Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. Patience is the virtue by which a man bears up againstthe evils that tend to make him sad and to break his spirit. St.Augustine (De Patientia 1) says that patience is a virtue,and a great gift of God.
2. In estimating the relative excellence of virtues, wesay, first of all, that those virtues which actively incline a manto do good are greater than those which incline him to avoid evil.And, among the virtues inclining a person to avoid evil, those aregreater which check the greatest and strongest impulse to evil. Onthese considerations, we see that patience is not the greatest ofvirtues. Patience ranks after the theological virtues, and afterthe cardinal virtues.
3. Patience, as a virtue, comes from love or charity; thatis, from the grace and friendship of God. We speak, of course, ofsupernatural patience. For patience is possible only when the soulloves something good with a love strong enough to make it bear upunder oppressing evils. Patience cannot be a perfectvirtue unless "the love of God above all" is its core andessence.
4. Patience, as the suffering "with untroubled mind,the evils inflicted by others," is a virtue aligned withfortitude, and it is called a part of fortitude.
5. We bear by patience the heavy trials of life.We bear by long-suffering or longanimity continued, longenduring evils. In both virtues, our strong and steady effortmanifests constancy. Thus, longsuffering and constancyhave much in common with patience. But they are not whollyidentified with it.
"God gives us some things, as the beginning of faith, even when we do not pray. Other things, such as perseverance, he has only provided for those who pray."
St Augustine
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"Men should often renew their good resolutions, and not lose heart because they are tempted against them."
St Philip Neri
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"If you wish to learn and appreciate something worth while, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing. Truly to know and despise self is the best and most perfect counsel."
Thomas á Kempis
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