A Lesson in Patience

When the Holy Spirit put it on my heart to transition back into the Catholic faith a year ago, I knew this journey would be one of extreme discomfort for not only me but those around me. I knew the journey would be a very painful one but never did I think for a moment this pain would continue to follow me even after I became once again fully Catholic. I was naïve enough to think there would be the strong possibility of my family embracing the faith as well or at the very least be understanding of my transition. Once I could show what a rich and full life the church could provide, others would follow.  But this was not to be and as others before me have experienced, I am convinced it will take an extreme amount of patience on my part for some time to come to be accepting of that realization.

We have all experienced those moments when we run out of patience and someone says “Patience is a Virtue”. According to Wikipedia: The seven heavenly virtues were derived from the Psychomachia ("Contest of the Soul"), an epic poem written by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (c. AD 410) entailing the battle of virtues and evil. The intense popularity of this work in the Middle Ages helped to spread the concept of "Holy Virtue" throughout Europe. Practicing these virtues is considered to protect one against temptation from the seven deadly sins, with each one having its counterpart. Due to this they are sometimes referred to as the contrary virtues. Each of the seven heavenly virtues matches a corresponding deadly sin.”

I heard a marvelous sermon not too long ago at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York by Archbishop Timothy Dolan on patience. He spoke of patience with ourselves, others and God. He mentioned patience with God is a difficult one as most of us when we pray want God to answer our prayers immediately and he likened it to us putting our request into the microwave oven and “zap” it is answered when in reality God puts it in a crockpot and lets it simmer a bit. My request for family to embrace the faith is in the crockpot and will probably simmer until there is no liquid left and the ingredients burn up!

Patience as defined in the dictionary says:

A Lesson in Humility

Written by a follower of SDM

It has occurred to me within the last week, the very thing causing me to anguish over loss of previous church relationships of another denomination, abundant blessings from ministries in that denomination and recognition for those ministries, is the virtue of humility. This very virtue if not recognized, can cause prideful feelings to creep into the soul which in turn can keep one from intimacy with Christ.

I recently was privileged to attend Vespers with the Conferral of Pontifical Honors at the Cathedral of St. Patrick’s in downtown Ft. Worth, Texas. A new Catholic friend of mine and future spiritual advisor was receiving the Benemerenti Medal for her work within the diocese in forming the Permanent Deacon program. This medal was created by Pope Pius VI in the late 1700’s in recognition of those individuals who have exemplified service in the Church. Following this service all were invited to attend a reception in a very large and new parish hall adjacent to the Cathedral. It was an enormous hall with many faces, none of whom I knew. Fifteen individuals received the various medals and of course many families and friends from local parishes were in attendance.

As I made my way around the room with a friend from St. Andrew’s, which is now my parish, I came to the realization this was the first very large reception I was attending at a Catholic function in which I knew no one. Having lived in Ft. Worth for the past 30+ years, been active in the Methodist community and a part of the pastoral family of ministers, this was an eye opening experience and very humbling for me. Had it been at a Methodist gathering, I would have known many of the pastors and laity and felt very much at home. Here I was just another Catholic in a sea of faces unknown to them and likewise they were unknown to me.

The Bible Alone

Does the student know better than the teacher?

Catholic or?

Like many other Catholics in recent times who selectively dismiss the teaching authority of the Church, I know first hand this mindset and its common root. Although now reconfirmed in my faith, for many years I was a Catholic with “Protestant” ideologies, distant from the authority of the Church. Not a Protestant in the communal sense as formally belonging to or attending an established congregation; I was baptized and raised Catholic and didn’t know much about Protestantism back then other than some fundamental disbelief's they possessed. I was Protestant in the sense that Protestantism was conceived. As scripture tells us; “For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.” (2 Timothy CH4; v3-4)

Each Catholic who selectively chooses what doctrines he or she will and will not abide by possesses that seed that sprouted into Protestantism four centuries ago and its subsequent thousands upon thousands of splintered systems of beliefs today.