Patience.

Many people embark on a journey of prayer. But some people
…abandon it at the very beginning and say.: I am not fit for this.
Others say: It’s a waste of time; I don’t see any results. Others
‘ P. Eugcnio del Nino Jcsús, Quiero ver a Dios, Madrid 1951.
Again, tired of stopping at the first steps, and settling down in mediocrity, they continue in prayer, but remain on ground- And some, despite specific difficulties, go forward and receive the unfathomable nearness of God. The main enemy on this path is the inconstancy that comes from the frustration one suffers when one realizes that the results are not coming or are not commensurate with the work done. One thinks to oneself: so much effort and so little results. So many years devoted to fervent prayer and so little progress. For we are accustomed to two typical laws of technical civilization: speed and success. In every human endeavor, …a particular cause produces a certain effect, a certain action produces a specific reaction, particular efforts have certain results. Results are a reward and encourage further effort. We continue our efforts because we have tangible positive results, and those results, in turn, have influence the next effort. And so it goes on and on inhuman work in a kind of smooth flow without any short circuits. But it is not so in the life of grace. Instead, we resemble those fishermen who toiled all night with their nets down but in the morning found them completely empty, (cf. Lk 5:5)

We need patience to accept great efforts can produce small results, or at least accept the possible disparity between the efforts made and the outcome. Some people say that patience is the art of hope. Others say they say it’s the art of knowing. Let’s call it complement and combine both of these views. One hopes because vi. In other words, patience is an act of hope because one knows and calmly accepts reality as it is. What reality? In our case, it’s two realities. The first is that God gives everything freely,  so his “actions” are fundamentally surprising. And the second fact is that all life slowly evolves forward.

For those who have joined the war of faith, the hardest thing to have with God patience. The “behavior” of the Lord is for those who have surrendered to Him is often confusing. There is no logic in his “reactions.” A that is why there is no proportion between our efforts to discover his blissful face and the results of those efforts. Many people, therefore, lose patience, become confused and abandon everything.
God is the source where everything begins and everything becomes …is the end. He is the inexhaustible fountain of all life and grace. He is the Lord of all and provides everything at His discretion. There is only one item in his economy: giving. No one can demand anything from him. No one can question him, ask him questions. Relationships with him are not of an interpersonal nature. relationships. In our relationships, there are business contracts, agreements. Of work and wages and merit and rewards. In our relationship with God. There is no such thing. Only gift, grace, endowment. He has a different character: He and we move in completely different spheres. Whoever decides to take God seriously, the first thing he must is to realize this difference and accept it calmly. This means to be patient with God. Yes, He is in another realm of absolutely free giving. And we need help finding an adequate analogy after a certain number of experiments in pedagogy.

Of mathematics, using this method, the average gifted pupil learns (this is a constant) nine lessons. This constant was reached: in fifteen hours of teaching. It is a scientific experiment: Such a stimulus produces appropriate results. This is proven. But we cannot say similarly: fifteen lessons of prayer in this way and under these conditions must produce, in a normal person, this tangible result: five degrees of peace and two degrees of humility. We cannot draw such conclusions. We are moving in different spheres. On the contrary, it may something quite unforeseeable can happen, for example, that fifteen hours of prayer will bring us one degree of peace; the next day, one hour of prayer will give us fifteen degrees of peace. If there were any constants in life with God, there would not be in the world that didn’t pray. For example, if one hour of prayer generally produces two degrees of peace, everyone would find time to pray. But in the world of grace. There is no law of proportionality, any number of probability, or any psychological, fixed laws. It is good to go to God with the help of already tried and tested methods of prayer, but one must not lose sight of the fact that the main is the mystery of grace. Patience means being aware of and accepting that we have to move in this disturbing and unpredictable dynamic that often gives patience and faith a checkmate.