As Christians, we remain people on the journey. Every person’s starting point is different. So are the experiences and challenges they face along the way, along with the gifts, talents, treasures, and opportunities that the Lord equips them with for the journey. At the same time, we have all been similarly loved into existence by our Heavenly Father, and we are each called to the depths of prayer and the heights of holiness—to be saints! We know that in Christ we are each equipped with every necessary grace to “run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1), and that if we do so, we too will finish the race having fought the good fight and having kept the faith (Timothy 4:7).
As St. Paul notes, this virtue of perseverance is crucial to the journey. While we should live mindfully and be prepared for a holy death, most of us still have a long road ahead, a road that at times will be marked by suffering and evils—at least some of which will be the result of our own sins. In the face of such difficulties and potential discouragements, we must remain steadfast. We must persevere in faithfully following Jesus and carrying out the tasks and missions He has given us, through the good times and the bad in this life. No matter how many times we fall, we must get back up and press onward, trusting in the Lord’s mercy and grace.
Perseverance is a virtue—that is, it is a “habit of soul” that grows by practice and grace, which disposes us toward the Good and thereby makes us more like Jesus. The virtue of Perseverance is the ability and willingness to endure suffering—pain, uncertainty, discomfort, fear, evil—not out of insensibility or pride or stubbornness, but out of an even stronger love for the good. When we fix our sight on what is true, good, and beautiful, and we voluntarily accept the pain or suffering of the present cross, we are practicing and growing in the virtue of perseverance—becoming, by God’s grace, people who will be able to “suffer with [Christ] in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:17)
The heart of perseverance is, thus, love, and this fact points then to another key virtue that accompanies and sustains perseverance. Patience, like so many of the virtues, has lost the original clarity and distinctiveness of its meaning in modern discourse. We might think of patience simply as the ability to wait for an event to happen OR to restrain oneself from responding with angry words or actions in the face of some difficulty. However, long before you act out with words or deeds, you have lost your patience in your heart. To remain patient, is to guard in your heart the love and peace of Jesus Christ. Patience is not something passive, but rather an eminently active and vigilant clinging to this love that is the foundation of perseverance. Josef Pieper summarizes it thus:
To be patient means to preserve cheerfulness and serenity of mind in spite of injuries that result from the realization of the good. Patience does not imply the exclusion of energetic, forceful activity, but simply, explicitly and solely the exclusion of sadness and confusion of heart. Patience keeps man from the danger that his spirit may be broken by grief and lose its greatness. (The Four Cardinal Virtues, 129)
At difficult or frustrating moments in the journey, we may look externally like we are persevering just fine. We may continue to put one foot in front of the other and to power through the obstacles in our way. But what is happening inside? The virtue of patience, properly understood, is a fundamental integrity of body, mind, and spirit—it is a holding fast to the object of our Love, in Faith and Hope, even while the spiritual and/or physical battles of life rage around us.
Patience is the heart of perseverance because it is a vigilant guarding of the great gift of love we have received from Jesus, the love for whom it is worth enduring any and all difficulties and sufferings the journey may entail. Whenever we “lose our patience”—whether out of fear, anger, or some other passion—we surrender this inner peace and joy that is the result of knowing the Lord Jesus. We “lose heart” and thus falter in our ability to persevere. On the other hand, whenever we make a conscious effort to practice patience, we grow in the ability to keep our heart intact amidst trials: “through patience, man possesses his soul” (Luke 21:12)
How is the virtue of patience cultivated? As with any habit of the soul, it takes practice, in cooperation with God’s grace. But the best place to begin building up the foundations of any virtue is in prayer, where we turn to the reality of God’s presence, we enter into relationship with Him through Faith, Hope, and Charity, and we learn to recognize and accept this peace and joy that only Jesus can give us, and which no one and nothing can take away from us—save by our willing surrender of it.
During this month of September, many members of the Coming Home Network who have already patiently endured so much on their journey home to the Catholic Church are now entering an important next step as they begin OCIA classes (the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults). At the same time, many remain at extremely difficult places on the journey—perhaps facing confusion, opposition, doubt, and despair as they seek to hear and heed God’s will. Wherever you are on the journey, let us pray for each other today, let us patiently offer up each and every difficulty we face as a sacrifice of love, and let us persevere in following Jesus wherever He leads.
