The gospel of Matthew, chapter 13: 31-32

Answer the following question by filling in the blank space with a one-word response: “The virtue most needed and the hardest to attain by a parent is……………”

You probably wrote a pretty good answer and, from your perspective, the answer is probably correct. So, congratulations, you pass. If you happened to fill in the blank with the word “patience”, you get an A+. Good parents are people who expect, anticipate, await, attend and serve. They know that their dreams are never fulfilled in their children, at least not in the way they (the parents) originally dreamed them. Children have to dream their own dreams, even if they seem, at times, nightmarish to their parents. Good parents know this and are patient with their children and their dreams. They correct the wayward, but do not check their freedom. They intercede, but never intervene. For this, they need patience.

In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus illustrates the need for patience. God knows how to let go and to let be. Never meddling, but always there to help, God waits for us and watches over us as we dream our dreams and work to fulfill them. God knows that this is the best way, the godly way, the only way. Those who have learnt to be patient; to let go and to allow God to guide them, have found an exciting new revelation. They have discovered that God has time for them, time to allow them to grow at their own pace, to mature at their own speed.

Such people are like the mustard seed that begins small but, in time, becomes a large and productive tree by patient endurance. Let us learn from the mustard seed; let us learn to be patient.

At the first parish I was assigned to in Lakeland, Florida; the secretary, Ann Breathit, had a sign on her desk which read:
‘Be patient, God has not finished with me yet.’

Ann was a wonderful secretary because, in addition to being efficient, she was patient.

Those who learn to be patient, allow God to guide them; and they learn to grow at their own pace like the mustard seed.

Fr. Hugh Duffy