The Courage to Wait

Decision-Making Under Pressure

“Should we act now? Should we wait?”
This question recurs in the life of everyone who has to make decisions, let alone in the life of a superior such as a provincial, who is responsible for the brothers, for the structures, for the mission.

“Should we act? Should we do it now? Is now the right time? Sometimes I do not know how to make a decision because I do not know what to do, or I am embarrassed, or I am afraid of making a mistake, which paralyzes me. I am afraid of regretting an unwise, ill-informed decision. And then, do I have all the parameters in hand? Have I understood what is at stake, deciphered the culture (when it is not my own), grasped what I was not told, or what I was told but did not really hear?”

These are words that any superior could sign. Words that reflect the tension of daily discernment: between the desire to act and the awareness of responsibility. Between the desire to react and the risk of rashness. I think that many who read these words will easily recognize themselves in this tension, many will recognize their own dilemmas.

A Space for Shared Discernment

The General Chapter of Provincials is a space for conversation, listening, and searching for a path together. It is a place where decisions are made not in haste, but in the light of shared discernment.

That is why it is a space where the virtue of patience should come to the fore.
The French Provincial, Brother Nicolas Tixier, reminded us in today’s homily:

“Patience is a virtue, and our Church has suffered from not always exercising it enough. Today, we are still paying the price for impatient joys, for a pastoral care of results, for overly rapid growth, without prudence, sometimes without justification.”

He called it “the face of mercy.”

In his reflections, he drew on the image of Saints Joachim and Anne—those who waited their entire lives for the promise to be fulfilled.
He also recalled the parable of the wheat and the weeds—that in life, sometimes you have to let both grow until harvest time. Because too hasty intervention can destroy what is good.

Time Is in God’s Hands

The chapter is not a place for the impatient.
It does not create reforms for the sake of effect. It does not operate on the logic of immediate results.

---

“In Mosul, Iraq, our convent (just restored after the wounds of the tragedy of Daech) bears the beautiful name of Our Lady of the Hour. This Hour has given its name to this whole area of the old city: the Hour (Al Saar). In fact, the brothers’ clock tells the time for the whole city, Christians and Muslims alike. I love this image of the hour – of time ticking away for everyone. In this field of human life, it is in fact God Himself who marks time, and it is in His own time that judgment is made.”

Patience does not mean passivity. It is acceptance of God’s rhythm, which simply does not always coincide with our calendar.

---

Patience in Practice

Speaking of patience, it must be admitted that it is also very useful in the practice of the chapter.
The agenda is tight, the days filled to the last minute. It is difficult to find a moment to breathe.
There is no day that can be called “free.”

I think everyone would agree with this: the participants of the chapter, the student brothers, the monastery staff, the cooks, and even the chronicler writing these words.