Lenten
Parish Mission at St. Lambert
3-4 April
2022
In the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament
Pondering the Mystery of Suffering in the Christian
Life
Part 2: Monday evening, 4 April 2022, starting with
Exposition at 6:30 pm
Suffering and Christian Witness
Praised be Jesus Christ!
If
there were some thoughts from last night’s talk on the scandal of suffering
that I would like to build upon or have you keep present this evening they
would be the following:
1. Seeing how Jesus permitted
His own sinless Mother to suffer and suffer grievously on His account, we cannot
cry “foul!” or protest unfair treatment by God when suffering comes our way in this
life. Mary’s Seven Sorrows should help us keep the issue of suffering in our
lives in context. The Holy Virgin deprives us of grounds for questioning,
scandal of scandals, with either feigned or very real alarm just how a good and
loving God could allow suffering in the lives of us His beloved children by
adoption. With Mary we are in the best of company, yes, even in suffering. Who on
this earth could Jesus have loved more perfectly than He loved His own Mother? And
yet, as the Prophet Simeon foretold, “This child is destined for the falling
and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that
the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own
soul too.” (If you, or a member of your family, or someone from your circle
of friends and acquaintances blames God because you or they have to suffer, then
you are mistaken, you are out of line, you have no idea what it means to be
baptized into Christ’s death.)
2. Nonetheless, in a very
real sense we are rightly scandalized by suffering in our own lives and
especially in the lives of other people (think small children). Suffering is an
imposition. It is always a bit of a stretch to call it a choice. Likewise, as
you cannot make a virtue out of a person’s greater tolerance for pain, so the
bigness or the smallness of what a person has to endure in life for suffering does
not fall strictly into the category of free choice. Our suffering in this life
is not something we can manage or in a medicinal sense for which we can kind of
fix the dosage. Illnesses or misfortune can press us to the limits and even go
beyond what we judge ourselves capable of enduring. Grief can hit us hard as
well, especially parents who lose a child. Even so, God in Christ takes us
nowhere where He hasn’t already carried His Sorrowful Mother. Fiat voluntas
tua! Thy will be done, O Lord!
Let us pray together the Our Father! Our
Father…
3. Suffering may not guarantee happiness, but it
is not inconsistent to call it a factor in obtaining true happiness in this
life. A full life cannot isolate us from the sorrows of life in this vale of
tears. That goes both for suffering as it touches each one of us directly, as
well as for sorrow in the lives of others which perforce has an impact on us as
well. Real living does not and cannot spare us sorrow, nor spare us from having
to share in other people’s sorrow. (By way of an aside or maybe to illustrate
what I mean by that) In our world today, the avoidance of pain and discomfort
is for all purposes an obsession. In society generally we notice a certain
anxiousness about the risk of having to suffer pain or lose sleep due to
physical discomfort, let’s say following some kind of surgery. I can’t say as I
have any current statistics on opioid deaths here in South Dakota, but it is a
real plague elsewhere in the United States. Pain medication is prescribed way
too frequently by doctors, medicine cabinets seem to be overloaded with
prescriptions for pain relievers not used up for the extraction of a wisdom
tooth, let’s say, or maybe prescribed but not even needed. Perhaps not so much
the person for whom the pain killer was prescribed, but unfortunately, for
example, an unhappy adolescent in the family who gets into the parents or
grandparents medicine cabinet and decides to take those pain pills for whatever
reason. Overdoses in some states in the southeast of the country at one point were
claiming so many young people’s lives that just a couple years ago some
counties developed huge autopsy backlogs and families had a hard time getting
closure through burial after such a tragic death.
4. As the Roman Martyrology
seems to show, not only martyrdom but also sharing in the suffering of Christ
by the saints generally is an indicator of spiritual fruitfulness. Suffering accepted
or embraced in and with Christ the Lord brings life, hope and healing to our
world. That’s why proving miracles is one of the requirements attached by
Holy Mother Church to the canonization
process.
There may be more things worth repeating, but I will stop
there. Let me start off to discuss this evening’s topic, Suffering and
Christian Witness, by sharing again yesterday’s 2nd Reading
from the 5th Sunday of Lent (Passion Sunday)! St. Paul’s words are
particularly appropriate to our theme for this evening. The Apostle to the
Gentiles writes to the Philippians and to us:
“I regard everything as
loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his
sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in
order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of
my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the
righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know
Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by
becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from
the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the
goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his
own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing
I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I
press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ
Jesus.” [Phil. 3:8-14] Harper Bibles. NRSV Catholic Edition Bible (pp.
