“By patient endurance you will save your lives.” That’s the strategy Jesus gives us for life on the penultimate Sunday of the Church’s He makes it clear that we will face wars, insurrection, death destruction, persecution, etc. etc. and through it all, the way to secure our lives through perseverance. It’s how to win the prize, it’s how to win. It’s how to be successful. It’s how to save our souls. It’s what Jesus did when He came to earth. It’s what He did throughout His public ministry. It’s what He did while He was being scourged at the pillar and while He struggled on the way of the Cross. Finally, it’s what He did on the Cross. He persevered and thus saved His life and our lives too. It is the hope and the example He gives to us. It means that we might witness the crashing down of our places of worship, our societal value of structure, of our very way of life. It means that we will be persecuted for our faith, that there will be times that we will have to stand alone for our faith, that those closest to us may be the ones ridiculing us. It means that we may have to endure every hardship we can imagine and those we cannot besides in order to keep our focus on Jesus and that we do so in order to remain true to Him and to ourselves. That’s what patient endurance is, it’s always remaining who we are and preserving ourselves because of it. That’s what Jesus did on the Cross; He saved us through His perseverance. He gave us the secret. It means being ready to accept martyrdom if being true calls for it. Patient endurance-it’s what it’s all about.
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