The virtue of perseverance is a very important tool that we all have as Catholics to stay close to Jesus in times of despair and anxiety. Perseverance allows us to stay faithful when we come face to face with persecution and even death. All Catholics need to learn how to persevere, especially in today’s world when they can face humiliation and being an outcast for following what the Church actually teaches.
My goal in this article is to help you start to grow in this vitally important virtue, which is tied to the virtue of fortitude.
What is Perseverance?
Perseverance is a linked with the virtue of fortitude, and can be described as an ability to endure obstacles, most notably time. Immediate gratification is seen as a right in today’s world, something everyone must have in order for something to be good. The idea that we may need to have patience, may need to wait, or may have to suffer for something good is an idea that would make you sound crazy to the average modern person. But the truth is, many goods require those things, especially patience. The greatest good, in fact, requires a lot of patience!
The ability to keep going, through all hardships, for as long as it takes, is perseverance.
Why Do We Need To Persevere?
So why would we need to do this? Why would God present to us situations in which we have keep going through hard situations. Modern society would say this would be cruel, that if God were so good we wouldn’t have to work for things, He would just give us whatever we want. This modern world misses the whole point, it’s too focused on itself, the world.
Our lives are not all about this world, it’s not our goal in this life to sample every pleasure possible. Our lives are all about a choice, to choose God rather than ourselves. And that choice sometimes requires a more concrete action, to separate our own desires from God’s plan. Our own desires are inherently corrupt, due to our fallen nature, and so when we pursue God’s plan, it is necessarily a struggle. When we reject that fallen brokenness in our humanity, we often make enemies of those who refuse to reject it, and who even find comfort and familiarity in their brokenness.
So to choose God, we often have to fight against ourselves, and keep going under the oppression of others. It’s necessary for our choice however, and it greatly pleases God when He sees how how much we want to follow Him.
Enemies of Perseverance
There are many things that make perseverance difficult in our Catholic Faith. Here are several of them.
- Fear- rejection, persecution, perceived foolishness, lack of confidence, and even death. All these make us scared, make us instinctively choose the safe route, to act “not too Catholic” or as a “cultural Catholic.”
- Bad Catechisis- many Catholics do not know that they have to suffer, and believe the lies of the world, that all gratification must be quick and easy.
- Laziness- or sloth, one of the deadly sins. It’s hard work to persevere, and many people nowadays are too lazy to put in this work.
- Universalism- this heresy states that all people go to Heaven. What’s the point of persevering in your Faith if you believe you’ll go to Heaven when you take the easy way out? I plan on making an article on this heresy in the future. Many people are led astray by this false belief, that they will go to Heaven no matter what, and as a result they believe they do not need to persevere.
- Unsure- many people don’t know what to do, what they should say, or how to keep going.
- Weak willed- it takes a strong will to persevere, you need to be able to push yourself.
- Lack of trust- many people lack trust in God. It’s very difficult to persevere if you believe no good will come of it.
How Do We Persevere?
Strengthening our ability to persevere is vitally important as Catholics. It takes our whole being to persevere, especially in times of great difficulty, so we need to strengthen our ability to persevere with our whole being. We need to strengthen our mind, body, and soul.
Strengthen Your Mind
As I’ve said, patience is needed to persevere. So we need to get used to waiting. We need to allow ourselves to not have everything immediately. We need to fast from social media, fast from TV, or the internet. Fasting from food will also help with this.
We need to also spend time alone, and in quiet. I don’t mean Eastern religion meditation, which involves emptying your mind. This is not how a Catholic should meditate. We should sit quietly and fill our thoughts with God, and evaluate ourselves. This is so uncomfortable for those who are not used to it, but when you develop this habit, you will become very strong.
Knowledge is power, and will make your brain strong. Read often and limit television. You can learn so much more from reading than you can watching videos, even if it’s the same subject. Learn more about the Catholic Faith especially.
Strengthen Your Body
God gave us incredible bodies, and made us body and soul composites, meaning that our humanity is not just a soul, but a body too! A strong body inherently strengthens our mind and soul along with it. Not only that, but in many of our trials, we have to face physical challenges. A strong body can persevere through many physical trials.
Exercise is vitally important, as well as a healthy diet. I’m no dietitian nor am I a physical trainer, so I won’t go into the complexities of how to make your body as strong as possible. My simple advice is to eat plenty of vegetables and have both anaerobic and aerobic exercises as part of your routine.
Strengthen Your Soul
This should be a no brainer, but to strengthen your soul, you need to pray. Many of us have great difficulty in having a prayer routine, but in order to be able to persevere against evil, we need to be prepared in our souls for battle.
Pray the rosary, ideally every day. Pray mental prayer, conversations with God. This can be a part of that meditation that strengthens your mind. Read scripture, which gives us guidance and hope.
In order to build a routine, if you don’t already have one, I suggest starting with 15 minutes at night before bed. Then when this becomes a regular part of your life, add 15 minutes in the morning. The. I would suggest lengthening that night prayer, or adding another 15 minutes in a different time of the day. Repeat this until you have build a routine you are comfortable with, and strengthens your soul.
The Grace of Final Perseverance
God graces us with an incredible gift, the ability to persevere in rejecting the world and staying in a state of grace even until our deaths. This is a great gift that we can pray for, and should pray for, with the understanding that God will help us and strengthen us against evil, but we need to cooperate in that grace.
In order to make it to Heaven, it is understood through the teaching of the Catholic Church that we must be in a state of grace. If we do not persevere, if we do not accept and cooperate with God’s grace, we can fall into sin. Mortal sin separates us from that state of grace, thereby separating us from Heaven. So we really need to pray for God’s grace to persevere!
Concluding thoughts
Perseverance is an important virtue to foster within our lives. It’s so important to growing in the Faith, and remaining faithful when times are tough. Anyone who takes a look at the current situation can tell that times are certainly tougher than they used to be, and it’s bound to get worse for us Christians. We will need to persevere in the future, and we will with the help of our savior!