Book 3, Chapter 12: Acquiring Patience and Striving Against Unhealthy Desires.
Chapter Focus: Taking our children to the Christmas Parade is an experiment in patience. It’s cold, it’s crowded, and the kids wriggle in excitement waiting for the parade participants to throw candy, which the kids will fight over. Only the promise of Santa coming at the end refocuses their attention. Life is a parade. All things come from God: the good and the bad, the beautiful and the repugnant, the easy and the difficult; we have to accept everything from Him as we await our reward.
The patience Chapter 12 refers to comes from the point of view of the Disciple experiencing life’s parade as the world marches by, but with no candy. The Disciple sees the rich, the comfortable and those who seek after inordinate pleasure strut, wallow and sachet’ past without a care in the world. Meanwhile, the Disciple eats his meager hard bread while serving meager gruel to the poor, hoping that the promise of a reward in Heaven will be fulfilled. It’s easy to lose hope. The parade never seems to end. So with his heart in the right place, the Disciple still encounters troubles and sinful distractions. He seems to have forgotten that he should “Delight in the Lord,” where God “shall give you your heart’s desire.”
Like a good parent, our Lord tells the Disciple that neither he nor his sacrifices are forgotten. In this life, it seems the rich delight in their worldly comforts now – an empty reward. In comparison, Jesus points out that the rich are full of worry about losing their possessions, being robbed, or falling into ruin. The Disciple is reminded to “strive now, on God’s behalf, to endure these present evils bravely,” and that in the end such people will face their own sufferings.
Chapter 12, In Short.
Of two evils you should always choose the lesser.
1. Patience is necessary because life is full of adversity.
2. Seek peace in spite of life’s trials.
3. The comfortable follow their own wills.
4. The rich will pass away like smoke and no record shall remain of their past joys.
5. Disregard worldly things and avoid all worthless pleasures.
Scripture Memory Prayer: “Delight in the Lord, and He shall give you your heart’s desire.”
(Psalm 37:4)
Question: What steps are you taking to acquire patience?
Key Quote: Of two evils you should always choose the lesser.
The Text of Chapter 12: Acquiring Patience and Striving Against Unhealthy Desires.
The Disciple: O Lord God, I see that patience is very necessary for me because this life is subject to many adversities. It seems that no matter how seriously I struggle for peace, my life cannot go on without war and trouble.
The Voice of the Beloved:
2. “So it is, My Child. For I would not have you seek for such a peace as to be without trials, or to meet with no adversities. This is so even when you think that you have found peace by having defeated so many tribulations, and having been proved by many adversities. If you say that you are not able to bear so much, then how will you be able to bear the purgatorial fires? Of two evils you should always choose the lesser. Therefore, in order to escape eternal torments, strive now, on God’s behalf, to endure these present evils bravely. Do you think that the children of this world suffer nothing or only a little? You shall not find it so, even though you seek out the most delicate situation.
3. “‘But,’ you will say, ‘the comfortable have so many delights and they follow their own wills such that they bear their tribulations lightly.’
4. “Even though that is so, and even though they may have what they desire, how long do you think it will last? Behold, like the smoke, those who are rich in this world will pass away, and no record shall remain of their past joys (Ps 36:20). No, even while they live they do not rest in their possessions and comfort without bitterness, weariness, and fear. From the very same thing in which they find delight they often find the punishment of sorrow.
“This befalls them justly. Because out of measure they seek out and pursue pleasures, they do not enjoy these pleasures without confusion and bitterness. Oh how short, how false, how inordinate and wicked are all these pleasures! Yet because of their drunkenness and blindness they do not understand; but like dumb animals, for the sake of a little pleasure during this mortal life, they incur the death of the soul (Mk 8:36 and Ps 73:21-28).
“You therefore, my child, do not follow your lusts, but restrain yourself from your appetites (Eccl 18:30). Delight in the Lord, and He shall give you your heart’s desire (Ps 37:4).
5. “For if you will truly find delight and receive more abundant consolation from Me, behold: your blessing and the fullness of consolation shall be given to you. Therefore, hold in contempt those worldly things and avoid all worthless pleasures. The more you withdraw yourself from all comfort of creatures, the more you shall find sweet and powerful consolations.
“At first you shall not gain this consolation without some sorrow and hard striving. Lifelong habits will oppose you, but your can overcome these by better habits. The flesh will murmur and complain, but it shall be contained by the piety of your spirit. The old serpent will tempt you and embitter you, but by your prayer such evil will be put to flight. Furthermore, by useful labor the devil’s access to you will be greatly obstructed.”