What We Do Not See,
We Hope For
Early Church Father
Cyprian was a pagan public speaker and teacher from Carthage in North Africa who converted to Christianity. He grew so rapidly in holiness and knowledge of the Scriptures that he was appointed bishop of Carthage only two years later. These were years of terrible persecution, and after ten years of teaching, writing, and caring for his besieged flock, this Early Church Father was apprehended by the Roman authorities and martyred. This reading, an excerpt from Cyprian's treatise On the Value of Patience (Nn 13 et 15: CSEL 3, 406-408) is used in the Roman Office of Readings for Saturday of the First week of Advent. For an overview of the Early Church Fathers, click here.
Patience is a precept for salvation given us by our Lord our teacher: Whoever endures to the end will be saved. And again: If you persevere in my word, you will truly be my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Dear brethren, we must endure and persevere if we are to attain the truth and freedom we have been allowed to hope for; faith and hope are the very meaning of our being Christians, but if faith and hope are to bear their fruit, patience is necessary.
Saint Paul instructs us when he says: By hope we were saved. Now hope which is seen is not hope; how can a man hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it in patience. Patient waiting is necessary if we are to be perfected in what we have begun to be, and if we are to receive from God what we hope for and believe.
We do not seek glory now, in the present, but we look for future glory, as
In another place the same Apostle instructs and teaches the just, and those active in good works, and those who store up for themselves treasures in heaven through the reward God gives them. They are to be patient also, for he says: Therefore while we have time, let us do good to all, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith. But let us not grow weary in doing good, for we shall reap our reward in due season.
Paul warns us not to grow weary in good works through impatience, not to be distracted or overcome by temptations and so give up in the midst of our pilgrimage of praise and glory, and allow our past good deeds to count for nothing because what was begun falls short of completion.
Finally the Apostle, speaking of charity, unites it with endurance and patience. Charity, he says, is always patient and kind; it is not jealous, is not boastful, is not given to anger, does not think evil, loves all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. He shows that charity can be steadfast and persevering because it has learned how to endure all things.
And in another place he says: Bear with one another lovingly, striving to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He shows that neither unity nor peace can be maintained unless the brethren cherish each other with mutual forbearance and preserve the bond of harmony by means of patience.
The writing by St. Cyprian is featured in the Early Church Fathers and the Advent & Christmas sections of The Crossroads Initiative Library.
For more Catholic resources to feed your faith, visit the Crossroads Initiative Homepage.
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A society characterized by the violence, loss of respect for life, exotic religious cults, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, and even pedophilia. No, we're not talking about modren times -
The Early Church Fathers succeeded in bringing a Pagan society to Christ. If we pay attention to what they taught, we will succeed in doing the same for our own de-Christianized society!
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