by Father Charles Van Winkle, C.S.C.
Loving Father, grant that we in childlike faith may be fully open to Jesus, your Liberating Incarnate Word of Truth, whom you, Holy Spirit, continuously wish to manifest in our lives.
The owner of the dog with the itch, took the dog with the itch to the vet. But as the vet was examining the dog with the itch, the dog with the itch ran out the door and across the street to a big parking lot. The vet ran after the dog with the itch, and while he was on his hands and knees looking under the cars for the dog with the itch, a parking attendant came over and inquired, “Fellow, can I help you?
“Have you seen my itchy poochie?”
“Fellow, I’m sorry, but I can’t tell one Japanese car from another.”
Now that story was all about suffering: The dog suffered with an itch; the owner of the dog suffered because his dog had an itch; the vet suffered because he could not find the dog with the itch; the parking attendant suffered because he could not identify the dog with the itch; I suffered writing about itch; and you suffered reading about itch.
So while we are properly disposed, let us make sense out of suffering. Everyone has suffering. “Jesus says to all, ‘Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps’” (Lk 9:23). But the cross, our daily temptations and trials–the things we complain about–is not to punish; Jesus has paid the price of our sins: “He was bearing our faults in his own body on the cross, so that we might die to our faults and live for holiness” (l Pt 2:24). Therefore, to help us make sense out of suffering, let us consider the following:
(1) Our suffering of taking up the cross enables us to prove our love for Jesus as he proved his love for us. “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Pt 4:12).
Talk is cheap. Although Peter proclaimed he would never abandon Jesus, he later denied him three times. And after the Risen Christ asked Peter three times if he loved him, Jesus told Peter he would later be confronted with the opportunity to prove his love. “Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you solemnly: … you will stretch out your hands, and another will tie you fast and carry you off against your will.’ (What he said indicated the sort of death by which Peter was to glorify God.)” (Jn 21:18b,19a).
(2) Suffering is meant to enable us to change and to become more of who we are called to be. As Dr. Bernie S. Siegel, M.D., says, “It is only through pain that we change.”
Muhammad Ali was perhaps the greatest prize fighter of his generation and appeared to be equally self centered. However, having suffered from Parkinson’s disease for many years, he says, “It’s a blessing. I always liked to chase the girls–Parkinson’s stops all that. Now I might have a chance to go to heaven.” Spending his time aiding various charities, he says, “With everything I do, I ask myself, ‘Will God accept this?’ One day you’ll wake up and it’ll be Judgment Day, so you need to do good deeds. I love sick people. I don’t worry about disease.”
Jesus says, “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Lk 9:23). Sometime do your salvation history regarding those circumstances that caused you suffering and complaint, and you will be made aware of many blessings in disguise.
(3) Suffering is meant to promote discipline of the will to enable us to mature. We need the discipline of the will immediately to live the Faith-Love Principle–to immediately retreat to Jesus–when tempted to cave in to the wayward inclination of our fallen human nature.
“Endure your trials as discipline. At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain; yet later it brings the peacefruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it” (Heb 12:7a,11). “We even boast of our afflictions knowing that afflictions produce endurance, and endurance proven character, and proven character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rm 5:3-5). “Since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same attitude; for whoever suffers in the flesh has broken with sin, so as not to spend what remains of one’s life in the flesh on human desires, but on the will of God” (1 Pt 4:1-3).
Muhammad Ali comes to mind. And in personal application, on a couple of occasions when I thought I was on my final departure bed, I had no inclination to sin, but only to be open to God’s mercy.
(4) Our suffering is meant to be redemptive. “For to this you have been called because Christ has suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps” (1 Pt 2:21). “Even now I find my joy in the sufferings I endure for you. In my own flesh I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body the church” (Col 1:24).
Jesus wept over Jerusalem and over us because of lack of faith in him as our Savior and Healer. Therefore, we can offer our unavoidable suffering for greater openness in faith to God’s transforming love we celebrate in the Mass for ourselves and for others. For example, if we offer the suffering involved in resisting a temptation or overcoming a bad habit, we will be that much more open to Jesus’ victory on behalf of all concerned.
(5) Our patient bearing of suffering can afford encouragement to others.”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who encourages us in every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are strengthened by God” (2 Cor 1:3,4). We are commissioned to be wounded healers. “Let your light shine before others” (Mt 5:16a).
To the degree radical witness is manifested on behalf of truth, as moths to a light, people are attracted, encouraged and inspired to live in like manner. The Church has always prospered most in the time of persecution; the more people who gave their lives for Jesus who is the Truth, the more people, including executioners, converted to Christianity.
And although we are living at a time when perhaps you and I will not face martyrdom, every day we are afforded many occasions to give witness through good example; good example that requires the suffering of inconvenience, sacrifice, or even perhaps of peer pressure to respond in favor of living the lie rather than in witnessing to the liberating truth.
