Home Page
To Sunday Gospel Reflections Index

After Our Lord tells his disciples about the calamities, persecutions and sufferings they will have to endure before the end, he concludes today’s Gospel passage by saying, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” Here, Jesus calls his disciples to have patient endurance in the face of this life’s difficulties. He singles out this virtue because of its importance in bearing suffering well.

The word “patience” comes from the Latin verb “patior,” which means “to suffer” or “to endure.” Everybody suffers — it is unavoidable — but one can suffer well or poorly. Patience is the virtue of suffering well, not letting afflictions harden us into angry, resentful people, but rather allowing suffering to open our hearts to love more deeply.

One thing Christian patience requires is voluntary acceptance of suffering. Look at the Lord Jesus as he humbly (and freely) accepts the lowest place all throughout his earthly life. From his birth in conditions of poverty with no room in the inn all the way to his death on the cross. He freely embraced the cross, and this attitude characterized his entire earthly life. Why did he embrace it? To save us. He embraced it because it is our lot.

Suffering is the lot of fallen man, and Christ humbled himself to take it on himself. If we want to follow in his footsteps, we should not expect to be exempt from embracing suffering. “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.” (Mt 10:24–25) Imitation of Christ’s humility should lead us to imitate his voluntary acceptance of the cross, which is a key aspect of patient endurance.

It should be clear, then, that Christian patience is not merely a phlegmatic non-reactiveness in the face of suffering. Virtue is more than a temperament or a natural disposition; it is a habit gained through repeated free choice, with the help of grace. The virtue of patience, then, is more than a sluggish resignation to the fact of suffering. That sort of thing is only “acceptance” in a weak sense. Nor is it a detached stoicism. It is a patience animated by love.

In a meditation on the mystery of Jesus carrying

the cross, St. Josemaría Escrivá writes, “See how lovingly he embraces the Cross. Learn from him. Jesus carries the Cross for you: you, carry it for Jesus. But don’t drag the Cross. Carry it squarely on your shoulder, because your Cross, if you carry it like that, will not be just any Cross. It will be the Holy Cross. Don’t carry your Cross with resignation: resignation is not a generous word. Love the Cross. When you really love it, your Cross will be a Cross without a Cross.”

To love the cross and freely embrace it. This is at the heart of Christian patience.

Another thing Christian patience requires is prolonged endurance of difficult things. This is, by definition, difficult. It can help us to recognize that it has a purpose.

First, our sufferings can be offered to God for specific intentions when we unite them to the suffering of Christ. Our sufferings can be “for others” in the same sense that we can pray for others as intercessors. And second, our suffering can be an example for others. The way we bear suffering graciously can be a powerful witness to the world. The Lord Jesus makes this purpose explicit in the Gospel today when he says, “It will lead to your giving testimony.” Yes, you will be handed over. Yes, you will be hated for being his disciple. But as you suffer these things, it will lead to you giving witness to Christ. This requires virtue, because without virtue our ability to give witness to Christ is compromised. It requires charity: we must practice what Christ taught us when he said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Mt 5:44) It requires patient endurance: we must not give up our charity because of the prolonged difficulty involved in loving selflessly. “By your perseverance, you will secure your lives.”