Patience Isn't Easy
Thursday of the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
Jesus certainly tried to teach with as many different examples as he thought were needed. He didn’t just say something one way and let it go at that. He knew that each person is different and that we understand from different angles. And so, with much patience he tried to explain and explain again what his Father had sent him to teach us.
Patience is not easy, is it? The less gifted can become frustrated and angry with themselves when they are slow in understanding. The more highly gifted in intelligence can easily get angry at the slowness of others, seemingly not able to understand how anyone can be so (what they call) dumb. But let us all be aware of this. Compared to God, even Einstein is dumb. The patience of God is needed by all - towards all.
We are all students and we are all teachers. We have the opportunity to learn. Life has many lessons to teach and many ways of teaching them. Each of us by the way we live and speak is to teach others. We are to share what we have and know. In this way, we are being like Jesus as he grew in knowledge and wisdom. We are being like him and his Father by being patient with ourselves and others.
As is said, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Neither are people. We need to relax and learn at the pace God has in mind, while at the same time putting forth the effort and awareness required for learning anything.
