"Pray that you may not undergo
the test," Jesus said this twice to his disciples the night his
Passion began. Jesus himself prayed for this so fervently that his sweat fell
like drops of blood. Jesus knew suffering intimately in the end of his human
life on earth, and his suffering and death have been commemorated and
re-enacted for over 2000 years. We believe Jesus' death began a new covenant
between God and God's people and perhaps Jesus, our teacher, was also modeling
how to truly live through his death. Jesus trusted his prayerful discernment
with God. He bravely placed his life in service to God, and his sacrifice of
suffering and laying down his life has inspired billions of people to believe
in God.
Suffering and death are not topics
people wish to talk about deeply together. Many suffer in silence, and others cry
out to God, "why have You forsaken me!" Suffering is difficult to
understand and many offer the standard pastoral response, "God's ways are
not our ways...God's will is a mystery." To try to help myself better
understand God's will concerning suffering, I read books such as Kushner's When
Bad Things Happen To Good People and Young's The Shack, Wiesel's Night,
and the Bible to help me understand. The battle of good versus evil and free
will with God's will are polarities which can never be resolved but are
deserving of deep prayerful reflection. Through prayer, discernment,
resilience, and direct experiences with suffering, a deeper understanding has
developed for me, or at least an openness to the mystery.
Ronald Rolheiser, in his book Sacred
Fire, describes a mature Christian disciple as someone "who has
surrendered his or her life to God at a deep level." Jesus' Passion, his
suffering and death, were the ideal model of this mature discipleship. Jesus
prayed to not be tested through suffering and death, but knew that if this is
what God was leading him to, he trusted God and surrendered his life for his
friends. Jesus encouraged His friends to do the same. Jesus suffered so
something could come to life, so God could shine through him.
 | ||
|
On
March 4, 2016, a Christian community in Yemen caring for poor, elderly people
lost 17 men and women. Four Missionary Sisters of Charity and 12 of their
co-workers were brutally murdered, and a priest living in that house was
kidnapped and is missing. These Christians were quietly carrying out their
daily duties of caring for others in the name of Jesus in their corner
of the world and this is why they were killed. Since their martyred deaths,
every corner of the world has heard about the desperate plight of people in
Yemen. By killing these brave Christians, the murderers have empowered and illuminated God's message through
Jesus and moved millions to compassion, to prayer, and hopefully to action to
help Christians in Yemen and throughout the Middle East. Sometimes this kind of
suffering and death is asked of God's disciples. There are millions of
Christian martyrs in our world's history.
Jesus said, "pray that you may
not undergo the test," but if we are asked to give of ourselves through
suffering or even death, let us also pray that we may join ourselves with Jesus
and His Passion. Through prayerful intention, we can join our suffering with
the suffering of others; suffering unique to each Christian...
...illness...
....physical and emotional abuse and
pain...
...losing dear ones...
...loneliness....
...and much more.
With Jesus, we can offer our
suffering and join together in compassion with others. We may never know or see
the results of our offering ourselves but we can trust that God will use us and
our suffering to help our world. Perhaps it will also help us to grow into
mature discipleship and develop a heart willing to surrender all to God as
Jesus did…from darkness to light…from death to new life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment! Once our admin it approves it, you will see it posted.