The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus 2:14 Maoni

One can read somewhere in the Gospel the following words of our Lord Jesus Christ: “With your patience you will save your souls.” And in another passage of the Scriptures it is said, “Woe to those who have lost patience.” Whether you call it patience or endurance or tolerance, the various terms allude to the same thing. Let us anchor in our hearts not so much the diversity of the words but the unique substance of the concept, and let us try to possess deep down what we express in words. The person who is conscious of the fact that the life he leads in this world is far away from his real home lives here in patience wherever he finds himself in the body, here on earth. He lives in patience when he knows that he possesses an eternal home in heaven, trusting that that place is where happiness is found that he cannot find here but can only long for here, and he burns with a such a good, holy and chaste desire for it. It is evident that patience is not necessary in prosperity but in adversity. One cannot say that one tolerates with patience that which is pleasing. That which we tolerate, that which we support patiently, is something hard, something bitter. Therefore, patience is not necessary in happiness but in unhappiness.