St. Paul points the way to “patient endurance” in his letter to the Romans, Chapter 8:24-25: “In hope we were saved. But hope is not hope if its object is seen; how is it possible for one to hope for what he sees? And hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient endurance.” See also the Epistle of James 1:2-4.

The best modern description of this kind of patience I have found comes from author Thomas Cullinan: “Patient endurance is centered on Christian hope, which takes our present distress and puts it in the context of final triumph and joy. It enables us to accept without tiredness or apathy the long interval which separates our present-here-and-now from God’s fulfillment. It enables us to work thoroughly at what must be done, without anxiety over success or failure…confident that the future is full of God’s promise.”

“Hope is not the conviction that something will
turn out well, but the certainty that something
makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
(Victor Havel)

A Prayer for the New Year:

“May we find hope in the risen Lord;
may we be hope for those in despair.
May we find strength in the fullness of God;
may we be strength for the weary and tired.
May we find healing in the touch of God;
may we be healers for our wounded world.”
(Christopher Wemp)