todo lo alcanza

La paciencia todo lo alcanza
Quien a Dios tiene nada le falta

Patience attains everything
Whoever has God lacks nothing

In the discussion this past week someone mentioned Teresa of Avila, which reminded me of that first line, a favorite quote by her. I think it applies to the discussion of political activism. But it's probably not very helpful with someone who is upset at the passivity of most people in the face of injustice. Teresa certainly wasn't passive, though. And I think that first line is true only when the patience is in obedience to God, waiting with God, and not fear or mere passivity. To be obedient to God may require waiting for God's timing or God's response to some particular difficulty, but it also means obedience in acting in other areas, serving and helping where God has given us opportunities and the compassion to respond. Then we can trust God to eventually act in the areas where we have been called to be patient and wait.

I've been struggling with that a bit. It's hard when it takes so long. So long that we begin to wonder if the response of God will ever come. I guess that's part of the temptation of activism, the idea that if we do not make the change happen it will never happen, if we do not end the suffering it will never end. The temptation to work as if everything depended on you.

But to cling to the promises of God is to cling to God. And whoever has God lacks nothing. What we wait for from God is already assured, already a reality. What we wait for eagerly is merely the revealing.