Caritas patiens est, charity is full of patience. And at the same time this virtue is the great support of charity, without which it could not subsist8. For the apostolate, a singular manifestation of charity, patience is absolutely indispensable. The Lord wants us to have the calm of the sower who sows his seed on the ground he has previously prepared and follows the rhythms of the seasons, waiting for the opportune moment, without discouragement, with the confidence that the little stalk that has just appeared will one day become a gleaning ear of grain.
The Lord gives us an example of unspeakable patience. Of the crowds that approach him he sometimes says that seeing they do not look, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand9; in spite of everything we see him tireless in his preaching and dedication to the people, always traveling the roads of Palestine. Not even the Twelve who accompany him at all times show a great advantage: "I still have many things to teach you," he says to them on the eve of his departure, "but for now you cannot understand them. The Lord counted on their defects, on their way of being, and he was not discouraged. Later, each one in his own way, will be a faithful witness of Christ and of the Gospel.
Patience and constancy are indispensable in this work that, in collaboration with the Holy Spirit, we have to carry out in our own souls and in those of our friends and relatives whom we want to bring closer to the Lord. Patience goes hand in hand with humility; it accommodates itself to the being of things and respects the time and moment of things, without breaking them; it reckons with one's own limitations and those of others. "A Christian who lives the sturdy virtue of patience will not be disconcerted when he notices that those around him show indifference to the things of God. We know that there are men who, in the subterranean layers, keep - as in the cellar of good wines - uncontainable longings for God that we have the duty to unearth. It happens, however, that souls - ours too - have their rhythms of time, their hour, to which we must adapt ourselves like the farmer to the seasons and the soil. Did not the Master say that the kingdom of God is like a master who went out at different times of the day to hire laborers into his vineyard (Mt 20:1-7)? And how can we not be patient with others, if the Lord has lavished so much patience on us and continues to do so? Caritas omnia suffert, omnia credit, omnia sperat, omnia sustinet, charity accommodates itself to all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, taught St. Paul. And he also wrote it for us.
If we have patience, we will be faithful, we will save our souls and also those of many others that Our Lady Our Mother constantly puts in our way,