Patient Progress

How many free-throws does a player have to make before becoming the star of the team? It takes effort to become better at anything. Yet, often we only see the end results. We want to be like St. Peter who died for Christ, yet forget that he was first a sinful fisherman.

Based on constancy, progress requires patience.

The Catechism (#736) lists patience as a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

“God's children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. We live by the Spirit; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we walk by the Spirit.”

Amid great things like love, joy and peace, we find patience. This is because God knows we will never achieve the other fruits if we do not first live patience.

We want others to like us and realize that this is easier to achieve if we are “nice guys”. We are bothered by our imperfections, so we set goals and try to better ourselves, little by little, however those good resolutions die fast. The New Years’ diet doesn’t make it past February 1st.

In short: We long to progress, think we can’t, get discouraged and give up.

And yet the greatest danger is impatience with ourselves. Whether our difficulty is a vice or just an annoying or unhealthy habit, it is imperative to persevere in the fight if we want to succeed.

St. Peter is a great example of patience. He was aware of his faults and insisted from day one: “Leave me, Lord, for I am too much of a sinner to be around you.” (Luke 5:8) But Christ had faith in him and helped him to persevere. St. Peter would later fall several times, but in the end died a martyr, faithful to Christ until the end.

So the first lesson to be learned is patience with ourselves. I imagine you would like to follow Christ better. Since he has the patience to put up with your failings, I encourage you to be patient with yourself too. In the end, you too can become a great saint.

By Nicholas Sheehy