Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ 3.19

Of bearing injuries, and who shall be approved as truly patient

1. "What say you, My Son? Cease to complain; consider My suffering and that of My saints.You have not yet resisted unto blood. It is little which you suffer in comparison with those who have suffered so many things, have been so strongly tempted, so grievously troubled, so manywise proved and tried. You ought therefore to call to mind the more grievous sufferings of others that you might bear your lesser ones more easily, and if they seem not to you little, see that it is not your impatience which is the cause of this. But whether they be little or whether they be great, study to bear them all with patience.

2. "So far as you set yourself to bear patiently, so far you do wisely and are deserving of the more merit; you shall also bear more easily if your mind and habit are carefully trained hereunto. And say not 'I cannot bear these things from such a man, nor are things of this kind to be borne by me, for he has done me grievous harm and imputes to me what I had never thought: but from another I will suffer patiently, such things as I see I ought to suffer.' Foolish is such a thought as this, for it considers not the virtue of patience, nor by whom that virtue is to be crowned, but it rather weighs persons and offenses against self.

3. "He is not truly patient who will only suffer as far as seems right to himself and from whom he pleases. But the truly patient man considers not by what man he is tried, whether by one above him, or by an equal or inferior, whether by a good and holy man, or a perverse and unworthy; but indifferently from every creature, whatsoever or how often soever adversity happens to him, he gratefully accepts all from the hand of God and counts it great gain: for with God nothing which is borne for His sake, however small, shall lose its reward.

4. "Be therefore ready for the fight if you will have the victory. Without striving you cannot win the crown of patience; if you will not suffer you refuse to be crowned. But if you desire to be crowned, strive manfully, endure patiently. Without labor you draw not near to rest, nor without fighting come you to victory."

5. Make possible to me, O Lord, by grace what seems impossible to me by nature.You know how little I am able to bear, and how quickly I am cast down when a like adversity rises up against me. Whatsoever trial of tribulation may come to me, may it become unto me pleasing and acceptable, for to suffer and be vexed for Your sake is exceeding healthful to the soul.

IMAGE: Giovanni Battista Langetti, The Patience of Job