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SUFFERING
by Fr. William Most
1. Suffering is needed to help us rise above the weakness that is
found in our nature as a result of original sin. For we are
inclined to evil and are like a bent piece of springy metal.
Imagine a piece of such metal standing up, the lower part
straight, the upper part bent. To make it finally become
straight, it is necessary to push it beyond the center position
many times. So, suffering helps us regain freedom. Otherwise we
can become as it were a slave to these tendencies, in a sort of
addiction.
To explain this damage from sin, we notice first, it is not the
total corruption of which Luther spoke - then, since St. Paul
says we are temples of the Holy Spirit, it would mean the Holy
Spirit would dwell in total corruption! The real meaning of the
damage is this: It means that our nature is left where it would
have been if God had created it without any added gifts. Human
body and soul each have many drives or needs - none evil in se,
but yet each drive goes for its own object mechanically,
automatically, blindly, without regard to the needs of the other
drives or of other persons. God gave Adam and Eve a coordinating
gift, or, the gift of integrity, which made it easy to keep these
in place. By sin they lost that gift and so did not have it to
pass on to us. We see this fact since after the fall, God asked
Adam: Adam, where are you? - I was naked and I hid myself. - How
did you find that out if you did not sin? Before the fall he was
naked, but it did not bother him. After it, it did bother him,
because of loss of the coordinating gift. To regain the freedom
Adam once had, we need self-imposed mortification, or acceptance
of suffering sent by God.
Pope John Paul II said in General Audience of Oct 8, 1986:
"According to the Church's teaching it is a case of a relative
and not an absolute deterioration, not intrinsic to the human
faculties... . not of a loss of their essential capacities even
in relation to the knowledge and love of God." It is only in this
sense that we can speak of our mind as darkened and will
weakened.
2. Suffering, whether self-imposed, or providentially sent, has a
related aspect: it makes one more open to divine inspirations and
guidance. We might start with Mt. 6:21: "Where your treasure is,
there is your heart also." In a narrow sense that would mean a
box of coins buried under the floor of the house. One who had it
would love to think of it, it would be like a magnet to pull his
thoughts and his heart. But one can put treasure in almost
anything - in huge meals, in gourmet meals, in sex, in travel, in
study, even in the study of Scripture. These are all lower than
God, in various degrees. In proportion to how much lower they
are, they make it that much less easy for thoughts and hearts to
rise to God. But there is another, a second factor: how strongly
a person lets these things get hold of him. At the mild end of
the scale, they pull only far enough to lead him into
imperfection, which less than venial sin. The next step would be
occasional venial sin - then habitual venial sin - then
occasional mortal sin - then habitual mortal sin. When the pulls
are very strong, and the thing to which they pull is much lower
than God, blindness can result: it will be almost impossible for
thoughts and heart to rise to God. We can see this with the help
of another comparison, which means the same thing. We think of a
galvanometer, which is merely a compass needle on its pivot,
surrounded by a coil of wire. We send a current through the coil,
and the needle swings, the right direction and the right amount.
It will read correctly if there is no competition from outside
pulls, such as a 30, 000 volt power line, or a lot of magnetic
steel. Then two forces affect the needle, the outside pulls, and
the current in the coil. If the current in the coil is mild and
the outside pulls strong, the current in the coil may show no
effect on the needle. This meter stands for my mind. The current
in the coil is grace, which is mild in that it respects my
freedom. But the outside pulls do not respect that - if I let
them get strong enough, they will make it impossible for the
needle to register the effect of grace. If grace cannot do that,
the very first step, it cannot do other things either. Then the
person is blind. He is eternally lost unless someone would put an
extraordinary weight into the scales, as it were, to call for an
extraordinary grace. Such a grace is comparable to a miracle, and
it can forestall or even cancel out human resistance.
3. Suffering is also needed for reparation for sin. Every sin is
a debt, which unbalances the scale of the objective order. The
holiness of God loves all that is good, and so wants it
rebalanced. Suffering freely accepted will rebalance. However,
even one mortal sin means an infinite imbalance so if the Father
wanted to fully rebalance - He was not obliged - the only means
was the incarnation of a Divine Person. He did that. We can have
merit, a claim to reward, in that we become members of the
Incarnate Divine Person, Christ, and in as much as we are like
Him - like Him in suffering for reparation. This is the true
sense of merit.
