting in God and not in themselves. They did not “count these present sufferings as the measure of that glory which is to be revealed” (Rom 8:18), the prize they hoped to win. Are you asking to have here and now something that many people have only just managed to obtain after much toil and many a tear?
“Wait patiently for the Lord to help you; be brave, and let your heart take comfort” (Ps 26:14). Do not lose courage, do not retreat; be steadfast in giving yourself up, body and soul, for the glory of God. The reward I shall give you will surpass all measure. And in all your troubles I shall be at your side. (Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, 3, ch. 5)
***
Without our Blessed Mother’s aid, how can we manage to keep up our daily struggle?–Do you seek it constantly? (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, 692)
Tiredness in the Ascetical Struggle
There are many tests that patience has to overcome. First the limitations proper to human nature. To reach an objective, one has to toil steadily. Hence one has to overcome tiredness and the inordinate desire to reach the objective right away.
Sometimes we may seem tired of fighting against temptations. The difficulties and opposition seem unsurmountable.
This opposition may be coming from many different causes. At times it may have a real basis such as physical exhaustion, lack of financial means, friction in dealing with others, misunderstandings in professional work, or obstacles in the apostolate. Much more often, though, the opposition arises from our pride and sensuality, which create unnecessary difficulties.
When everything is dark, we must be patient, sincere, docile; we must allow ourselves to be guided. With sincerity and fortitude, we must discover the root, what really separates us from God: perhaps lack of rectitude of intention, self-love, veiled sensuality, or desires of compensation.
***
Persevere in your life of piety, willingly and with love, even if you feel dry. Don’t worry if you find yourself counting the minutes or days still to go before you finish that act of piety or that task, with the turbid delight of the lazy schoolboy who in similar situation is looking forward to the end of the term, or of the petty criminal who can’t wait to get back to his tricks once he is out of jail again.
Persevere–I insist–with a real and effective determination. Don’t cease, not even for a moment, to want to fulfil and benefit from those means of piety. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 447)
***
You are ashamed before God, and before the others. You have discovered filth within yourself, both old and renewed; there is no evil instinct or tendency that you do not feel under your skin. And you also carry a cloud of uncertainty in your heart. Furthermore, temptation arises when you least want it or expect it, when your will is weakened by tiredness.
You no longer know if it really humiliates you, although it hurts you to see yourself like this. Let it hurt you because of Him, and for Love of Him; this contrition of love will help you to remain vigilant, for the fight will last as long as we live. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, 174)
***
I must warn you against a ploy of satan–yes, not in capital letter, because he deserves no more–who tries to make use of the most ordinary circumstances to turn us away, slightly or greatly from the path that leads us to God.
If you struggle, and even more if you are truly dedicated in this struggle, you should not be surprised at feeling tired or having sometimes to “go against the grain,” without any spiritual or human consolation. This is what someone wrote to me some time ago; I kept it for those who naively consider that grace does away with nature: “Father, for a few days now I have been feeling a laziness and tremendous apathy in fulfilling the plan of life. I have to force myself to do everything, and have very little enthusiasm. Pray for me so that this crisis may soon pass, for it makes me suffer a lot to think it could make me turn from my path.”
I answered only: “Didn’t you know that Love demands sacrifice?” Read the words of the Master slowly, “Whoever does not take up his Cross cotidie–every day–is not worthy of Me.” And further on, “I will not leave you orphans....” Our Lord allows that dryness of yours, which you find so hard, for you to love Him more, to trust only in Him, to co-redeem with the Cross, to meet Him. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, 149)
***
I once heard of a curious thing that reoccurs in great battles. Although victory may be certain beforehand because of the superiority in numbers and means, later, in the heat of combat, there are times when defeat threatens through the weakness of one flank. Then peremptory orders come from the high command, and the breach is covered in the threatened flank.
I thought about you and me. With God, who does not lose battles, we will always be the victors. Thus, in the struggle for sanctity, if you feel lacking in strength, listen to the commands, do what you are told, let yourself be helped,... for He does not fail. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, 151)
***
“Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem....” Blessed is the man who suffers temptation for, after he has been tested, he will receive the crown of Life.
Is your heart not filled with joy when you realize that this interior challenge is an inexhaustible fountain of peace? (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, 160)
How to Grow in Patience
True patience is not merely a character trait of a cautious person. It is part of the fortitude of one who fights to avoid being overcome with sadness and distress by the ordinary difficulties of life.
To acquire patience and make it thrive we must:
- Accept the Will of God, who knows better than we what is good for us; thus, he sometimes sends us sufferings and hardships.
- Consider the patience of God suffering and tolerating our sinful way of life; we should make reparation by voluntarily accepting suffering in atonement for our sins.
- Contemplate Christ’s patience during his life and in his Passion, suffering for us; a sincere desire to imitate him should be born in our hearts.
- Consider the patience of the saints, especially of our Lady, incomparable model of patience.
- Recall the blessings resulting from this virtue. In this life, it makes up for our past sins; in the next life, an eternity of happiness awaits us if we know how to suffer with patience. The suffering passes, the merit remains.
- Recall the misfortunes that result from impatience. It does not lessen the evil we face, but increases the number and weight of the trials we bear; often that impatience itself becomes a worse torment than the evil we encounter.
- Consider the sins provoked by impatience, especially sins against charity.
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When you feel the sting of impatience and are overtaken by sadness in tribulations and humiliations, stand firm against this temptation. Remember your many sins, for which you deserve much harsher punishments than those you are now enduring. Adore the infinite justice of God and receive his blows with docility; these are your sources of mercy and grace.
If only you understood how good it is to be wounded in this wretched life by the hand of such a sweet Father as God, certainly you would abandon yourself completely into his hands. Repeat often with St Augustine: “Here in this life, burn and cut in me whatever you wish; do not spare me any suffering here; forgive me and spare me the sufferings of eternity.” To refuse tribulations is to rebel against the justice of our Father God, to reject the chalice that he mercifully offers us and from which Christ himself–although innocent–wanted to drink first. (G. Pecci [Pope Leo XIII], The Practice of Humility, 35)
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Through the exercise of the virtue of patience, acts of mortification will flow that will make the patient soul a humble soul, and one very much united to God, if the trials are embraced out of love of God.