The Rule of St.
Benedict states that candidates are to be admitted to the novitiate only if
they promise perseverance in their stability, and the counsel of patience is found
throughout the Rule. However, it is not only monastics who understand the power
of perseverance.
Consider the
achievements of French chemist and bacteriologist Louis Pasteur, who has saved countless lives through his discoveries
that most infectious diseases are caused by germs and that weakened forms of a
germ or microbe can be used as a vaccine to immunize against more virulent
forms of the microbe. Pasteur freely shared the key to his success when he
said, “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies
solely in my tenacity.”
As we stand
on the cusp of a new year, let us make a commitment to practice perseverance,
especially in our efforts to do the work of Christmas, as identified by Howard
Thurman: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to
feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring
peace among the people, and to make music in the heart.
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