Fruit of the Spirit: Patience
Year of the Holy Spirit: Fruit of the Month: Patience
During the month of November, our focus is on the Spirit’s Fruit of patience and gift of Counsel.
In St. Paul’s famous teaching on love in 1 Cor 13:1-13, he lists patience as love's first attribute. If we cannot be patient with others, we fail in love as the Holy Spirit gives it. The Greek word St. Paul uses for love is “agape” (A’-ga-pay) which is sacrificial in nature. It is the willingness to give completely of one’s self for the sake of the beloved. This is the love Christ had for us. It is characterized first and foremost by patience.
Year of the Holy Spirit: Gift of the Month: Counsel (a.k.a., “prudence” or “right judgement”)
This gift is characterized by subjugating our will to God’s. We do this by considering his law and commandments in deciding to do something. We must first ask ourselves, is it consistent with all of God’s laws and commandments? God’s law of love does not conflict with the rest of his commandments. Indulgent love that does not follow God’s law or that is not consistent with the natural law he created is not love at all. If true love is sacrificial in nature which seeks the good of other, we first must know God’s laws and subjugate our will to his. Seek God’s counsel by asking the Holy Spirit to guide you in all decisions, especially moral ones which seem difficult.
Week 1: 1 Cor 13:1-13
Week 2: Wisdom 6:12-21
Week 3: James 5:7-18
Week 4: 2 Thess 2:3-17
Week 5 (if needed or can substitute for an above reading): John 14:15-26
Cenacle Resources
Heavenly Father, you have given your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ reign over your Kingdom, through his intercession you have sent forth your Spirit through Mary and the Apostles to begin the work of your Church and to renew the face of the earth. Through that same Spirit, we ask you to renew the Church throughout the world, but especially in our own Diocese of Kalamazoo. In this month, we especially call upon your Holy Spirit to bear and increase within us the fruit of patience in imitation of the patience you show us in your Divine Mercy by forgiving us our sins time and again. We also ask you activate within us the gift of counsel. As your words have inspired the counsel of the Saints which bring wisdom, solace, and peace, let our words be a source of mercy and love to all those we meet, especially to those most in need of your love. We ask this through the same Christ, Our Lord, Amen.
Child’s Prayer for Patience
Dear Jesus, help me to be patient. Teach me to wait patiently on you. Help me to trust that you want only what is good for me, not what I think is good for me, but what you know will serve my best interests and bring me to Heaven for this is the reason you created me. Through the prayers of Our Holy Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who waited patiently for nine months for you to be born, and with Saint Joseph who patiently raised you to be the God-Man who would one day save us from our sins, help me to lovingly trust in you, always remaining patient, in the joyful hope of our own resurrection and eternal joy in Heaven. Amen.
Saint of the Month exemplifying the fruit of patience: Saint Martin de Porres
Video for Adult Catholics on the life of St. Martin de Porres here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16esWMnWArk
Video for Children here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT_2421h2nA
Saint of the Month exemplifying the gift of counsel: Saint Catherine of Siena
Video for Adult Catholics on the life of St. Catherine of Siena: EWTN Live: Fr. Thomas McDermott - St. Catherine of Siena - YouTube
Video for Young children here: The Story of Saint Catherine Siena or here: My Catholic Family - St. Catherine of Siena
Pre-K and K Children’s Videos here:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL1BRPEjMZA
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJwsGDUNJr4
Grades 1-3 Children’s Video here: Zoe Kids - Fruit of the Spirit (Patience)
and here: The Story of Job, and here: Joseph and His Brothers
Grades 4th-6th Video here: Fruit of the Spirit-Patience (Kid Motion) and bible story of Joseph here: Joseph and His Brothers (Hanna Barbera)
Grades 7th-9th Video here: Why Patience is the Key to a Stronger Faith
Grades 10th-12th Video here: Fruit of the Spirit: Patience; and here: Fr. Mike Schmitz--Letting God Take His Time
Video on Patience for Adults here: Matt Fradd on Patience on the Spiritual Life
Video no. 2 Fr. Mark Mary and Br. Elijah, CFR, on Finding Deep Peace with Jesus in Prayer
Video on Counsel for Teens and Adults here: Bishop Boyea on the Gift of Counsel
Scripture:
1. The story of Job is a long one. At forty-two chapters in length, it is one of the longest books in the Bible, but worth one’s patience and time. Nonetheless, in lieu of reading the entire story, we recommend first reading the introduction commentary provided on the USCCB website on the Book of Job here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/job/0. Followed by reading Job 1:1-3:26 and Job 38:1-42:17.
