Patience -
Thoughts on the Patient Endurance of Sorrows and Sufferings
TRULY A PATIENT MAN
In your patience you shall possess your souls.
-Luke xxi, 19.
Say not: I cannot take these things from such a man, and things of this kind are not to be suffered by me for he has done me a great injury, and he upbraids me with things I never thought of; but I will suffer willingly from another, and so far as I shall judge fitting for me to suffer.
Such a thought is foolish which considers not the virtue of patience nor by whom it shall be crowned, but rather weighs the persons and the offense committed.
He is not truly a patient man who will suffer no more than he thinks good and from whom it pleases him.
The truly patient man minds not by whom it is he is exercised, whether by his superior, or by one of his equals, or by an inferior: whether by a good and holy man, or by one that is perverse and unworthy.
But how much soever and how often soever any adversity happens to him from anything created, he takes it all with equality of mind, as from the hand of God, with thanksgiving, and esteems it a great gain.
For nothing, how little soever, that is suffered for God's sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God.
Endeavor to be patient in supporting the defects and infirmities of others, of what kind soever; because thou also hast many things which others must bear withal.
If thou canst not make thyself such a one as thou wouldst, how canst thou expect to have another according to thy liking?
We would willingly have others perfect, and yet we mend not our own defects....[continued tomorrow]
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Compiled and Edited by Rev. F. X. Lasance
Author of "My Prayerbook," etc.
1937, Benziger Brothers
Printers to the Holy Apostolic See
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