Devotion for today: redemptive suffering: raised up to draw all men to Christ

Today we continue to look at redemptive suffering and see how our weakness is turned into joy
Scripture for meditation: John 12:32
“…and I –once I am lifted up from earth – will draw all men to myself.”

Scripture for contemplation: Zechariah 12:10

I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;

We continue with Dr. Brook Herbert’s explanation of redemptive suffering: If we stand looking up from the foot of the cross, gasping, if you will, at the futility of trying to measure up to the immeasurable love of God, we must accept in profound humility that this love too is God’s gift to us. Powerless to offer ourselves to Christ’s world, our hearts receive with unimaginable joy the mystery and the wonder of the dignity of our own sufferings and sorrows united to the heart of Jesus…. Yet there is more to ponder. In Christ’s human offering we recognize the extremity of human weakness and frailty. Jesus, fixed on the wood, is powerless to offer anything (but) his love. This is the glory of Jesus’ “hour.” Here we are included in the profound dignity of suffering for the good of others in likeness to Christ our Lord. Uniting our sufferings to Christ’s becomes a true participation in his redemptive work. In those moments when we choose to sincerely offer our own sufferings in union Christ, when we too are fixed to the “wood” inherent in our own created “being,” our union to “perfect love” lifts our own sorrows into the grandeur of the grace-bearing love of God, and that for the good of all souls for whom Christ has died. In Christ our own suffering, raised to a supernatural and superlative goodness, is transformed in such a way that as sons and daughters of God, we can confidently confess, “when I am raised up I will draw all men into the redeeming love of Christ”….In the end the mysterious “gift” of suffering offered to God appears to be the point wherein our conformity to Christ in this world is invested with true vitality in a wonder-filled and mysterious way. In suffering with and for Christ for his purposes, we each image the deepest “sacrificial likeness to Christ” possible for us in this life. Herein the extremity of our human sufferings is imbued with the dignity of Christ’s own redemptive oblation (offering), and raises human frailty into the realm of redemptive grace….In suffering, the gift of “participation in the divine nature” moves us from the realms of seeming abject futility into the unbounded fruitfulness of our Lord’s own Eucharistic oblation. Homiletic and Pastoral Review, April 2011, Ignatius Press)

Prayer: Dear Jesus, as You give Yourself completely to me, I give myself completely to You. Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I surrender to You my mind, my body, my heart, my will and my liberty, for true freedom is loving You without reservation. (Fr. Vincent Martin Lucia, Come to Me in the Blessed Sacrament, Apostolate for Perpetual Adoration)

My thoughts: When I was growing up, it was common for my mother and the Sisters in my Catholic school to tell us kids to “offer it up” when we were hurting in any way. No one necessarily saw the need to prevent suffering in us; they did, however, effectively teach us how to handle what would be an inevitable part of our lives. Today I hear many people say about their loved ones, “I only want them to be happy. I never want them to suffer.” How marvelous it is to learn today that suffering, united with Christ’s, raises us up to a “sacrificial likeness to Christ.” Dr. Herbert stresses so often in this article that we are most Christ-like when we are suffering with Him on the Cross, not when we are happily sipping martinis in our near-perfect world. This world is in deep pain and anguish. It has lost its way to God.  We can make a difference by not only accepting suffering, but willingly accepting suffering and joyfully offering it to God as a libation for sin. Isn’t it incredible how necessary we are to God’s plan for the world? Why not teach others to “offer up” any and all crosses they are asked to bear as well. We can always work to ease the suffering of the poor, the sick, the despondent, but in the process, we can also teach people to unite themselves to Christ on the Cross, to use the suffering for a higher purpose.

Our prayer to God:  Today let us choose one person, living or dead, whom we feel could benefit from the joyful offering of our sufferings. Let us bring our sufferings, disappointments, anger, and frustrations to God and ask Him to pour out on that person, or the soul of that person in purgatory, all the blessings we receive from being joyful sufferers today. There, we have just moved from the” realms of seeming abject futility into the unbounded fruitfulness of our Lord’s own Eucharistic oblation”.