By f. Themistoklis Mourtzanos
There are things that need hard work and patience, such as human relations, admission to the university, diploma, family.
In our times both virtues are associated with the absence of pleasure.
The contemporary human is longing for convenience and automatic acceptance. Love used to be a state of letting ego get away while embracing one soul in two bodies. Now it has been transformed into a mere transaction of pleasure, often impersonal and instant. This is the impasse of modern culture.
Work has been transformed into a “task”, that is a subjugation to money, excluding the beauty hidden in the act of offering, learning, giving joy to yourself and to others.
Putting effort is not sufficient. Patience is also needed. We need to reconsider the value of time, where the notion of “here and now” will not prevail, but patience will have the upper hand, provided those things we want to experience or do are valuable for us.
Provided the person with whom we relate or want to relate is dear to us. Patience is associated with maturity.
Patience has to do with the feeling calling us to defeat the rush. We are called to overcome the desire to have the others as we want them or to have our goals be fulfilled, because we are entitled to fulfill them.
Patience is a kind of taming. It is not sufficient, however, if it is not accompanied by love.
Reciprocity is a prerequisite for human relations. A relationship cannot work if only the one loves. Patience then becomes a trap, because it makes us hope, ignoring the reality, that is the other will be, in some magical way or because of the circumstances, as we want him/her to be. This is so rare to happen.
On the other hand, faith connects patience with the providence and will of God, but sometimes it makes us lose our responsibilities due to our choices for persons and life decisions.
Some times patience is obligatory. Then it easily turns into a trap. That’s why if I can not get away from someone, let not trick myself into thinking that my patience will be rewarded, while I steam and suffer from bad thoughts.
A spiritual struggle is required in order to forgive the one you must endure, and through prayer to offer love to someone you do not expect to receive anything.
The Church says yes to both effort and patience. They are considered to be virtues, when connected with the conscious choice of love.
I endure because I love you. Then I do not wait for someone to change, but I accept as someone truely is.
The choice cannot be based on lies. People of all ages need to realize that true progress comes when our soul is determined to work and endure.
We shall hope that God will strengthen us to act in His own direction: the love for whoever we want to be together and for what we want to build!
