135
and compassionate listening can we enter on the
paths of true growth and awaken a yearning for
the Christian ideal: the desire to respond fully to
Godâs love and to bring to fruition what he has
sown in our lives. But this always demands the
patience of one who knows full well what Saint
Thomas Aquinas tells us: that anyone can have
grace and charity, and yet falter in the exercise of
the virtues because of persistent âcontrary incli-
nationsâ.
133
In other words, the organic unity of
the virtues always and necessarily exists
in habitu
,
even though forms of conditioning can hinder
the operations of those virtuous habits. Hence
the need for âa pedagogy which will introduce
people step by step to the full appropriation
of the mysteryâ.
134
Reaching a level of matu-
rity where individuals can make truly free and
responsible decisions calls for much time and
patience. As Blessed Peter Faber used to say:
âTime is Godâs messengerâ.
172.âOne who accompanies others has to real-
ize that each personâs situation before God and
their life in grace are mysteries which no one can
fully know from without. The Gospel tells us to
correct others and to help them to grow on the
basis of a recognition of the objective evil of
their actions (cf.
Mt
18:15), but without making
133
S. Th.
, I-II, q. 65, a. 3, ad 2:
âpropter aliquas dispositiones
contrariasâ
.
134
âJ
ohn
P
aul
II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Ecclesia in Asia
(6 November 1999), 20: AAS 92 (2000), 481.
