During times we experience stress, it is more difficult to be patient, as we are thinking about the inconvenience to us. When we focus so much on ourselves, we tend to forget about others and forget about God. As a result, instead of patience, most of us react to stressful situations with anger, frustration, or even tears. When we begin to feel this way, prayer can be a remedy, in particular a prayer found in the Divine Mercy image.
In the 1930's Jesus appeared to St. Faustina, a Polish nun, in a vision. He told her to paint an image of him exactly as he appeared to her. In her diary, she wrote that Jesus also told her "I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish," and to write the words "Jesus, I trust in You." at the bottom of the image. Below is one version of the image:
A painting of this version is in our chapel here at Christ the King. To our students this morning, I offered those 5 words as a prayer to help them practice patience. When we are stressed, about to lose our temper, and become absorbed in ourselves, return to Jesus and trust that he will take care of us. This week, I challenged the students to say this prayer, "Jesus, I trust in You" three times in a row three different times a day, whether they are feeling stressed or not. The best way to practice patience is to keep ourselves from losing it in the first place. I trust that Jesus can help us do that.
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