As we read in the Letter to the Hebrews (ch 10, vv 35-36), doing or living the will of God for us does not come without endurance on our part. And we should not forget that endurance is related to suffering. The past participle of the Latin verb "to endure" is passus. Does it remind you of a word? Like "suffering"?Regardless of the vocation that we might be following --- married, single, religious or clergy --- one of the major challenges that requires much endurance and patience on each person's part is dealing with one's sexuality. It is not an easy part of living the life each of us has chosen. It is part of the challenge that the faithful follower is called to experience.
Likewise, each person's life is greatly impacted today by the results a technology. The "measured pace" that Ordinary Time and the other "Times" of the Church's calendar are challenged by the speed and instant answers and results we achieve through computer, instruments of communications, etc..
Consider your life: how much has modernity drained your day of the time to reflect, to stop and smell the roses? How much is there a need for patience when minds and hearts are trapped by instant answers that demand more work than time for quiet and reflection? And, for someone like myself, is not the love of change but a manifestation of impatience? Is not the challenge of daily prayer little more than setting time aside to stop and listen to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit? Is not the contemporary need to fill a day with endless activity another example of impatience?
Endurance, fed by the graces of Christian hope, is a challenge for anyone seeking to live the will of God. Living God's will can be found in those moments when endurance is so sorely needed and tested. If we examine the way we live each day, we will find how much endurance is needed for us to accomplish the good we wish. So many demands are put before us that drag us into a spinning wheel and we find it difficult to get off.
The gospel selection for today's Liturgy expresses the patient endurance anyone who has planted a seed, an idea, a project, a program of recovery, a pregnancy. There is not instant accomplishment of success. Endurance, the bitter sweet pill that will help us achieve the will of God, we must fully understand as it applies to our daily journey in the 21st century. With patient endurance we find a way to live God's will for us in the midst of so much business that all find a burden in each day.
