Mary Magdalene, Seven Daily Demons, and Seven Antidotes

(image: The Temptation of Saint Anthony by Heironymus Bosch courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Patience. The patient soul, simply by patience, has no solution to injustice. But she does know a way to bear the strain of it without losing balance or seeing injustice where there isn’t any. Patience doesn’t change the outer stimuli, but changes the inner balance those stimuli address. Patient is the behavior of the soul who has learned like Paul to be equally content in need or in plenty. It’s not that there is no difference- of course they are different. But neither need, nor abundance, nor those who have hurt us, nor those we envy, nor any other darn person or thing on this earth- none of these are the right focus for our souls. The knowledge Paul speaks of, this knowledge that produces patience, is not knowledge of any clever sayings or meditations or code of conduct, but the knowledge of Christ. Not simply any knowledge, nor a kind that comes from study (study only sometimes helps) but the knowledge that comes from seeking. It is by clearing away the debris of sin and pettiness and then seeking in prayer, in sacrament, and in any way that comes to hand that we arrive, by stages, at this knowledge of Christ. He promises that if we seek, somehow, at some time, we will find. And once Christ has come to possess our souls we will know how to possess ourselves in patience. This is a process and I am a work in progress. No pro-tips here, maybe ask St. Anthony up there – he seems to much further along than I am. I do know that there is probably nothing less self-possessed than. . .