“Have patience with all things, but, first of all with yourself.”
—Saint Francis de Sales Roman Catholic saint
“Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.”
—Abigail Adams (1744-1818) U.S. First Lady (1797-1801)
Reflections on Elder Karyna’s Patience
Being patient with oneself — a practice that is both profoundly simple and incredibly difficult. It is about recognizing that we are not perfect, that we stumble, that we fall short of our expectations, and yet, we are still worthy of kindness and understanding.
Let your reflection in the mirror shows you smiling gently, with a warm, patient, and understanding expression – moment of self-compassion and kindness.
Patience is often misunderstood as passive waiting, but in the realm of social justice, it is an active, relentless force. True patience is the unyielding determination to keep pushing for change, even when progress is slow, and setbacks are frequent. It is the quiet, enduring courage of those who protest, organize, and educate, even when the world seems indifferent.
In the pursuit of social justice, patience takes on a multi-generational aspect. Generations contributing to a tapestry, or passing down the flame.
Francis de Sales
Francis de Sales, C.O., O.M. (21 August 1567 – 28 December 1622) was a Savoyard Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Geneva and is a saint of the Catholic Church.
He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to the religious divisions in his land resulting from the Protestant Reformation. He is known also for his writings on the topic of spiritual direction and spiritual formation.
Posthumous veneration De Sales has been styled “Gentleman Saint” because of his patience and gentleness.
Abigail Adams (née Smith; November 22, 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. She was a founder of the United States, and was both the first second lady and second first lady of the United States, although such titles were not used at the time.
She and Barbara Bush are the only two women in American history who were both married to a U.S. president and the mother of a U.S. president.
Slavery and race Adams opposed the existence of slavery in the United States and saw it as a threat to American democracy. In a letter she wrote on March 31, 1776, Adams doubted that the majority of White people in Virginia had such “passion for Liberty” as they claimed they did, since they “deprive[d] their fellow Creatures” of freedom.
A notable incident regarding Adams’s views on race happened in Philadelphia in 1791, when a free black youth came to her house asking to be taught how to read and write. Adams subsequently placed the boy in a local evening school, though not without objections from a neighbor. Adams responded that he was “a Freeman as much as any of the young Men and merely because his face is black, is he to be denied instruction? How is he to be qualified to procure a livelihood? … I have not thought it any disgrace to my self to take him into my parlor and teach him both to read and write.”
