The Gospel tells us Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil. There he fasted for forty days. That was the first Lent. That’s where Catholics get the forty day period we observe each year. Well guess what? It’s kinda been Lent since last March.
That’s right. If Lent is to be a time of “going without” for the sake of getting in touch with God, these last 11 months have already been a very profound season of penance. So now we add one more reason to due penance? Oh goodie.
These past months have been difficult for all of us. Perhaps for the first time you have experienced real suffering. What does our faith teach us?
Years ago, St. Pope John Paul II was visiting the critical care unit in a hospital in Rome. He spoke to seriously ill patients, encouraging them and challenging them to see the hand of God in their suffering. “Don’t waste this time of suffering”, he said.
Don’t waste our suffering? What could this possibly mean?
It really is a pivotal decision we make about life. Is my suffering a sign of an absurd and cruel world? Something to be avoided at all costs? Something that makes my safety most important? OR, is my suffering a part of a life lived in union with Christ? A burden to be carried in love?
Jesus told us suffering would be something that happens to all of us. “If you would be my disciple, you must take up your cross and follow me. For in saving your life (hoarding life), you will lose it. In losing your life for my sake, you will find it.” Matt. 16:25
St. Paul tells us that to share in the joy of Christ’s Resurrection we must first share in His sufferings. Good Friday must happen in order to have Easter Sunday.
So back to that hospital room . . . “don’t waste your suffering.” To waste it would be to curse it, to see no hope in it, to grow bitter. To “use” your suffering would be to give it as an offering to the Lord (He first did the same for me).
Parents, you use your suffering as a gift of love for your children. Sleepless nights, endless worry, trips to doctors and counselors, untold money spent, etc. Soldiers, police officers and first responders, you suffer for all of us: on the battlefield, on our streets.
It costs you doesn’t it? But you do it because you love. It is your holy duty which you promised you would do.
This is where suffering is not wasted! It’s redeemed. Jesus Christ is the only one to show us this. Christ on the cross shows us a love (God’s love) never imagined before. And He invites us to give Him our suffering as a sign of our union with Him. It’s only a return on the love He showed us first.
St. Peter was so touched by our “sharing” in the death of our Lord and His Resurrection that he wrote, “Friends, do not be surprised at the painful test you are suffering, as though something unusual were happening to you . . . be glad, you are sharing in Christ’s sufferings, so that your joy may be full when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4: 12, 13.
So what is this joyful thing that happens? The reward of having loved.
So let’s start slow this Lent. You might say goodbye to one small thing that you know needs to go (perhaps just an “attitude” ). Make a conscious offering of it to God.
Lent. Let’s roll!!
Fr. Tim
