Life isn’t
fair. It wasn't fair to Jesus; it isn't
fair to most of us.
Most unfair
is the undeserved suffering that marks our lives, and there’s plenty to go
around these days—COVID, personal misfortune, poverty, rioting, disease,
hurricanes, accidents. We Christians
face no greater obstacle to personal faith.
St. Paul
also faced this problem. In his letter
to the Philippians (Philippians
2:5-11), written while
in prison, he told them that handling undeserved suffering was profoundly
simple: handle it the way Jesus did: "Have among
yourselves the same attitude that is yours in Christ Jesus."
He was quick to remind Christians that Jesus truly did suffer and was
never protected from suffering because of His equality with God; He was like us
in all ways, "taking the form of a slave and
coming in human likeness."
And so He
opened himself totally to God, humbling Himself and being ready to embrace
whatever God willed. We get insight into
Jesus' attitude from His prayer in Gethsemani before His passion and death. After pleading three times in prayer that His
chalice of suffering be taken away He finally grasped that it was His father's
will that He embrace His crucifixion (Matthew 26: 36-46) and so, "he
humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross."
Then comes
the comfort: precisely because of his acceptance a remarkable thing happened:
Jesus was raised from the dead and transformed, "Because
of this God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him a name that is above every other
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend."
The lesson
for us is clear: unmerited suffering handled with trust in God is transforming.
When all human supports are gone and we
throw ourselves absolutely into the arms of our Father, we can be changed. External observers may see nothing but
senseless tragedy, but we’ve been invited into a radical new intimacy with our
Father—an intimacy possible only because the suffering itself has opened a new
dimension of faith and trust. Handling
suffering in faith places us at the heart of the Christian mystery: we’re
participating with Jesus in His Paschal Mystery.
“I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly
of your people”
(Psalm 22:26-32). This Psalm gives us
guidance as to how to proceed, as members of Christian faith communities. We’re being encouraged to be vocal and to
share, with others, how our faith and how living our faith impacts our lives.
The Gospel of
Luke gives the story of our invitation to a “great dinner” in the
Kingdom of Heaven (Luke 14:15-24). The Scripture highlights three people who
excused themselves from the feast for “good” reasons. One just bought a field and had to go examine
it, one just bought some oxen and had to go care for them, and another just got
married and had to be with his wife. All
three had what they thought were good excuses and thus failed to come to the
feast.
The feast is
the Kingdom of Heaven. But it’s also any
way that we’re invited to participate in God’s grace: Sunday Mass, moments of
daily prayer, the Bible study we should join, the mission talk we should
attend, the book we should read or the act of charity that God wants us to
perform. Every way that grace is offered
to us is a way in which we’re invited to the feast of God. Sadly, it’s too easy for some to come up with
an excuse for denying the invitation of Christ to share in His grace.
Another way
to participate in God’s grace is through our suffering; it “invites” us to time
spent in prayer, reflection, celebration of and service to others. In other words, take on "the attitude that is within us through Christ Jesus." It can be joyful and is essential if we’re to
nurture and grow in relationship with God and with others. “Blessed
is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.”
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