“Wait
with Endurance” by Melanie Rigney (@melanierigney)
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is
not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not
see, we wait with endurance. (Romans
8:24-25)
The Lord has done marvels for
us. (Psalm 126:3a)
"To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat
flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” (Luke 13:20-21)
Piety
Jesus, may I be ever mindful and
inspired by Your earthly endurance.
Study
Let’s be honest. Waiting with
endurance is not very exciting or fun.
“The life of a Christian is nothing
but a perpetual struggle against self,” St. Padre Pio said. “There is no
flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of
pain.”
That is not to discount the many
moments of joy and wonder in our lives: the sacraments. A treasured moment with
a loved one. Time with a Michelangelo sculpture, a Tissot painting, a Mozart
composition. The changing of seasons.
But more time is spent in routine,
ordinary, everyday waiting on God. We wait for Him to illumine our way or
relieve our distress or answer our prayers in some other way. The waiting can
seem interminable. And pain—spiritual, mental, emotional, physical—often is
part of that waiting.
The waiting is all the harder because,
for most of us, the Lord is not present in ways we can see, hear, touch, or
taste, especially in those dark moments. We feel very, very alone.
So we hope. We endure. Because in
the final analysis, all we have is our faith, which fuels our hope and endurance.
Like the yeast, it may seem small and inadequate. It may not be very exciting
or fun. But it provides everything—everything—we
need.
Action
What pain is
helping your soul-flower, even though it’s difficult to understand or accept?
Have a conversation about it with Padre Pio.
Image credt: TambriaPhotography, https://
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