Following Jesus requires perseverance in tough times

Recently, a dad was telling me about an experience he had, and it got me wondering if we have lost the value of perseverance.
 
His 5-year-old daughter participated in an instructional soccer league. She attended every practice and had her parents buy all the gear — cleats, matching bag, and safety equipment. She told me one Sunday after Mass about what she learned from her coach and how much fun she had. At season’s end, she received a trophy — one that reflected only that she had participated in the league.
 
When it was time to enroll in soccer the next year, the dad figured his daughter would be excited. Instead, she said she didn’t have to play soccer anymore because she already knew how to play and had a trophy to prove it. He told her there was still more to learn, and only with perseverance would she become the best soccer player possible. She went to her room, brought out her trophy, and exclaimed: “See, I have a trophy, I don’t have to practice anymore.”
 
How often have we wanted recognition even though there was still more work to be done? How often do we expect immediate gratification? If you use social media, keep track of how long after you post a photo or message that you flip back to check for “likes” or comments. Our true potential and worth are so much bigger than our social media presence. Who we are, and what God knows we can be, can’t be tallied by the number of “likes” we receive.

In the Gospels, Jesus tells His followers — and all of us — that to be glorified by the Father, we must persevere. We must do what is difficult to achieve success, the success of heaven.
 
The apostles learned the value of perseverance by watching Jesus offer Himself for all of us. In fact, after witnessing the reward of His sacrifice in the resurrection, all the apostles followed Jesus’ example and gave their lives over to teach and model what Jesus had taught them so that others would come to know Christ.
 
They realized the way to follow Jesus was thorough persevering in difficult times, uniting their own sufferings with the suffering of Jesus. If Jesus had given a trophy to His apostles just for being His followers, would they have persevered in faith when it got tough? Would the Church have grown after the resurrection without their perseverance? Or would they have said “I have a trophy” and moved on, feeling good about themselves?
 
As a new school year begins, let us remind children that nothing in life worth pursuing comes easily. Let us pray that we may persevere through difficulties in our relationships, our studies, our addictions, or in our prayer life. Most of all, each time we come forward to receive Christ in Holy Communion, may we gain the strength to persevere in our own pilgrimage toward heaven.

MONSIGNOR JAMIE GIGANTIELLO is vicar for development in the Diocese of Brooklyn, host of the NET TV cooking show Breaking Bread, and pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel-Annunciation Parish in Brooklyn, NY.