Devotion for today: “suffering in Christ: our greatest joy and dignity”

As we remain on the Cross with Christ this week, we find that there is a joy in suffering…

Scripture for meditation:  Matthew 26: 39

He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer. “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Still, let it be as you would have it, not as I.”

Scripture for reflection: Genesis 3:15
“I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.”

As we discover in Dr. Brook Herbert’s discussion of redemptive suffering: Suffering in and of itself is not joyful. Indeed, extreme suffering undermines the very notion of joy. Alone, suffering is Satan’s personal attack against the “very good” of God’s creation. In Genesis we read of the promised Savior whose heel Satan will bruise but who will himself crush Satan’s head (see above). In this simple statement our Lord is seen as the ultimate victor over the cosmic mayhem initiated by Satan in the world. Yet it is precisely the overturning of evil intent that is effected by the Cross. Outside of union with Christ, Satan’s barrage of hatred against God’s creation is meant to destroy all that is good and holy. The human person enters into this war precisely in the realms of personal suffering. It is here that God invites us to know that in our own experience he has overcome such evil. Satan may continue to bruise the “heel,” but Christ continues to crush his head. So, in this battle, where is the joy? The answer is not in the eventfulness of afflictions, but in the grace of offering such afflictions to Christ and in union with Christ on his Cross. As St. Augustine knew, it is the cause, not the wound, that makes the martyr (causa non poena fecit martyrum)! This speaks of that greater joy inherent in sacrificial love, the gift whereby suffering serves a greater purpose, and God’s own desire to serve and to save the lost. In sharing some of these thoughts with a friend, the response was simply, “But it is so hard!” If we consider the contours of such a gift offered on our part, we see that the difficulty ensues only when we fail to see that our gift is a response to God’s greater and prior gift of “participation.” Such an offering does not consist in ignoring the suffering to which we are subject. Suffering is absolutely real and powerfully overwhelms each aspect of our conscious thought as we go through it. To unite this suffering to Christ’s is then to take seriously the state in which we find ourselves. Our Lord was entirely aware of his sufferings both in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross: “If it be possible…My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Homiletic and Pastoral Review, April 2011, Ignatius Press)

Prayer: The Book of Passion

O my Jesus, my only hope, thank You for the book which You have opened before my soul’s eyes. That book is Your Passion which You underwent for love of me. It is from this book that I have learned how to love God and souls. In this book there are found for us inexhaustible treasures. O Jesus how few souls understand You in Your martyrdom of love! Oh, how great is the fire of purest love which burns in Your Most Sacred Heart! Happy the soul that has come to understand the love of the Heart of Jesus! (Diary of St. Faustina, 304)

My thoughts: To find joy in suffering is a new thought for me. I want pain, humiliation and sadness to disappear quickly. I think most of us do. I want to protect myself from these sufferings, and that is not a bad thing, until it interferes with God’s greater plan for my life. I will take a cortisone shot to relieve the pain in my shoulder, and that is fine, but I will also stay home and not participate in a peaceful demonstration against abortion, to avoid humiliation. Is that fine as well? I doubt it. St. Augustine says that it is the cause, not the wound that makes the martyr. By being willing to suffer anything at any cost to bring God’s redemptive love from the Cross to mankind is truly joyful. It is running the good race, crossing the finish line and feeling the joy in the pain.

Our prayer to God: Today, let us meditate on this words Christ revealed to St. Faustina:

My daughter, meditate frequently on the sufferings which I have undergone for your sake, and then nothing of which you suffer for me will seem great to you. You please Me most when you meditate on My Sorrowful Passion. Join your little sufferings to My Sorrowful Passion, so that they may have infinite value before My Majesty. (Diary of St. Faustina, 1512)