This post is a part of a Marian Virtue Series, running every Wednesday and Friday. It will conclude on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. If you are just joining the series now and want to learn more you can start here: Introduction to Marian Virtue Series.
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St. Louis de Montfort listed ten virtues of Mary that we should all seek to cultivate in our lives- these virtues are Angelic Sweetness, Ardent Charity, Blind Obedience, Constant Mental Prayer, Divine Purity, Divine Wisdom, Heroic Patience, Lively Faith, Profound Humility, and Universal Mortification. When I heard of this series and picked the virtue I was going to write about, I was torn. Both heroic patience and profound humility leapt off the page at me.
I’m not saying it’s because for me those virtues are about as easy as trying to sled down a grassy hill in the middle of June, but that might be why. I’ve always had a hard time connecting with Mary- I get it, she’s our Mama. She strives to wrap us in her mantle, protect us, love us, and walk side by side with us throughout our lives. I totally understand all of that, but it’s always been hard for me to connect with someone without even original sin. It seems like the one fiber that helps me understand my neighbors isn’t there, and it makes her all too unfamiliar.
When I continued to think about how I would write a post about heroic patience in relation to a woman who I’ve always secretly wrestled with, the Marian Virtues helped a lot. These 10 simple concepts, while they are each challenging in their own ways, give us 10 small parts of our lives to work on.
I’ve always been a person who finds life easier with small goals and resolutions, to-do lists to check off, and tiny things to work on one step at a time. These virtues give us all that.
Alright, so let’s dive right in. Heroic Patience.
To greatly oversimplify this, as a young teenager, an angel popped up, and asked Mary a question. Her whole life would change at the drop of a hat, because of a single word. Fiat. That word was not simply her answer to the question “Will you bring the Savior of all into this world?” It was her answer to every new morning that she faced. Every challenge. Every moment of struggle.
The day she climbed on a donkey to flee into Egypt with a newborn baby in her arms and her new husband by her side, her whole being lived inside that Fiat. The patience with which she walked every day, understanding that she would never fully see God’s plan, and even if she could, she could never fully understand it, is truly heroic.
The woman who clung to her 33 year old son’s body, as it was handed to her from the cross that he died upon- that woman never gave up on her faith. She never ceased to wake up and trust God with her next tomorrow and all of her yesterdays.
Beyond the heroic patience she used to endure God’s often challenging plan for her life, she showed heroic patience with all those she lived and walked along side. She continues to show the same heroic patience to us every day. I know that for sure, because Mama Mary has silently and patiently listened to me night after night, complaining about my life. Explaining to her that I just don’t understand what God has in store for my next tomorrow and it is so hard to trust all my yesterdays to someone I can’t see and I don’t understand. She listens, and she wraps me in her mantle of love and protection and gentle strength. She guides me and teaches me to follow her in those ten little ways every day.
If I can learn heroic patience in my life, I promise you can find a way to add it into yours. Heroic patience doesn’t look heroic from the outside too often – it looks like waking up and learning to love your spouse by washing the dishes or making the bed. It looks like taking that moment to snuggle with your littles when you have a thousand things to check off that list of chores. Don’t let those moments slip away without sliding some patience in them too. When you dole out that heroic patience all over your loved ones, don’t forget to leave some for yourself too, okay? We’re all on this journey running towards heaven together, and you need just as much patience as everyone else, so don’t forget to allow yourself the room to trip every once in a while.
“The new day dawns, and I am practicing my purpose once again. It is fresh and it is fruitful…”
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The In Between 
Wow well said! Having patience can be very difficult, and trying for Heroic Patience seems impossible. You give some very good ideas on how to add Heroic Patience into our daily lives. Alway keeping Mother Mary in mind, and how she is the best example of Heroic Patience. Thank you for this post.
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