St. Paul refers to the Book of Proverbs when he says, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; by doing this you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good” (Rm 12:20,21). Of course, the good is the burning that hopefully will elicit the reaction, “She had every reason in the world to be upset with me, but she was kind to me, patient with me. Why can’t I be that way?” Jesus reminds us that it is by the Fruits of the Holy Spirit–”Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control” (Gal 5:22,23) that we are identified as his followers.
Being confronted with the temptation to contribute to gossip appears to be increasingly prevalent today. But the Holy Spirit reminds us through St Paul, “Say only the good things people need to hear; things that will really help them” (Eph 4:29). Peer pressure can cause much suffering in this regard, especially when you are called to live the Faith-Love Principle to excuse yourself if you are unable to change the conversation.
A lady wrote to Dear Abby to express how mortified she and her husband were when hosts at the dinner party showed porn films after the meal. But they remained and watched them. Yes, a bit of suffering to speak up, “Can’t we watch something else?” and if not, “I’m sorry, we will have to be leaving.”
What will the hosts think? Rather, ask what Jesus will think who says, “If anyone in this faithless and corrupt age is ashamed of me and my doctrine, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes with his holy angels in his Father’s glory” (Mk 8:38). However, through the “radical” witness of living the truth, hopefully the consciences of the hosts would be energized to be more thoughtful and sensitive in the future.
Over several decades, the late Norman Rockwell captured the pulse of America like no other artist with his “Saturday Evening Post” covers. Overwhelmingly voted his most appreciated cover was one from the early 1940s. The setting is a small cafe in a factory town. Looking through the cafe window at the smoke billowing from the stacks of an adjacent factory, one is reminded of the smoke within the restaurant since all but two of the patrons are not smoking cigarettes or cigars.
The two people not smoking could not find an empty table, so they are seated immediately opposite two young men, perhaps ages 21 and 22. One has a cigarette dangling from his lips, and the other holds one in the fingers of his right hand. And all in the cafe have their eyes intently focused on the two non smokers, especially the young men seated immediately across from them.
Who are the two who have merited all of the attention? A grandmother and her grandson who have their eyes closed and their heads bowed in prayer. The title of the “Post” cover is “Saying Grace.”
And what might be going through the minds of those seemingly transfixed by this simple, beautiful witness of acknowledgement and gratitude to God for the gifts before them? Perhaps the conscience of one or the other of the two young men is being energized in this vein: “I used to pray; I used to go to church; I really tried to be a good boy. Maybe I can get back to being the person I used to be, the person I long to be.”
Yes, if you find it a challenge publicly to make the sign of the cross and give thanks for food and countless other gifts God provides, be motivated by the power of your witness.
Whether it be at home, school, work or play, we may often be challenged to bear suffering in living the truth. For example, at school a student may encounter much peer pressure to live the lie rather than the truth. “Hey, everybody is doing it! Don’t be a drag!” Living the truth can result in not being accepted, being made fun of and being bullied even to the point of physical abuse. But if the one being confronted lives the Faith-Love Principle, he or she can give the radical witness that can change lives and also increasingly experience that “The truth will set you free” (Jn 8:32b).
(6) Suffering assures us that no matter what our age or disability, we are never useless. On the contrary, the more incapacitated we become, the greater our potential to be salvific, to exercise our baptisimal priesthood effectively.
To illustrate, in his travels through Europe several years ago, a Father Bernard tells of arriving at a small village in which he immediately sensed an unusual atmosphere of peace and harmony. He said he went to the rectory of the village church and inquired of the pastor, “Father, the atmosphere of peace in your village is overwhelming, what do you attribute it to?”
The pastor led him to a small cottage of an elderly woman with crippling arthritis who had been bedridden for 25 years. “She,” said the pastor, “is responsible for the blessing you are experiencing in our village.”
Father said, “She was aglow with faith!”
In their brief conversation she said, “The Lord has given me so many blessings all my life. I figured that the least I could do was offer my pain for my Church. It is a small return for the Lord’s goodness to me.”
And for us, the suffering we cannot avoid, the hardship of no longer being able to do the things we would like to do, being unable to attend church services or even to pray at home as we once did, all are examples of the hidden sacrifice we can unite with Jesus to “fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the church” (1 Col:24b); just as the Little Flower did and other contemplatives continue to do in their cloistered lives of prayer and sacrifice.
(7) How are we able to carry the daily cross of suffering and still realize interior peace and joy along the way? “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (Jm 1:2-4).