2. The story of Joseph and his Brothers (Gen 37, 39-50): In this story, Joseph was the second youngest of 12 brothers. The ten older of whom were half-brothers. His father made the parental mistake of favoring the youngest over all the other brothers and blatantly so. To make matters worse, the older brothers were all daily working hard in the fields in the hot sun while the youngest played at the house. Yet, God, too, had great things in store of Joseph favoring him with dreams that would foretell events. Joseph could also interpret the dreams of others. The brothers, one day, finally having enough of Joseph and his dreams, tossed him into a deep dry cistern having decided against killing him thanks to the intercession of the youngest brother, Benjamin, and telling their father, Jacob, that he was killed by wild animals to Jacob’s great grief. The brothers then sold Joseph off to slave traders for 20 pieces of silver. Joseph eventually winds up in Egypt at the courts of Pharoah and is eventually appointed a respected advisor to Pharoah becoming second in rank to him. He is falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and tossed into prison. He is eventually released when he is able to interpret the dreams of Pharoah that there will be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Joseph’s accusers are found out at the cost of their lives as Joseph is made equal to Pharoah. Divine Providence finds Joseph’s brothers before his court pleading for food due to the famine. Upon seeing his brothers, he becomes very emotional, but realizes his brothers don’t recognize him. Joseph takes advantage of that fact and schemes to get his brothers to bring his father, Jacob, down to Egypt using Benjamin as the ploy to the great alarm of his brother Judah who pleads not to have this happen as it would kill Jacob. Joseph can’t hold his emotion in any longer and reveals himself to the astonished silence of his brothers. Joseph forgives their having sold him into slavery attributing the event to God’s providence for this moment. Joseph becomes a model of patient waiting and trust in the Lord which pays off greatly in the end.
3. The story of Moses and the Exodus (Exodus): The book of Exodus picks up where the story of Joseph leaves off. In this famous and well-known book of the Bible, the Hebrews have been in Egypt since the time of Joseph and have been enslaved for 400 years calling on God to deliver them out of slavery. This occurs through God having chosen Moses as their deliverer through a series of catastrophic events that occur because despite Moses’ pleas and warnings to Pharoah, the latter refuses to free the Hebrews from the oppression of their slavery. Once Yahweh delivered the Hebrews out of Egypt, their trials had only just begun as they would spend the next 40 years wandering in the harshest desert in the world—in complete impatience--waiting on God to lead them into the Promised Land of Israel from where they originated 400 years earlier. Their lack of impatience and “grumbling” against God only increased their troubles and prolonged the time of their wandering. One of the many lessons in this book is one of patient waiting on the Lord. When we think things can’t get any worse, we need to be mindful that they absolutely can. Complete trust in God takes patience, forbearance, and long suffering.
4. The story of Jacob and Rachel (Gen 28-31): Jacob, the younger son of Isaac and Rebekah, who tricked Esau out of his birthright by deceiving his blind father, is charged by his father not to marry a Hittite (Canaanite) woman and sent to his maternal uncle, Laban, to choose a wife. As it turns out, Laban possesses a very difficult and conniving personality. In what turns out to be a long and sometimes frustrating story, Jacob is yanked around for 14 years before he finally obtains the wife of his choice, Rachel. The story is another of many in the Old Testament scriptures where patience, long suffering, and forbearance end in just reward. It is one of prefigurement where Jacob is a type of Christ. He is the younger and favored son of God, who suffers patiently, bears the injustices of others patiently, and trusts in God’s loving providence, that in the end will merit him justice and reward.
5. How does St. Paul define love? (1 Cor 13: 1-13): If we were to list the attributes of love or try to define it with adjectives, what would be the first word on our list? For St. Paul, that word is “patient”. How quickly does our self-perception on how loving we are as people collapse when we take time to reflect on how impatient we are? How quick we are to ridicule others, to make rude or nasty comments on social media about others, to mutter under our breath when the car in front of us is not going as fast as we’d like or getting out of our way quickly enough. What is that person is elderly or is not sure where they are going? What consideration would you expect from others if that were you? If we think we are loving, we might want to consider how patient we are first. When we come to that realization, then we should ask the Holy Spirit to help us practice patience often.
The Fruit of Patience
Catechists, Religion Teachers and Parents: Prepare for this activity by reviewing the Scriptural stories and narrative above. While the Catechism of the Catholic Church provides little information regarding the fruit of patience aside from listing it as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, the Old Testament scriptures as well as the story of the life of Saint Paul as written by Saint Luke in the Book of Acts very much illustrate how instrumental this fruit is to our salvation. Our relationship with God is either very much rooted in patient waiting or it is lost when we fail to do so. Our patience with God is founded in filial (child-like) trust that does not give up or end when God doesn’t act quickly enough to suit our will or turn from him in some childish attempt to manipulate His will. Many people lose faith in God precisely because they disbelieve in God’s great love for them, and they disbelieve because they fail to open their hearts to him, listen for his voice, and learn how to patiently wait for Him. God is not a puppet we can manipulate, and He will not (usually) act in such a way as to let us think that His love is that cheap or shallow (“Usually”, because God will meet us where we are at, and will often act in unexpected ways to get our attention—because His love is that great for us).
