WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I AM PATIENT?
Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly
high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will
walk and not faint.
Waiting reveals our need for God's strength and and gives God the
opportunity to exercise his might on our behalf. As an athlete regains
strength from sleep and time away from the contest, so we find strength
by curtailing our own efforts and trusting the Lord to work. He will
bring what we need when we need it.
Psalm 40:1
I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and
heard my cry.
Delays and difficulties are not signs that God is ignoring us. We can
have hope and confidence in the knowledge that he hears our prayers in
those hard times.
Habakkuk 2:3
But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily,
surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it
seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not
be delayed.
Our patience gives God time to work out his plan. God may seem to delay,
but he is never late. His promises will come to pass in his perfect
time.
Lamentations 3:25
The LORD is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him.
Hebrews 10:36
Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's
will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
Those who give up, lose out. They are not being punished for giving up;
they simply are absent when God works.
1 Peter 2:19-20
For God is pleased with you when, for the sake of your conscience, you
patiently endure unfair treatment. Of course, you get no credit for
being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for
doing right and are patient beneath the blows, God is pleased with you.
When we refuse to take things into our own hands, God takes them into
his. God brings justice and vindication to those who wait on him.
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December 1st - Blessed John of Vercelli, OP (AC)
(also known as John Garbella)
Born at Mosso Santa Maria (near Vercelli), Italy; died at Montpellier,
France,
in 1283; cultus approved in 1903.. He studied at Paris and was ordained
priest
before 1229. He taught canon law at the University of Paris. While he was
professor there, Jordan of Saxony (who was a friend of Saint Albert the
Great)
came to Paris, and John saw one after another of his best pupils desert
their
careers to join the Dominicans. He seems to have considered them quite
objectively, without reference to himself, until the day an interior voice
spoke
to him that it was God's will for him to join the Dominicans. No one can
say
that John did not respond with alacrity; he dropped everything and ran
down
the
street. ("Let me go; I am on my way to God!") Jordan received him happily
and
gave him the habit.
In 1232, John was sent to Vercelli to establish a convent there. He built
this
and several other convents in Lombardy as houses of regular observance.
While
provincial of Lombardy, he also became inquisitor. It was a particularly
difficult moment. His brother in religion, Peter of Verona, had just been
killed
by the heretics in Como. The entire countryside was in a state of war,
with
roving bands of heretics and robbers. It was the task of the new
inquisitor
to
try to bring order out of this chaos, and what John did was remarkable,
considering the situation. In spite of his heavy labors, which included
the
supervision of 600 friars in 28 different cities (he reached them only by
walking), John of Vercelli established the ideals of study and regular
observance in all of his houses.
It was the good fortune of John of Vercelli to live in an age that was
well
peopled by saints. He formed a close friendship with Saint Louis, the king
of
France. Several of his tasks in the order, particularly the Commission on
the
Program of Studies, he shared with Saint Albert the Great, Saint Thomas
Aquinas,
and Peter of Tarentaise (the future Pope Innocent V). In such company one
would
need to have a superior set of talents; John did.
In 1264 the chapter of the order met at Paris. Blessed Humbert had
resigned
as
master general of the order. John went to the chapter hoping that he could
resign as provincial of Lombardy. Instead of escaping one office, he fell
heir
to a still more difficult one. He was elected master general in 1264 and
served
in that capacity until 1283. John was then a man in his sixties and was,
moreover, handicapped by a crippled leg. However, he accepted the office
which
would require him to walk, not only all over Lombardy, but all over
Europe.
It
took a brand of courage and obedience that was little short of heroic.
During the generalate of John of Vercelli, the relics of Saint Dominic
were
transferred to the new tomb that had been prepared for it by Nicholas of
Pisa.
When the transfer was made, John of Vercelli fixed his seal on the tomb;
the
seals were still intact on their examination in 1946. During the
translation
of
the relics, according to the account in the "Vitae Fratrum", when the body
of
Saint Dominic was exposed to view, the head was seen to turn towards John
of
Vercelli. John, embarrassed, moved to another part of the church and gave
his
place to a cardinal. Whereupon, the head of Saint Dominic was seen by all
to
turn again in John's direction.
On the death of Clement IV, John of Vercelli was very nearly elected pope.
Being
warned of the possibility, he fled in fright. However, his good friend
Cardinal
Visconti, was elected and took the name Gregory X. He appointed John as
legate
on several different missions.
He was commissioned by the pope to draw up the Schema for the second
ecumenical
council of Lyons in 1274-that council to which Saint Thomas Aquinas was
hurrying
when death found him on the road. At the council John distinguished
himself
for
his assistance by offering to the council the talents of his best men. At
the
council, he accepted for the Dominican Order the special commission of
promoting
reverence for the Holy Name of Jesus and fighting blasphemy, which was, in
that
day as in ours, a prevalent vice. He can thus be considered the founder of
the
Holy Name Society, even though the Confraternity was not formed until
1432.
Several precious relics were suitably enshrined by John of Vercelli. These
included several thorns from the Crown of Our Lord, which had been given
him
by
Saint Louis of France. The cord of Saint Thomas, with which he had been
guided
by the angels and which he had worn until death, was given into the care
of
the
master general, who gave it to the convent of Vercelli for safe keeping.
John's career was rapidly reaching its end. In 1279, he presided over the
famous
chapter of Paris at which the order made the doctrine of Saint Thomas
officially
its own. The following year he laid the foundations of the Church of Santa
Maria
Sopra Minerva. One of his last official acts was to provide for a work on
the
instruction of novices (Benedictines, Dorcy).
Saint Quote:
Every time that God converts a hardened sinner he is working a far greater
miracle.
--Saint John Regis
Bible Quote:
If anyone does not offend in word, he is a perfect man. (James 3:2)
<<>><<>><<>>
A prayer to the Holy Ghost to be freed from evil habits:
Give to me, I beseech Thee O Holy Ghost, Giver of all good gifts, that
powerful grace which converts the stony hearts of mortals into burning
furnaces of Thy love. By Thy grace, free my captive soul from the thraldom
of every evil habit and concupiscence, to restore to it the Holy
liberty of the children of God, Give me to taste how sweet it is to serve
the Lord and crucify the flesh with its vices and concupiscences. Enlarge
my heart that I may ever cheerfully run the way of Thy commandments until
I
reach the goal of my aspirations: the joy and bliss of Thy habitation in
Heaven. Amen.
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