This suffering as reparation should be joined to the offering of
Christ on the altar. So it is a major component of what <Lumen
gentium> calls "spiritual sacrifices". In LG 10: "The baptized
through their rebirth and the anointing by the Holy Spirit are
consecrated into a spiritual house and holy priesthood, so that
through all the works of the christian man, they may offer
spiritual sacrifices... ." In LG 34: "For all their works,
prayers, apostolic undertakings, living in marriage and family,
daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are done in the
Spirit-- in fact the troubles of life if they are patiently
endured - become spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ, which are most devotedly offered to the Father in
the celebration of the Eucharist along with the offering of the
Lord's body." The theological framework in regard to their
offering in the Mass was expressed precisely by Pius XII, in
<Mediator Dei>: (1) "It is clear that the faithful offer the
sacrifice through the hands of the priest from the fact that the
priest at the altar in offering a sacrifice in the name of all
His members, does so in the person of Christ, the Head [of the
Mystical Body]" (2) "The statement that the people offer the
sacrifice with the priest does not mean that... they perform a
visible liturgical rite... instead, it is based on the fact that
the people join their hearts in praise, , petition, expiation,
and thanksgiving with the prayers or intention of the priest, in
fact, of the High Priest Himself, so that in one and same
offering of the Victim... they may be presented to God the
Father." The presentation of the "spiritual sacrifices" is
expressed in the second part-- and suffering is a specially
important part of it, as a special likeness to Christ Himself. So
someone who is a shut-in and who suffers chronically can
accomplish more by this means than those who labor in apostolic
work.
Our sufferings if considered apart from Christ have no power to
bring about an effect - we are saved and made holy not as
individuals, but to the extent that we are members of Christ and
like Him. Then we get in on the claim, the sacrifice, the merit
that He generates.
What if we are inclined to worry about our health or other
things? Does that mean a lack of confidence in God? Not
necessarily. God has not made a promise anywhere that we will not
run into cancer or some other serious suffering. We should try to
realize that even worry, understood properly, can make us more
like Christ, and so be of immense value. For He Himself, as the
Church teaches us, from the first instant of His human
conception, saw in His human soul the vision of God, in which all
knowledge is present. Pope Pius XII, in his great Encyclical on
the Mystical Body, told us that by this means He knew and loved
each one of us individually, as clearly as a mother would have
her child on her lap. But then it is also evident that He also
knew, in terrible detail, everything He was to suffer. When we
face some trouble or suffering we can say: Perhaps it will not
come... perhaps it will not be that bad. But such a refuge was
not possible to Him, for by that vision He knew infallibly, and
in merciless detail, all He had to suffer. Imagine living a whole
lifetime with that! He accepted it all gladly as the will of His
Father.
Twice during His public life He let us as it were look inside
Him. In Luke 12. 50 He said: "I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished"-that is:
I know I must be plunged into deep suffering. I am as it were in
a tight place, I cannot get comfortable until I get it over with.
Again in John 12. 27, about a week before His death, He allowed
Himself to break into a speech to say: "Now my heart is troubled.
What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour!" Yet for love
of His Father and for love of us, He did not pull back. He
accepted. It all cam e to a head in Gethsemani, when the interior
tension was so severe that it ruptured the blood vessels near the
sweat glands, and sent that red tide out through them.
So if we find we cannot avoid worrying -- we can unite even that
with His, and thus it will be of immense value.
4. It is important to remember that Our Lady still has a role in
each Mass - this is to be expected, since she had such a role in
the original bloody sacrifice. For Vatican II, on Liturgy 10,
said the Mass is the renewal of the New Covenant. The Council of
Trent said that the Mass is the same as Calvary,"only the manner
of offering being changed". If that is the only change, she must
be involved. Hence John Paul II, in an address of Feb. 12, 1984,
said: "Every liturgical action... is an occasion of communion...
and in a particular way with Mary... . Because the Liturgy is the
action of Christ and of the Church... she is inseparable from one
and the other... . Mary is present in the memorial - the
liturgical action - because she was present at the saving
event... . She is at every altar where the memorial of the
Passion and Resurrection is celebrated, because she was present,
faithful with her whole being, to the Father's plan, at the
historic salvific occasion of Christ's death."- To be specific:
(1) as to the external sign: the body and blood on the altar
still came from her - (2) as to the interior dispositions: her
interior union of dispositions with His is still the same as that
which she had on Calvary. - Therefore, the more fully one is
united with Christ on the altar, the more fully, ipso facto, with
her - and the more fully one is united with her, the more fully
with Christ.
5. In passing we can see why Our Lady at Fatima asked for prayers
and sacrifices for many who would be lost unless someone does it
for them. They are blind, and only an extraordinary grace can
rescue them. To get that, an extraordinary weight needs to be put
into the scales of the objective order.
Conclusion:
2 Cor. 4:17: "That which is light and momentary in our
tribulations, is working (producing) for us beyond all measure
and eternal weight of glory."- If this is true of what is light
and momentary - what of something that is not light but heavy,
and not momentary but long running!
Rom 8. 17-18: "If we are sons, we are heirs, heirs indeed of God,
fellow heirs with Christ - if only we suffer with Him, so we may
be glorified with Him. I judge that the sufferings of the present
time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be
revealed to us."
Many fine theologians, beginning with the ancient Rabbis and
extending even to modern Catholic theologians, think it probable
that if at the end of life a person has long and difficult
suffering, and yet he/she accepts it as the will of the Father,
he/she may escape purgatory altogether. Surely a great prize to
strive for! Acceptance means not merely refraining from
complaining, but positively saying thanks to the Father for
giving us a share in the sufferings of His Son.
For further data, cf. Wm. G. Most, <Our Father's Plan>, Chapters
3-11 and 19-20.
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