“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24) Definitely one of Paul’s least understood lines. How can anything be lacking in Christ’s afflictions? How do our sufferings add anything?
Nothing is lacking in Christ’s sacrifice – it’s infinite; it can’t be added to. But the body of Christ, the Church, is lacking on earth and for her Jesus asks us to offer our sufferings. In other words, Jesus allows (and the Church needs!) us to participate in His suffering and His redemption through our own sufferings for the benefit of our fellow man.
Christ’s sufferings merited for us eternal life and limitless blessings – this He did without our help. But He wants our help in the distribution of some of that grace. In fact, Jesus wills for some blessings to come down only through our intercession. And one of the ways He lets us participate in the raining down of blessings is through our suffering. We all have intentions that are close to our hearts, and being able to offer up any sufferings or sacrifices along with those petitions makes them that much stronger, that much more efficacious, and that much more likely to bring down even more blessings!
Paul wrote to Timothy, “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory” (2 Tim 2:10). Paul was willing to suffer so that others would find salvation and we are called to do the same. And I can tell you from experience that there is a world of difference between suffering for benefit of others and meaningless/undirected suffering. It completely transforms the suffering.
I can’t encourage you all enough to offer up all of your sacrifices and sufferings! Doesn’t matter how big or how small – they will all aid the mystical body of Christ (as well as those outside of the Church) if you just offer them up. And goodness knows that in a world filled with so much violence, hate and poverty, the world needs all the blessings and grace she can possibly get!
Sometimes it’s hard to make sense of things. Sometimes it’s hard to find hope. There’s so much violence in the world – so much hatred – so much greed. And as hard as we all try to shield ourselves from it, sometimes it touches us. Sometimes it even reaches out and grabs hold of us.
If it wasn’t for Jesus I wonder how we could make sense of any of it. It if wasn’t for His promise of Eternal Life – of an end to all the pain and suffering – of a meaning for all the pain and suffering – I wonder how we could do more than just cope.
But much better than just coping, through Jesus we can find hope. We can find healing, forgiveness, strength, love and (if we’re without it now) eventually hope, peace and joy. Through His promises (His Word) and through His presence in both prayer and the Eucharist, we can find proof that
- we’re loved
-we’re enough
-all our suffering will ultimately be used for good
-something infinitely better than anything we can imagine is in store for us
I’m reminded of quote from one of my all time favorite books, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (because really, how could you not like a 1300 page book?):
Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss. It is necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live…..the sum of all human wisdom will be contained in these two words: Wait and Hope.
May everyone out there in need of hope find it, and find Him
Everybody has those moments where it seems really hard to trust God. Where you feel completely alone and abandoned, where it feels almost impossible that anything good could come from what you’re going through. Where “God has a plan” just rings hollow.
You surely know people who believe that amazing things came from their hardest experiences. That the toughest times ended up being the most formative, and that they wouldn’t trade them for anything. Maybe you’ve even had an experience like that. But the knowledge that in the future it will all make sense and work out for the best generally isn’t much help when you’re suffering in the present. It doesn’t make it easier to trust God.
Personally, I think nothing works like prayer. Communication is the hardest part of any relationship, but the most vital. Just like you wouldn’t expect to grow closer a spouse by ignoring him or her, you can’t expect to trust God if you shut Him out. Talk to Him, yell at Him, cry with Him, but turn to Him! He may not respond directly, but He always does indirectly. And if we’re not paying attention to Him, we probably won’t notice His generally-subtle responses. God wants us to trust Him, and He will help us to do so if we’ll just start with the little faith we have.
But the bottom line is that trust, like love, isn’t about feelings. It’s a choice. An act of will. It’s a decision made to hold onto faith, even when everything around you seems to be falling apart. And, as it happens, that’s the kind of faith that God finds most pleasing, and rewards accordingly.
See also: Does Suffering & Pain Have Meaning, Purpose?
It’s common to look at the thousands of dead in Haiti and wonder how God could allow such things to happen. Free will accounts for most of the evil in the world, but you can’t blame free will for earthquakes. Couldn’t God have created a world in which there were no natural disasters? And while I understand that plate tectonics are what help keep Earth habitable, there’s no question an all-powerful God could have designed it another way. So why then? It’s certainly not an easy question.
The first thing to note is that natural disasters aren’t punishments from God. The Haitians who died weren’t killed because of wickedness or disobedience or anything like that.
For the answer we have to go back to the beginning. The fall had consequences for humans (loss of grace and an inclination towards sin), so why should it not have consequences for the world around us as well? There wasn’t suffering or earthquakes to contend with in the Garden of Eden (He did create a world without natural disasters!), but man got kicked out. Since then, the resultant disorder and chaos can be seen both in man and in the world. Humans aren’t perfect, and neither is our world.
I think it’s also worth mentioning that God still brings good out of such terrible tragedies. People show amazing love towards each other in times of great need like this, and truly treat their neighbors as their brothers and sisters. Those watching coverage of the crisis on TV may wonder where God is, but surely those suffering in Haiti have seen Him in all the volunteers there to help, in the hundreds of thousands of people who have donated money, food, water & other supplies, and lastly in their fellow Haitians. Some may prefer to be angry at God in times like this, but He’s waiting to comfort and strengthen all those who will turn to Him.
P.S. Say a prayer for all those affected!
Suffering | admin | 
November 4, 2010 9:21 pm | 
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