THE GOOD OF PATIENCE (2)

St. Cyprian of Carthage

Chapter 4

But how wonderful and how great is the patience of God! He endures most patiently the profane temples, the earthly images and idolatrous rites that have been set up by men in insult to His majesty and honor. He makes the day to rise and the sun to shine equally over the good and the evil. When He waters the earth with showers no one is excluded from His benefits, but He bestows His rains without distinction on the just and the unjust alike. We see that, at the will of God, with an indivisible uniformity of patience toward the guilty and the innocent, the religious and the impious, the grateful and the ungrateful, the seasons obey and the elements serve, the winds blow, fountains flow, harvests increase in abundance, the fruits of the vines ripen, trees are heavy with fruit, the groves become green, and the meadows burst into flower. And although God is provoked by frequent, yes even continual, offenses, He tempers His anger and patiently waits for the day of retribution which He once foreordained. And although vengeance is in His power, He prefers to be long-suffering in His patience, that is, waiting steadfastly and delaying in His mercy, so that, if it is at all possible, the long career of malice at some time may change, and man, however deeply he is infected with the contagion of error and crime, may be converted to God even at a late hour, as He Himself warns and says: 'I desire not the death of him that dieth, as much as that he return and live.' (And again: 'Return to Me, saith the Lord.') And again: 'Return to the Lord your God for He is merciful and loving and patient and rich in pity, and one who turns aside His judgment in respect to the evils proposed.' The blessed apostle Paul, calling back the sinner to penance by reminding him of this, putting the question says: 'Or do you despise the wealth of His goodness and His long-suffering and patience? Dost thou not know that the patience and goodness of God is meant to lead you to repentance? But thou, according to thy hardness and thy unrepentant heart, dost treasure up to thyself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God who will render to every man according to his works.' He said that the judgment of God is just, because it is delayed; because it is postponed repeatedly and for a long time, so that care and thought may be taken for man's eternal life by the long-enduring patience of God. Punishment is finally paid by the impious and the sinner when repentance of the sin can no longer avail.

Chapter 5

And in order that we may be able to understand more fully, beloved brethren, that patience is an attribute of God and that whoever is gentle, patient, and meek is an imitator of God the Father, when in His gospel the Lord was giving salutary precepts and in revealing the divine counsels was instructing His disciples unto perfection, He made this pronouncement: 'You have heard that it was said: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor and shalt hate thy enemy." But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be the children of your father in heaven, who makes his sun to rise on the good and evil and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans act thus? And if you salute your brethren only, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do that? You, therefore, will be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.' He said that it is in this way that the sons of God are made perfect; He showed that it is in this way that we attain our goal, and He taught that we are restored by a heavenly birth, if the patience of God the Father abide in us, if the divine likeness which Adam lost by sin be manifested and shine in our actions. What glory it is to become like God! What wonderful and what great happiness it is to possess among our virtues what can be put on a par with the divine merits!

Chapter 6

And this, beloved brethren, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, did not teach by words only, but He also fulfilled it by His deeds. And He who said that He came down for this purpose, namely, to do the will of His Father, among the other miracles of virtue by which He gave proof of His divine majesty, also preserved and exemplified His Father's patience by His habitual forbearance. Accordingly, His every act right from the very outset of His coming is marked by an accompanying patience; for from the first moment of His descent from the sublimity of heaven to earthly things, He did not disdain, though the Son of God, to put on man's flesh, and although He Himself was not a sinner, to bear the sins of others. Having put aside His immortality for a time, He suffered Himself to become mortal, in order that, though innocent, He might be slain for the salvation of the guilty. The Lord was baptized by His servant, and He, although destined to grant the remission of sins, did not Himself disdain to have His body cleansed with the water of regeneration. He, through whom others are fed, fasted for forty days; He felt hunger and starvation so that those who were famished for the Word of God and grace might be filled with the Bread of Heaven; He engaged in conflict with the devil who tempted Him, and content with having vanquished so formidable an enemy, He did not carry the fight beyond words. He did not rule His disciples as a master rules his slaves, but being both kind and gentle, He loved them as a brother, even deigning to wash the feet of His apostles, so that, while He was such a Master to His servants, He might teach by His example the attitude that a fellow servant ought to have toward his companions and equals. We should not wonder then that He was such a one among His disciples, who was able to tolerate Judas, even to the end, with enduring patience, who could eat with His enemy, who could know the foe in His household and not reveal him, who could not refuse the kiss of His betrayer. But what wonderful equanimity in bearing with the Jews, and what wonderful patience in persuading the unbelieving to accept the faith, in winning the ungrateful by kindness, in responding gently to those who contradicted Him, in enduring the proud with mercy, in yielding with humility to persecutors, in wishing to win over the murderers of the prophets and those persistently rebellious against God even to the very hour of His passion and cross!