Patience is the firm foundation of hope

In blessing we often say in Cantonese: 身體健康 [Saan hai gin hong or “good health”]. Health is a gift from God and also the result of one’s own efforts. However, life is extremely fragile and impermanent. Humans have no control over it. Only God is the master of life! Life is not just for survival, people must give meaning and purpose to life. Live a positive life and you will see love and hope in your life; pursuing eternal life is the mark of a Christian’s testimony. “Body, mind and spirit” health encompasses “physical” health and is more important.

I don’t ask for immortality, but I do ask for being free from illness! Minor illness is a blessing? Especially in this Lent, it is good to exercise self-denial and fast; Isn’t this gloating? Sometimes the severe pain caused by illness can make people scream and wail, feeling that life is worse than death. Especially when facing the suffering alone, we remember that when Christ was overwhelmed with pain, Simon of Cyrene came to share the cross for a moment. Where is our own Simon or the Good Samaritan?

In his Jubilee Bull, the Pope said that during the Holy Year we are called to take concrete actions to bring “hope” to our brothers and sisters who are experiencing various difficulties, including: patients [Kung Kao Po, editorial, 24 November 2024] When patients fall into the deep valley of despair, if there is someone to care, accompany and walk with them, they will definitely be able to cheer up and see the dawn of hope in the pain. Even when the love of medical staff and caregivers is tested in the midst of trials, we know that affliction produces endurance. They are often able to share the patients’ difficulties, help the recipients forget their pain, radiate their love for life and convey hope.

Is the relationship between medical staff, caregivers and patients just a one-way process of giving and receiving? In his message for World Day of the Pope Francis said, can “Help the sick see in their sickness an opportunity to encounter the Lord…to become stronger and not alone. We often see God’s presence in places of suffering, through sharing the pain of others; We learn hope on the sickbed and at the bedside, we learn faith in caring for the suffering, and we discover love in caring for those in need. ” [Vatican News, January 28] Medical staff, caregivers and patients have become “pilgrims of hope”. In the journey of life, all of them grow in hope, faith and love, strengthening personal relationship with God.

Caregivers are pilgrims of hope, and they must have both love and patience. In order to fight the disease, patients need not only courage, but also acceptance of the test, willpower to overcome the challenges before them, and at the same time, they need to entrust themselves to the Lord and have patience. In this way “nothing can separate us from the love of God” [Romans 8:38-39]. Therefore, “although they appear to be suffering from affliction, they are actually filled with the hope of eternal life” [Wisdom 3:4].

Patience is an ability, a state, a virtue, wisdom, a quality of life, persistence in choosing good, and hope in God’s promises.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things [1 Corinthians 13:7]. By relying on and entrusting ourselves to the Lord, we learn faith, hope and love. Everyone can be a “pilgrim of hope”. Whoever endures to the end will be saved [Matthew 10:22]. We will experience God’s presence and mercy.

We rejoice even in suffering, because we know that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope [Romans 5:3-4]. Where there is suffering, there is an exchange of love and hope.

Patience, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, sustains our hope and strengths it as a virtue and a way of life [Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025].

Patience is the firm foundation of hope!

Lenten Campaign Organising Committee, 2025