November 14, 2004: By Patient Endurance...

The Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time


One of the great adventures I had after college was buying a share of a 300-ton tramp steamer ship named “M/S Spica” and hauling all kinds of cargo around northern Europe. Two friends and I picked up the boat in Antwerp, Belgium, and then we headed up to Copenhagen, Denmark, which became our base of operations. We didn’t have any contacts, so we had to scurry to find work.

One of our first runs was to carry a full 300-ton load of loose grain from Denmark to a town on the Gulf of Bothnia in northern Sweden called Umeå. The trip began uneventfully enough, but after we passed Stockholm and left the Baltic Sea, we ran into a horrific storm—not quite a hurricane, but very close. The ship, of course, bobbed like a cork in the turbulent waters.

The three of us were in the wheelhouse, and it took every bit of our strength to hold onto the helm. We had to fight the waves and the current to keep the ship crossing the waves diagonally, because if the ship were to turn sideways, we would capsize and we would go down. It was that simple.

For just about 12 harrowing hours, we took turns at the helm with one single purpose in mind: to keep the boat upright. The ship pitched and yawed so badly that I really and truly believed we were going to die that day. I have never been so scared in my life—before or since. And I was never so relieved to see dry land when we finally pulled into safe harbor on the lee side of a small island.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ words—By patient endurance you will save your lives—sent the memory of this sea-voyage flooding back to me. Patient endurance, indeed! We held on to that rudder for dear life—literally—and there was nothing more we could do but than ride out the storm. Nothing else mattered. Our white-knuckle grip was our prayer that day.

To some extent or other, each of us lives our life like a boat on the stormy sea. As we sail from birth towards eternal life, we run into all kinds of rough waters. These are the very things that the Gospel lists: wars, natural disasters, persecutions and treachery, and abusive treatment and the worst sort of betrayal even by those friends and family members who are supposed to love us and keep us safe! To these we can add every kind of illness and suffering… humiliation and disgrace, both small and great… and countless setbacks and trials caused by our own foolishness, by other people or by Satan and his evil spirits. Sometimes, our difficulties are so great that we barely know how we can go on. But at the very core of our being, the Lord’s words resonate: By patient endurance you will save your lives.

By faith we know that God is with us always. We know that He disposes all things, good or otherwise, for our benefit. So we know that ultimately, with His help and blessing, we will arrive safely at our destination… if we have patient endurance. This all-important virtue helps us keep our hand on that wheel to steer the ship no matter how rough the waters get.

For many of us, though, patience is not our long suit. We want the troubles to pass quickly and be done for good. It sounds nice, but the Lord doesn’t usually work that way.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that we shouldn’t worry ahead of time about how we’ll defend ourselves if someone attacks us; if and when that time comes, the Holy Spirit will supply the defense we need. Do we believe this promise?

When we pray the Our Father, we ask God to “give us this day our daily bread.” In other words, we don’t ask for our cupboards to be filled so we know where tomorrow’s dinner will come from—but we simply ask for the blessings we need this day. Do we really believe what we’re praying, or are we just mouthing the words?

The point is, God wants us to keep turning to Him—every single day!—for the graces and material things that we need. And He is always very generous in answering our prayers.

If you think you can’t do that because you’re at the end of your rope, it’s good to remember that God has created us stronger and tougher than we often believe ourselves to be. Built right into us is an uncanny ability to expand our physical and spiritual limits.

Just when we think we have no more strength to get through another day, the strength we need emerges. Just when we feel that we have no more energy to deal with the pain and disappointments of life, more energy flows from us.

In fact, with patient endurance, we discover again and again that every problem we face has hidden within it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem! We must turn to the Lord in confidence and ask Him to show it to us and guide us.

But patient endurance also means that we have to recognize that God’s time table may not be the same as ours—so we may have to wait a bit longer than we’d like. St. Monica had to pray for 13 years before her son, St. Augustine, was converted back to the Church. I’ve met good Catholic wives who prayed longer than that for non-Catholic husbands to join the Church. And why not? Don’t we work longer and more patiently for many other things in life?

I remember reading something about the country music star, Randy Travis. It took ten years for him to be discovered. During those years, he and his wife sold everything they owned for enough money to live on. Randy fried catfish and washed dishes by day and sang in nightclubs by night. And in fact, he succeeded faster than many musicians; the article said that the average time it takes for professional success in the music business is 17 years! Talk about patient endurance!

And the same goes for studying to be a doctor or a lawyer or another professional—it takes many years of schooling and often much impatience and frustration before you can even begin your career.

Wherever you happen to be in your life today — and whatever problems or difficulties or struggles you happen to face — don’t lose sight of the bigger journey… the journey to get to heaven.

I think that one of the biggest differences between people of faith and those who don’t have God in their lives is this: we all face the same trials and burdens in life, but the person of faith sees them as stepping stones on the journey to paradise rather than annoying and pointless detours. Isn’t it sad how easy it is to squander the trials that God sends us…

I encourage you to make a little quiet time for yourself this week to reflect on how some patient endurance can help you find some new peace in your own life today … and help secure your eternal life in heaven.

May our loving God bless you and keep you!





Today’s Readings:
Malachi 3, 19–20
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3, 7–12
Luke 21, 5–19