One of the key phrases of Jesus, one found in St. Luke’s 19th chapter, is: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” Jesus talks about this kind of endurance as an essential quality of discipleship. Those who seek to follow Him, all the way to the Cross and Resurrection, must pray for such perseverance and then use the gift when it is given.
There is no measuring the good that has failed to happen in this world because of a lack of perseverance, because of hesitation, faltering, and wavering cowardice. Fear keeps people quiet and timid. This cannot be so for us or anyone who wants to be faithful to the way of the Lord. It was never so for Jesus Christ, and it cannot be so for those of us who claim His name.
Food for thought this Sunday and this week: “We endure all things,” as Saint Paul wrote, because of love which is patient and kind. It is never jealous, pompous or rude. It does not seek its own interest. It does not brood over injury but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Let us pray. “Grant us, O Lord, the grace of offering our very lives in service to you and to one another. Along with that grace, which leads us to true fulfillment and happiness, give us the gift of perseverance and endurance, in imitation of your Son, who lives and reigns with you for ever and ever. Amen.”
