How our patience should be

WE cannot deny that whether we like it or not, we need to

have patience, lots of it, in our life. Otherwise, we cannot survive

beyond our young age. There are just so many difficulties, problems,

issues and all sorts of predicaments that would demand from us nothing

less than patience--heroic, holy patience, in fact.

            But we have to make sure that our patience is not simply a

matter of some practical advantage or purpose, with some ulterior

motives. It should have a deeper source, a greater motive and a higher

objective. It would be a pity if those occasions where patience is

needed would miss the chance to base and orient our patience properly.

            And this can only mean that we pattern our patience after

the patience of Christ who bore all our sins by going through his

passion and death on the cross, all of this out of pure obedience to

his Father and pure love for us.

            In short, we have to have the mind and attitude of Christ

when developing and practicing patience. It’s only then that our

patience would acquire its true value and would play along the

providence of God.

            This can only be done when we have Christ vitally with us.

We should continually ask for his grace for this purpose. In fact, the

first thing we should do when we need to be patient is to ask for

God’s grace.

            And with God’s grace, let us develop the pertinent

attitudes, skills and virtues. Foremost among these would be a strong

trust in God’s providence that is accompanied by our all-out effort to

handle our challenges. We have to learn to always defer to God’s will

and ways even if they may appear to be against our reasoning and

calculations.

            We have to stretch our capacity to suffer, and even to

suffer with a smile. After all when we suffer with Christ, everything

will already be taken care of, irrespective of how things end.

          In this regard, we can always take advantage of our daily

events, already full of contradictions, to broaden and deepen our

capacity to suffer out of love, which is what patience is all about.

            We should practice restraint and moderation in our

thoughts and reactions. Since our spontaneous reactions cannot be

controlled, let’s see to it that we can manage to correct ourselves or

at least put ourselves in some cautious mode as soon as we can.

            We should always be careful with our emotions, moods and

passions. The same with the social trends and fashions that can

trigger a mob response to situations, instead of a more human and

charitable one.

            Our words should be well thought out before they are

uttered. More importantly, we should always arm ourselves with good

intentions, the skill to discern whatever good there may be in any

situation even if it is dominated by so much evil. This will make

patience easy and even enjoyable.

            We should avoid being dragged by negative thoughts

whenever we encounter difficulties. We should be quick to react in a

spiritual and supernatural way, always hopeful and optimistic even,

deeply convinced that with Christ, everything will always work out for

the good. Christ knows how to derive good from evil, how to resurrect

from the dead, etc.

            Our patience should always be marked by peace and

serenity. While the physical signs of pain and suffering cannot be

avoided, we should try our best, if we have true patience, that we

refrain from falling into self-pity and subjective misery. True

patience can only be lived with joy. A joyless patience is not true

patience.