Remind your child(ren)/students that we cannot expect God to listen to us when we don’t listen to Him by following his commandments and law of Divine Love. How often as parents or teachers do we wait to reward our children with something they want by having them be obedient to us first? How do we respond when God doesn’t act how we want Him to act or give us what we want? Do we make God out to be a vending machine that we kick and shake when we put our dollar in and it doesn’t produce the object we paid for? The stories in the videos above show us the cost of God’s love. The ultimate cost of God’s love for us is, found, of course, in the self-offering of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection for the sins we committed. Humanity waited since the beginning of its creation for Jesus’ incarnation.
Catechism:
Pre-K thru 1st:
Watch the children’s videos on patience above (1st grade can choose the two early grade categories). Pray the Child’s Prayer For Patience above with them daily throughout the month.
Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:2-12:25
Grades Pre-K- & K
From here forward for this grade level, we will watch one video until complete entitled, All About Jesus – Bible for Kids, the video should be watched in the assigned segments. Each segment starts with a recommended reading from the Bible that the segment will cover. However, the video covers that segment of the Bible, so if your child appears to lose interest in the reading (which is likely as the material will likely be greater than their understanding at this point) just watch the video segment. The video will not necessarily align with the month’s Gift of the Spirit. The goal for the child will be to come to a greater understanding of who God is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This video focuses on Jesus, but where the video touches on the action of the Holy Spirit and the relationship of Jesus with his Father, be sure to point out how the Holy Spirit acted in each situation, and Jesus’ trust in his Father.
Video Segment: All About Jesus - Bible for Kids Jesus is Baptized 3:30 to 6:03 Advance the video to 3 mins and 30 seconds, The Baptism of Jesus, and watch until 6 mins and 3 secs. Stop the video at the end of the segment (6:03).
1. Guide your child(ren) in a summary of what they watched to evaluate their comprehension. Allow them to do the talking. Guide as needed.
2. Download the following coloring page: John the Baptist Baptizes Jesus in the Jordan River
Have your child(ren) color the page, then cutting along the dotted lines. Post in a prominent spot for the month (their room, the refrigerator, etc) as a reminder of the lesson.
Grades 1-3
Read to or have your child(ren)/students read, the first reading for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B). Link here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110721.cfm. The first reading is from the 1st Book of Kings. Then discuss with them the following:
The Gift of Counsel For Adult Reflection:
1. Watch Fr. Thomas McDermott’s video on St. Catherine Siena above.
Counsel, also called, right judgment, is the perfection of the cardinal virtue of prudence. It enables us to make right judgments, as Fr. John A. Hardon writes in his Modern Catholic Dictionary, in a prompt manner “as by a supernatural intuition”. Counsel builds on both wisdom, which allows us to judge the things of the world in light of our final end, and understanding, which helps us to penetrate to the very core of the mysteries of our faith.
"With the gift of counsel, the Holy Spirit speaks, as it were, to the heart and in an instant enlightens a person what to do," writes Father Hardon. It is the gift that allows us as Christians to be assured that we will act correctly in times of trouble and trial. Through counsel, we can speak without fear in defense of the Christian Faith. Thus, the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, counsel "enables us to see and choose correctly what will help most to the glory of God and our own salvation." (ref: ThoughtCo. "Counsel: A Gift of the Holy Spirit." Learn Religions, Feb. 8, 2021, link to full article here: learnreligions.com/counsel-gift-of-holy-spirit-542119.)
To build up our ability to exercise this gift, we have to ask the Holy Spirit to activate it in our lives (see monthly prayer above) and become imbued with the tools of wisdom. A great place to start is first, to read (or re-read) and meditate on the Wisdom Books of the Bible (i.e., the Books of Wisdom, Sirach, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs.) I would recommend starting with Wisdom, Proverbs, Sirach, then Ecclesiastes. Though the three books of Psalms, Job, and Song of Songs are classified among the Wisdom Books, they are each a sub-genre unto themselves. Secondly, ask the Holy Spirit to help you recall these words, especially when you need them, and thirdly, put them into practice without prejudice as to your own habits of thinking (for it may very well be that the problems and traps you may keep experiencing are precisely because of your own patterns of behavior and thinking rather than that of the Holy Spirit’s gift of counsel and putting into practice the words of wisdom he gives us in Scripture.