1085-1086). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Catholic life is truly lived in the shadow of the Cross.
There is nothing serious or profoundly true about the old felt banner slogan, “We
are Easter people and Alleluia is our song!” Granted: ours is not a doom and
gloom religion either. Rather, I would say that on the
continuum of the life of Christ the substance and depth of our faith come
from its beautiful and profound mix of light and shadow. Contrast brings
clarity. In that sense, I kind of hope that Mel Gibson’s project succeeds to
film a sequel to his blockbuster movie on the Passion of Christ. Although any
true work of art always has its limits, the best of sacred art can actually
deepen and enrich our understanding of the mystery of faith. In any case, the
joy of the Resurrection is not diminished but rather clarified by the shadow of
the Cross. Yes, let me quote from our Philippians reading, St. Paul says it
all.
“I
want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his
sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the
resurrection from the dead.”
If I have a mission or duty as a Christian, if I have a
witness to offer to the world then it is one delivered by my living in
conformity with Christ’s death, by my living in conformity with His suffering
and death. That is how I identify with Christ. There is no other way and
nothing less. Despite the particular respect we might have for our priests we
understand that holiness of life and identification with or conformity to the
life of Christ may actually be better rendered by my grandmother or by a Saint
Joseph type of workman who not only does his job well but knows how to pray and
be of aid to his neighbor and to those in need. Fortunately, I think, that message seems to get
across better here in the United States than it does in Western Europe (I say
that on the basis of my own life experience). I am not saying that your average
American Catholic, your parish, or diocese for that matter, does not fall prey
to the same typical burocratic pitfalls which have women in Germany, Austria or
Switzerland pushing for priesthood as the full realization of what it means to
be Catholic. What I am saying is that I am more likely to succeed in a Midwest American
context in reasoning with people and leading them to see that Catholicism is a
lived experience not tied to presiding over liturgy, or punching a time clock
at the chancery, or having a shingle on an office door or a prominent place in
some kind of official pecking order. That’s something that in another world or
time we could better unpack in a second installment on this talk on suffering
and Christian witness.
From the passion of Our Lord and most specifically from the
trial of Jesus before Pilate we come to understand more clearly why the
Son of God became man.
“Then they took Jesus from
Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves
did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able
to eat the Passover. So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do
you bring against this man?” They answered, “If this man were not a criminal,
we would not have handed him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him
yourselves and judge him according to your law.” The Jews replied, “We are not
permitted to put anyone to death.” (This was to fulfill what Jesus had said
when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.) Then Pilate entered the
headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the
Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you
about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief
priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My
kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my
followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But
as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I
came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth
listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” [John 18:28-38] Harper Bibles. NRSV Catholic Edition Bible (p. 1011). HarperCollins.
Kindle Edition.
Suffering as opposed to prominence or notoriety is indeed
what serves the truth. If I read the news item correctly, it seems that Elon
Musk has bought enough stock in Twitter to be able to control that company.
Guess you can do that when you are one of the world’s wealthiest men. The hope
would be that he would straighten Twitter out and, if you will, give it back to
the people. I wish him well, but I cannot see that we have anything more at
work here than monstrous financial wealth contending for limited success in creating
a positive or a neutral value space. Excuse my skepticism but to my mind it won’t
or can’t do much of anything to make our world a better space. Wait and see!
To get back to matters of faith, it is worth quoting the Request
of the Mother of James and John to Jesus which comes just before the
Passion in Matthew’s Gospel.
“Then
the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling
before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?”
She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your
right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered, “You do
not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to
drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will indeed
drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to
grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When
the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them
to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not
be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of
Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for
many.” [Matt. 20:20-28] Harper Bibles. NRSV Catholic Edition Bible (p. 933).
HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
In this account, drinking the cup of suffering stands out
clearly as that path which will lead to the redemption of the many. It will
not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your
servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as
the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a
ransom for many.”
