Patience is the virtue of bearing difficulties, delays and other people’s faults calmly, for the love of God. St. Paul lists it among the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and puts it first in his description of love: “Charity is patient, is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Below are Catholic prayers for patience with family, at work, with yourself and while you wait for God to act, a classic prayer from The Imitation of Christ, and what Scripture teaches about patience.
A short prayer for patience, written for this page:
Lord Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
slow my anger, quiet my frustration,
and give me the patience you show to me every day. Amen.
Prayers for patience
Written for this page.
With my family
Lord, you know how easily I lose my temper with the people I love most.
When I am tired and they test me, help me to pause before I speak.
Give me a gentle voice, a listening heart and a forgiving spirit,
so that our home may be a place of peace. Amen.
With my children
Heavenly Father, you are endlessly patient with me.
Help me to be patient with my children: to correct them without harshness,
to explain one more time, and to see in them the people you are making them to be. Amen.
At work
Lord, bless my work and the people I work with.
When things go wrong, deadlines press and others irritate me,
keep me calm and fair. Help me to do my best and leave the rest to you. Amen.
With myself
Jesus, you do not give up on me, even when I keep falling into the same faults.
Teach me to be patient with my own slowness to change,
to get up again without discouragement, and to trust your grace more than my own strength. Amen.
While waiting on God
Lord, I have prayed and waited, and still I do not see your answer.
Help me to wait with faith, as Mary and Joseph waited, as the saints waited.
Your time is not my time; give me the grace to trust that you are at work. Amen.
A prayer from The Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, has for six centuries been, after the Bible, one of the most widely read Christian books. In one chapter the disciple begins:
O Lord God, I see that patience is very necessary unto me; for many things in this life fall out contrary. For howsoever I may have contrived for my peace, my life cannot go on without strife and trouble.
In another, after Christ has taught him what true patience is, the disciple prays:
Make possible to me, O Lord, by grace what seemeth impossible to me by nature. Thou knowest how little I am able to bear, and how quickly I am cast down when a like adversity riseth up against me. Whatsoever trial of tribulation may come to me, may it become unto me pleasing and acceptable, for to suffer and be vexed for Thy sake is exceeding healthful to the soul.
The same chapter describes the “truly patient” person, in words Thomas puts on Christ’s lips:
He is not truly patient who will only suffer as far as seemeth right to himself and from whom he pleaseth. But the truly patient man considereth not by what man he is tried, whether by one above him, or by an equal or inferior, whether by a good and holy man, or a perverse and unworthy; but indifferently from every creature, whatsoever or how often soever adversity happeneth to him, he gratefully accepteth all from the hand of God and counteth it great gain: for with God nothing which is borne for His sake, however small, shall lose its reward.
What Scripture says about patience
St. James teaches that trials are the training ground of patience:
My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations;
Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
And patience hath a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing.
St. Paul joins patience to hope and prayer:
Rejoicing in hope. Patient in tribulation. Instant in prayer.
And the Psalmist shows what patient waiting looks like: “With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me” (Psalm 39:2, Douay-Rheims; Psalm 40 in modern Bibles). See Psalm 40.
St. Paul’s hymn to charity begins with patience and ends with endurance:
Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up;
Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
How to grow in patience
- Ask for it daily. Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, not only a matter of willpower.
- Name your triggers. Notice the situations, times of day and people that try you most, and prepare a short prayer for those moments.
- Pause before you react. A slow breath and “Jesus, I trust in you” can stop many harsh words.
- Remember God’s patience with you. It is easier to forgive others when we remember how much we have been forgiven.
- Go to confession when you fail. See how to go to confession.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the patron saint of patience?
There is no official patron, but Catholics often ask the help of St. Monica, who prayed for years for her son Augustine’s conversion, and of St. Joseph, who waited and obeyed in silence.
Is patience a virtue or a fruit of the Holy Spirit?
Both. It is part of the cardinal virtue of fortitude, and St. Paul lists it among the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
Is it wrong to pray for patience?
No. Some joke that praying for patience brings more trials, but God gives the grace we ask for. Trials will come anyway; patience helps us bear them in peace.
More prayers
- Patron saint of patience
- Catholic prayer for anxiety
- Prayer for strength
- Prayer for wisdom
- Catholic prayer for forgiveness
- Litany of Humility
- St. Monica prayer
Texts and sources
- Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book III, chapters 12 and 19, translated by William Benham (1874), public domain (Project Gutenberg).
- James 1:2–4, Romans 12:12, 1 Corinthians 13:4–7, Galatians 5:22 and Psalm 39:2 (Douay-Rheims).