We live in a world that flees from suffering. We are taught to believe that the less we suffer, the happier we will be. We run away from it every way we can, drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping binges, eating binges and so forth.
The world says, “Pleasure yourself and all will be well.” However, there is still a problem. We are not in control and suffering comes our way whether we like it or not. It might be us that are suffering or someone we love. Suffering need not be something we hate and try our best to avoid. Jesus showed us another way, “not my will but thy will be done” This blog today is about turning our suffering into blessings for ourselves and others.
It was not the original plan of God that suffering and death be a part of human existence. The gift of immunity from suffering and death are not essential to human nature, however, and could be lost. God endowed man with free-will so they may freely choose Him above all things before entering into the beatitude of heaven.
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, rebelled and as a result they lost for themselves and their descendants those gifts that made them immune from suffering and death, the consequences of sin.
Adam and Eve was cast out of the Garden of Paradise to till the ground from which they had come. They were separated from God along with their descendants. God could have left man in this helpless state but in His mercy He chose to send His only begotten Son, Jesus, to become a member of the human race. Because Jesus is God and Man, the reparation Jesus offered was infinite. Divine Justice would be fulfilled.
REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING
“In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ raised human suffering to the level of Redemption. Thus each man, in his sufferings, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ” Saint Pope John Paul II
Redemptive suffering is offering oneself united with Christ’s passion for ourselves and others to obtain heaven. It takes on our sins and the sins of others. St. Paul writes that we are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” Romans 8:17
By suffering in His human nature during His Passion, Christ gave to all suffering members of His Mystical Body a redeeming power, when accepted and offered up in union with His Passion. There was no dark place of suffering that Jesus did not redeem and sanctify, make holy and redemptive.
St. Paul was so filled with the idea of the redemptive power of suffering that he exclaimed: “I find 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.” Colossians 1:24
Just to be clear….There is nothing lacking in Christ’s redemption. When Christ exclaimed: “It is consummated!” Jesus says in effect: All is accomplished that I came to do. There is no grace that comes to any human being that was not merited by Jesus. Jesus’ sacrifice lacked nothing. Jesus had no need of any other in redeeming the human race.
St. Paul, in Colossians, is speaking of the Mystical Body of Christ, made up of Christ, the Head, and all souls who are the members of His Body. It is in the members of His Body that something is lacking.
Jesus willed that the mystery of His Passion continue on in us, so that we may be associated with Him in the work of redemption. In God’s justice He demands the debt of atonement be paid. In His mercy, God allows us to “fill up what is lacking” in another member of the Mystical Body, the Church.
Catechism of the Catholic Church #618
The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the “one mediator between God and men”. But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man… He calls his disciples to “take up their cross and follow him, for “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example so that we should follow in his steps.”…and share in the mystery of his redemptive suffering.
REFLECTIONS
Everyone suffers. No need to go in search of a “cross” to bear with Jesus. Most likely you already carry one, especially designed for you. Will you drag it behind in bitterness and stubbornness only making it more unbearable or will you pick it up, stumble forward in hope, of a glorious future one day!
The “cross” can include anything we find hard to bear. It may be physical pain, chronic illness for decades, mental anguish, disappointments, set-backs in business, loneliness, or sadness at death of family member or friend. Or they may be little irritants like a cold, being cut off in traffic, losing a parking place to another, computer problems, or cable television outage.
Though these crosses are beyond our power of control, they are part of God’s providence. God foresees them all and allows them, so He can bring good out of them. There are so many stories in the Old Testament that looked really bad and turned out very good. But here, I will just cite the story of Joseph, sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, who then in the divine providence of God became a powerful ally in Egypt that saved his family from famine in the land of Canaan. Genesis 37-42
By accepting willingly and without complaint our crosses which God in His Providence allows to come our way, we can pay in part the debt that we, or others, have incurred by our sins. Redemptive suffering does not have to take on extreme forms to be effective but rather, any suffering, if offered with love, can be given redemptive value, even something as mundane as a toothache.
It is not easy to accept suffering. Even Jesus in His human nature asked the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, “if this cup could pass, but not my will thy will be done.” Like Jesus, we too can pray in painful situations, “let this chalice pass from me” as long as we are willing to add “nevertheless, not my will but yours be done”
Christ has raised suffering to level of redemption. We share in that redemptive suffering with Christ. We may never understand suffering just as Job (Book of Job) said to God “I don’t get it “and God replied “I know you don’t understand.”
We don’t understand suffering either. But we know God is all good, only permits suffering if He can draw some greater good out of it.
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY APRIL 11
JESUS TO SAINT FAUSTINA
“You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone!