Patience may be hard to define, but it pleads for careful attention during the church’s current Year of Mercy. What is implied by the spiritual work of mercy that calls Christ’s followers to “bear patiently those who do us ill’?
Patience does not give up easily on others or refuse to hear them out. Instead, patience expresses ongoing hope in others, even when something they do is disruptive for us.
In the spiritual work of mercy that tells us to “bear wrongs patiently,” we have the opportunity to live out Jesus’ behavior toward others, even those who wrong us.