The call to embrace the ignominy of the servant instead of
sorting out which throne will be assigned to whom in Christ’s Kingdom (yes,
suffering) is the path forward. Some would call it biting the bullet, but it
really has much more to do with our being confident that Christ can give us a
share in His redemptive suffering. It is not that we have to renounce happiness
and success, but rather we have to know where to find them and to understand
that the reality is greater than we can imagine and most certainly bound to God’s
saving will for each of us in His great plan.
In terms of Christian witness, no field of the apostolate is
more important than marriage and family. For all the joys which are there, just
like for the life of Christ Himself and for our faith life in general, so too specifically
for marriage and family the substance and depth of Christian witness in the
midst of life come from that beautiful and profound mix of light and shadow.
Contrast brings clarity. Happiness cannot be claimed without some share in the
cup of suffering. Resurrected glory passes by way of the Cross.
Over the course of my lifetime, speaking with married couples
and parents, not so much to the two of them together but as they individually
shared confidences with me about the joys and sorrows of married life, I would
have to say that apart from situations of sin and betrayal folks regret the most
not having risked the possibility of pain in their relationship, both fearing
or dreading their own suffering and that of their partners. Granted, there are
those unconscious or ungrateful spouses, but more often there are those who
lose heart at the very thought of risking that vulnerability which can bring
with it suffering either for themselves or for the one they love. Though rare,
it is always a great joy to encounter husbands and wives who are best friends
and truly partners, who communicate well despite the risks it can bring. I
guess it is the sort of stuff that adolescent dreams are made of. But it is or
can be even more true that we do not risk the cost of the potential suffering
which might have to be endured in order to achieve that solid bond enabling one
spouse to carry the other.
For a good seven years while I was a boy Dad traveled a
wholesale territory selling tires and so he was gone during the week. For that reason,
Mom ended up carrying the burden of responsibility for disciplining my younger
brothers and sisters (…). One of my brothers was particularly rambunctious, a
very good boy, but rambunctious, active, maybe a bit hyper. At any rate, at
some point Mom swatted him on the bottom for something and broke a bunch of
blood vessels in her hand without leaving much impression on Bob. When Dad got
home on the weekend, she told him, and he sympathized without indicating that
he was ready to step in and be the weekend disciplinarian. The next week when
he got home, perhaps because he regretted not having been more sympathetic and
responsive toward Mom, he made a present to her from some tourist place up in Minnesota
of a wooden paddle to use instead of her hand on my brother. I don’t know how Dad
meant it, but Mom was not particularly consoled by this dubious show of support
for her in the task of child rearing. At any rate, all of us kids found it
rather funny, and the paddle was hung somewhere in the kitchen but never used
for its stated purpose. Communication is not easy even in good marriages,
whether it demands personal sacrifice or not.
I can well imagine that whether he cared or not Pontius
Pilate may have been puzzled by all the hostility of the Jews toward Jesus, as
well as by the vehement physical and verbal abuse they heaped upon the Lord and
His silence in suffering. Be assured that I do not want to advocate your
provoking suffering for yourselves. That is not what Jesus did. The suffering
came with Jesus’ very identity and mission. To the extent that we conform our
lives to Christ and bind ourselves to Him we are bound to get old Satan
thrashing around and set his minions against us as surely as they thundered
against Christ. If I had to distinguish between the suffering which comes our
way as a matter of course in life and that which is yoked to our witness to
Christ, it would be on that very point. The devil is bound to go after those who
are faithful to the grace of their baptism and who adhere to Christ. As the old
saying goes, if things are going well for you in your life you are probably not
following the Lord as you should.
Indeed, we can be in the wrong and provoke others by our
misdeeds, thus earning abuse or suffering. That would not be the point though.
Your desire or aspiration to follow Christ, to be His witness before others, could
in all likelihood bring down suffering upon you. If it is your faithful witness
to Christ which brings down scorn on your head, then you are in good company.
If everyone speaks highly of you, well then, look out! You are headed for a
fall.
I hope my observations cast some light on the mystery of
suffering in the Christian life. It is not exactly “no pain! No gain!” Arnold,
but rather an essential part of the mystery of what it means to share life with
Christ, Who passed to everlasting glory by the way of the Cross.
Thank you for your attention last evening and today! I hope
these reflections may serve your personal preparation for Holy Week and Easter
and lead you all the more surely to Christ.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
No comments:
Post a Comment