Patience is Spiritual Formation
in which I am learning patience with myself and the healing process
I’m taking a course in patristic theology, and have just done a study of several of Paul’s epistles. I’m currently studying Athanasius, On the Incarnation. It’s a good exercise to read the early church fathers. Firstly, because then we get to read what they actually said, as opposed to some contemporary paraphrase. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, we get to learn about the persecution that the early fathers experienced.
For example, Paul spent time in jail and wrote five of his thirteen epistles from a Roman prison cell. He endured very difficult living conditions in prison. The Romans executed Paul by decapitation. Athanasius spent a lot of his episcopal career in exile because he opposes the doctrine Arius, Arianism, which held the view of Christ as created, and not coeternal with the Father. Athanasius became known as, Athanasius Contra Mundum, Latin for Athanasius against the world. At one point during one of his five exiles, Athanasius hid in a cistern to avoid assassination.
Despite his imprisonment and hardship, Paul kept his vision clear, writing in Philippians 4:11, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Likewise, despite his persecution and hardship of exile, Athanasius continued to write his great works, and held fast in his opposition to Arianism, thereby preserving the trinitarian doctrine of the church.
So, it’s a good thing for me to study the patristics and remember what they endured for their beliefs. Today feels a bit lousy in my ankle recovery journey, I feel a bit abandoned by humans and quite boxed in today. I feel all the limitations weighing heavily on me. I feel tired. Time passes slowly sometimes. And I can remember others feel this too. And I can remember St. Paul and St. Athanasius and the hardships they experienced and the suffering they endured all because of what they believed and wouldn’t relinquish.
Artwork: The execution of St. Paul, 1887, Enrique Simonet Lombardo, Cathedral Basilica of the Virgin of Incarnation
I guess I’m in good company on days like today, when life feels difficult.
“We are clay in the hands of Gd and we must relax in His hands. We must actively be passive so that we can be formed in His hands.” —John Behr