“The just person lives by faith” (Heb 10:38). “Have faith in me” (Jn 14:1a). “Your faith has restored you to health” (Mt 9:22). “Your faith has been your salvation” (Lk 17:19). “On one occasion Jesus spoke thus: ‘Father, Lord of heaven and earth, to you I offer praise; for what you have hidden from the learned and the clever, you have revealed to little children …. Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you’” (Mt 11:25,28).
Obviously, faith is the means available to you and me: FAITH in JESUS CHRIST that we celebrate in the MASS–Find All It Takes Here in Jesus Eternally Serving Us Salvation for Christ Has Risen in Saving Triumph that we celebrate in the Messiah Always Serving Salvation.
In personal application it is simply living the Faith-Love Principle as a little child to partake of the victory of our Victorious Savior.
(8) Several other significant considerations regarding suffering: Concerning the relevancy of time, on one occasion I asked God, “Is it true that with you a minute is as a million years?” God replied, “Yes.” “And,” I asked, “is it true that with you a dollar is the same as a million dollars?” Again, “Yes.” Well, God, give me a million dollars?” He replied, “Wait a minute.”
As Jesus emphasized by his passion and death, sacrifice is the nature of love. Likewise he asks us to prove our love through faith in him to be steadfast in our carrying of the cross, knowing that sometime during the “minute” he will lighten the burden.
The Arabic proverb is, “The farther you go into the desert, the closer you come to God.” God did not lead the Israelites through the desert to punish them, but so they could prove their love for him by faithfully following him when they did not feel like it. But as is true for you and me, he was leading them to the Promised Land. After all, having to carry the heaviest possible cross during this one “minute” of time is less than a second compared to the eternity of incomparable JOY!
Also, we should not seek pain. God knows and wills what is best for us and only asks us to have faith in him when we are confronted with suffering, and to freely take legitimate measures to alleviate pain. However, if we have a migraine headache and take medication–all part of God’s creation–to lessen the suffering, the relief will not come immediately. Therefore, at least with a general intention, we can offer the suffering for greater openness in faith for ourselves and our loved ones to accept God’s transforming love that we may become more of who we are called to be.
And as Blessed Mother Teresa has said, “Speak of challenges, rather than problems. There is no such thing as a problem; everything is a gift.” In fact, a challenge only becomes a problem rather than resulting in a gift when we fail to live the Faith-Love Principle, no matter what the challenge.
If after serious consideration of what you have just read you find suffering a mystery, meditate on the following two Scriptures: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Is 55:8,9). “How deep are the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How inscrutable his judgments, how unsearchable his ways” (Rm 11:33)!
In other words, accept in faith that the God of love can only will what is best for everyone, even though in our limited comprehension we may not be able to fathom the “why” of the suffering that often occurs as a blessing in disguise.
(9) Finally, what is our reward for persevering in trial and suffering through childlike steadfast faith in Jesus? We will continue to become more whole, holy, happy, human, free, mature, in control, lovers, Christ-like, who we are called to be on the way to our final graduation day to our heavenly mansion.
“For the sake of the joy that lay before him, Jesus endured the cross and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2b). “Rejoice to the extent you share in the sufferings of Christ so that when his glory is revealed, you may also rejoice exultantly” (1 Pt 4:13). “I consider the sufferings of the present to be as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us” (Rm 8:18). “Happy the person who stands firm when trials come. That person has proved him or her self and will win the prize of life, the crown that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (Jm 1:12). “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They are in peace. For if before men, indeed, they suffer, yet is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings, he took them to himself” (Wis 1:3b,4-6).
In summary, I want to emphasize that because of our fallen human nature, most of the time we do not feel like living the GOD, the Good Orderly Direction, that sets us free. Rather, we are inclined to live by our wayward feelings; for example, not to be faithful to daily prayer and Sunday Mass participation. As is often said, “We are inclined to take the path of least resistance.”
The only way we can fulfill our commission to live the Two Great Commandments to become who we are called to be; the only way we can persevere in living the freeing truth when we don’t feel like it; the only way we can increasingly experience the JOY and the other Fruits of the Holy Spirit along the way to the fullness of life; the only way we can “look through the bars and see the stars” no matter what the circumstance or challenge, is to program ourselves to react in the time of trial and temptation the way little children in time of danger react to a loving parent: Immediately live the Faith-Love Principle: “Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of heaven like a child will not enter it” (Mt 10:15).
Finally, the cross Jesus tells us to daily carry after him is simply what we tend to complain about–our trials and temptations. Therefore, if we are determined to live the truth that promotes our freedom, happiness and growth, and that of others, we will not complain about the opportunities the cross affords. On the contrary, we will be intent on “…giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father” (Eph 5:20), for “We know that all things work for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rm 8:28). Accordingly, we will be set free with the assurance there is no such thing as a crisis for the person who lives the Faith-Love Principle, because every challenge will be experienced as a gift of JOY–Jesus Our Yearning!!
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