OUR LADY OF JOY, HANCEVILLE ALABAMA

                                        

           Discovering the Christian meaning of                                            

                                "Suffering"

     

    The Christian meaning of suffering as explained so beautifully by Pope St. John Paul II in “Salvifici Doloris,” is deeply rooted in our Christian anthropology and correspondingly, in our corporal and metaphysical intelligence. “Suffering seems to belong to man’s transcendence…” (Salvifici Doloris 2). We are actually wired by God, to benefit individually and collectively from the experience of suffering which, paradoxically, has the capacity to push us beyond the boundaries of self-will into the will of God. Ironically, that which separates us from the Father may draw us closer to Him than we ever imagined by rebooting the divine purpose for our lives which is to grow in wisdom and love. 

    The original sin of pride triggered suffering in the world by hi-jacking man’s natural harmony with God, within ourselves, between man and woman, and with the rest of creation. This disharmony fragmented the divine order of our lives, and opened the door to the pervasive parasitic privation of good that we call evil. As the Holy Father says, “Man suffers on account of evil, which is a certain lack, limitation or distortion of good.” (7) In essence, when we are separated from the good that naturally belongs to us, we experience suffering and evil. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the cause of all suffering is objectively evil. As with the case of Job, the providential hand of God allowed Job to be tested by the devil for the greater purpose of character building, and to prove that faith in God is the supernatural weapon against the devil’s cunning, baffling, and powerful attacks against mankind. 

    From a Christian perspective, the intense physical suffering when “the body is hurting” (5) and moral suffering which is the “pain of the soul,” (5) propels us along the path of holiness. As the Pope wrote, “It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls.” (27) All too often, natural disasters, unexpected illnesses, and other psychological, physical, or spiritual suffering produces deep seeded feelings of hopelessness and despair if we’ve detached ourselves from the overarching love of God. Therefore, faith is the key that unlocks the uncomfortable, yet ethereal mystery of suffering, which is deeply rooted in the revelation of divine love at the heart of Christ’s salvific mission. As the Pope explains, the absence of faith, can render suffering senseless. 

    In His mercy and justice, God put a face on the mystery and meaning of suffering by literally giving humanity His son Jesus Christ whose self-sacrifice saved us from the worst suffering possible; the eternal and definitive separation from God. Through the sacrificial gift of the Paschal Mystery, Jesus conquered sin and death and restored original justice in the world. He also witnessed superabundant, agape love which culminated with His resurrection and the corresponding transfiguration of pain and suffering through the graces of mercy and redemption that are at the heart of cruciform love offered to each and every one of us. “Precisely by means of his Cross he must strike at the roots of evil, planted in the history of man and in human souls. Precisely by means of his Cross he must accomplish the work of salvation.”(16) God’s justice ransomed our souls for eternity, and triggered the intimacy of divine love which is the driving force behind Christ’s supernatural mission. 

    Essentially, suffering saturates our soul with a healing, heavenly balm that synchronizes our humanity with our divinity by purging us of the sins that sever our relationship with God and with others. Since we are created in the Imago Dei, humility and acceptance activates the natural good within man which helps realign our character so that we can develop a virtuous life of compassion, respect, honesty, and service to others. As we push through the pain and die to ourselves, we are reborn in Christ, and consecrated to the Church’s salvific mission. The unexpected wellspring of joy primes us for an illumination of body and soul that is life-giving, life transforming, and soulfully liberating. “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church,” (Col 1:24). 

    Unfortunately, our culture is saturated with conflicting philosophies of autonomy, like nominalism, which claims that suffering doesn’t make sense and thus we can impose our will according to our own convenience. Euthanasia is a prime example. Proponents argue that people have a right to die with “dignity” if suffering becomes a burden to us and/or to others. This presupposes that man, rather than God, is the measure of our self-worth. Unfortunately, such a radical view ignores the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception until our natural death and paves the way for killing at will. The dignity of a human person is a gift from God who created us in His image and likeness and so, our value is not contingent on our health, our productivity, or whether or not we are considered a burden to others. Sick, suffering people are spiritual blessings because they are actually living icons of our loving Savior who set the standard for life and for death. In the final analysis, end of life suffering is a farewell gift of purgation and preparation before man’s final meeting with God in the fullness of perfection that is our eternal inheritance in heaven. 

    Tragic suffering is psychologically and physically shocking because it so often blindsides us. No human explanation can ever satisfy the devastation of such unexpected pain. I’ve experienced this kind of suffering many times in my life and, I have learned that unbearable loss claims what we never really possessed. Tragic suffering is the catalytic converter of the soul which satiates our brokenness with the supernatural graces that flow forth from the Cross through the Church into our lives. The Cross is without a doubt the only answer that makes any sense. As Catholic nun Mother Elvira Petrozzi so beautifully stated, “We need Jesus more than the air we breathe!” As we immerse ourselves in the healing, hopeful love of Jesus Christ, a mighty wind blows through our pain and the self-destructive remnants of sin, and activates all the hidden gifts that God has stored inside of us. The Holy Spirit dilates our hearts and we become one with Jesus whose unbridled love carries us through the valley of the shadow of death, into a place of unexpected joy and peace. “Love is also the richest source of the meaning of suffering, which always remains a mystery: we are conscious of the insufficiency and inadequacy of our explanations. Christ causes us to enter into the mystery and to discover the “why” of suffering, as far as we are capable of grasping the sublimity of divine love (SD13). 

    Authentic intimacy with Jesus Christ has the power to heal our wounded hearts and through our healing, to save other lost souls. “In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus, each man in his sufferings, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ.” Therefore, the salvation of many souls depends on our gift of self-sacrificing suffering on behalf of the mystical body of Christ for the sake of the salvation of souls. “ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18).