Le blog de la Bergerie

Patience is a such a gentle virtue

Patience is a gift from the Holy Spirit, one of the fruits of the companionship of the Paraclete
Do you remember how dry our skin can feel after a day in the sun, after a few hours in the wind?
Patience is like a lotion, it is like an ointment being poured out on our soul.
It is refreshing and it is soft. It comforts us like a gentle caress.
It softens what is parched, it binds what would break apart.
Patience is also like a muscle, it need to be exercised to grow stronger.
One step at a time, one drop at a time, because it is fragile
and can disapear quickly as rain drops on a petal will eventually dry up.

Patient people are such a blessing!

The opposite of patience makes us cringe: complaining, yelling, pushing and shoving,
people have been hurt, murders have been committed by lack of patience.
What am I saying? Entire countries have been invaded and wars were started
because we did not know how to wait patiently in hope and trust!

One of the most humble and quiet way of loving our neighbor is to be patient with him (or her).
Sometimes all it takes is for us to shut up and listen more attentively...
Silence is not just the fact that we hold back from speaking,
a more positive outlook on it is to look at it as if we just entered the "Welcome Zone"
and use it to smile and listen and open our arms warmly
(especially the tiny but tender and invisible arms of our heart!)...
Showing patience to others is a lovely form of praying.

The fruits of the Holy Spirit

22 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trust,
23 gentleness and self-control; no law can touch such things as these.
24 All who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with all its passions and its desires.
25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let our behavior be guided by the Spirit
26 and let us not be conceited, nor provocative, nor envious of one another.
Saint Paul Letter to the Galatians

   

MicheleSzekely@2011-2022