{"id":4135,"date":"2015-10-05T03:30:59","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T08:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicbookblogger\/?p=4135"},"modified":"2015-10-01T11:23:48","modified_gmt":"2015-10-01T16:23:48","slug":"imitate-marys-patience-mary-day-076","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicbookblogger\/2015\/10\/05\/imitate-marys-patience-mary-day-076\/","title":{"rendered":"Imitate Mary\u2019s patience, Mary: Day 076"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"year_with_mary_alphonsus_1\"<\/a>Imitate Mary\u2019s patience<\/strong><\/p>\n

If Mary is to be our model, says St. Alphonsus, we need to imitate her patience; for it\u2019s patience that makes saints.<\/em><\/p>\n

If we wish to be the children of Mary, we must seek to imitate her in her patience. \u201cFor what can enrich us with greater merit in this life,\u201d asks St. Cyprian, \u201cand greater glory in the next, than the patient endurance of sufferings?\u201d Just as a hedge of thorns protects a vineyard, God protects his servants from the danger of attaching themselves to the things of this world by encompassing them with tribulations. For this reason, St. Cyprian concludes, it\u2019s patience that delivers us from sin and from hell. It\u2019s also patience that makes saints: \u201cLet patience have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing\u201d (see Jas 1:4). We must bear in peace, not only the crosses that come immediately from God, such as sickness and poverty, but also those that come from other people: perse- cutions, injuries, and all the rest.<\/p>\n

St. John saw all the saints bearing palm branches\u2014the emblem of martyr- dom\u2014in their hands: \u201cAfter this I looked, and behold, a great multitude . . . with palm branches in their hands\u201d (Rv 7:9). These branches mean that all adults who are saved must be martyrs, either by shedding their blood for Christ or by patience. \u201cRejoice, then!\u201d exclaims St. Gregory. \u201cWe can be martyrs without the executioner\u2019s sword, if we only maintain patience.\u201d \u201cProvided only,\u201d as St. Ber- nard says, \u201cwe endure the afflictions of this life with patience and joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

What fruit will be produced for us in heaven by every pain borne for God\u2019s sake! That\u2019s why the Apostle Paul encourages us with these words: \u201cFor this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison\u201d (2 Cor 4:17). When our crosses weigh heavily upon us, let\u2019s turn to Mary, who is called by the Church \u201cthe Comforter of the Afflicted.\u201d \u2014St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary<\/p>\n

IN GOD\u2019S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .<\/strong>
\nIn which areas of my life do I need most to learn the virtue of patience? In particular, which people in my life are challenging me to exercise patience and endurance?<\/p>\n

CLOSING PRAYER<\/strong>
\nFrom a prayer of St. Alphonsus: My most sweet Lady, you who were innocent suf- fered with so much patience. Should I, who deserve condemnation, refuse to suffer? My Mother, I now ask you this favor: not to be delivered from crosses, but to bear them with patience.<\/p>\n

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