Patience is a Virtue

It’s a virtue that I don’t have lately.

Just different interactions I’ve had with people at work and things going on in my life that have been a complete annoyance.  I know that I am just being impatient and my attitude isn’t in the right place.  I know it’s mostly me.  Even if it isn’t my fault, I know that these annoyances will always be there. There will always be a stupid question or someone who doesn’t take time to do something right the first time.  I need to still have patience with all of them.

The saddest part is I haven’t once called upon God to help me through this time of minimal patience levels.  Until last night when I was talking with a friend who suggested I pray for patience. DUH!

So I’m praying for patience. So far I don’t feel any better but the thing with prayer is it’s not really like an advil. It doesn’t take just 30 minutes to kick in.  But I hope that through prayer and guidance that I can become more patient and loving to my coworkers.

I found this nice prayer too, A prayer for Patience:

Blessed Mary, Mother of Consolation, pray with me for the virtue of patience. There are so many times when my lack of patience keeps me from becoming the kind of person God wants me to be.

Guide my thoughts to you and the example we have in your own life. Help me to become patient, as you were patient. Through your guidance, may I become more accepting of others around me. Assist me to welcome difficult times with a patient heart.

May I be patient, Mary, as was your beloved husband, Joseph. His quiet acceptance of the will of Our Loving Father should be an example for me always. His patience was most wonderful in the eyes of God.

Pray for me, dear Mother of God, that I will allow the Father to come into my heart and help me grow in patience. Amen.

What a good example of patience. How many times did Jesus have the opportunity to slap his head and tell the disciples how stupid they were.  Can you imagine, “Guys, I’ve TOLD you this before.”  But he never really yelled. Never got impatient with them.  Just told the truth.  That’s the example I need to have.

God be with me.

Misericordes oculos

Turn then, most Gracious Advocate, thine *eyes of mercy* toward us…

Eyes fascinate me.

They show so much about a person (i.e. “windows to the soul”).
They’re so important to our daily lives.
They’re one of the very first things I notice about the opposite sex
If something’s irritating them, we’re all but incapacitated (i.e. why pepper spray deters attackers, why getting something in your contact is one of the worst feelings ever).

Paintings depicting Jesus’ and Mary’s eyes are so compelling… But can you imagine what they would have looked like in real life?!

The first line I have here is from the prayer, Hail, Holy Queen. The Latin for “eyes of mercy” is “misericordes oculos”, and if you break the word down into its roots (okay, okay, I’m like the only one who’s going to do this, so I’ll share the insight, ha ha), the first part is pity or mercy, while the second part means heart.

So in Mary’s eyes, not only do we see regular old mercy, but we are shown the mercy of her heart… Her Immaculate Heart… the fount of her innermost truth and purity.

In our Merton discussion today, we talked about praying from the heart: the simplicity and depth of it, and what we really mean by “simple” prayer and even the concept of “the heart” beyond the actual organ.

The simplest of prayers that the Trappist monks and primitive pray-ers used was “Lord, the meditation of my heart is in Your sight.” In other words, “Lord, you know my heart,” a prayer I actually say quite often when I get to the point where all I feel like I’m doing is giving God lists and lists of intentions.

How tightly these two body parts are tied — eyes and heart — to our souls and our prayers.

Something to think about: How many other ways is your flesh made spritual? Many, if you think about it….