My child, you have to be patient with yourself and with God. Sometimes, our hardships are not part of God’s plan for us. They are the result of choices that we make or others make. They can also be part of our own natural state, such aging. There are so many possible reasons behind human suffering that I dare not speculate or attribute it to any one reason.
Br.Jay…this is a beautiful post. Thanks so much for all you give to us!My child, you have to be patient with yourself and with God. Sometimes, our hardships are not part of God’s plan for us. They are the result of choices that we make or others make. They can also be part of our own natural state, such aging. There are so many possible reasons behind human suffering that I dare not speculate or attribute it to any one reason.
However, we have to remember several things. First of all, we must always remember that God loves us. God does not benefit from our existence. He did not bring us into the world to meet his needs. He brought us into the world, because he loves us. There is nothing in it for him. We are the product of pure love.
Second, we must remember that love is not the same as feeling good. Just because God loves us, does not mean that he’s going to make us feel good or even better. How much does a mother love her child. Yet, how often can a mother really make her child feel good or better? It’s really a hit and miss deal, isn’t it? There are some things that are not within the mother’s power to heal, because they involve someone else’s free will. There are other things pains that the mother cannot heal, because they are necessary, such as the pains involved in growing up and facing reality. There are other pains that the mother wants to heal, but the child is not open to the mother’s way of healing. He want her to do it his way. How much more does God love us than a mother? A mother’s love, though it is like no other love in the world, is still like a grain of sand in the midst of the universe compared to God’s love for us. However, because of our human condition, God often deals with us as does a loving mother.
He heals certain hurts. He allows others, because they are necessary. He feels for us when other hurts are imposed on us by the free will of a third party. He can’t intefere with free will. He stands by, patiently waiting for us to lean on him.
It’s not always possible to avoid suffering, though we should never deliberately impose suffering on any living being, including ourselves. However, it is always possible to ask God to help us learn to suffer.
We actually need to learn to suffer. That does not mean that we go out looking for suffering, as I just said. It means that we learn to look at suffering as Christ looks at suffering. For those of us who have been confirmed, this is easier. Through the grace of the sacrament we have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In there somehwere is wisdom. Pray for the grace to use grace.
I have been in the situation which you describe. I always remember two stories in scripture. The first is the story of Jesus walking on water. Peter asks the Lord to let him go to him. Jesus invites him to step on the water. Peter panics and begins to drown. He says these words, “Help me Lord, I’m drowning.” And Jesus reaches into the water and pull him out.
The other story is the good thief. He turns to Jesus and says, “Remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus promises him paradise.
I use those words quite often, maybe not often enough.
“Help me Lord, I’m drowning.”
“Remember me”
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
Br. Jay,…I agree with rainbow…and rainbow I love that thought about “suffering well being an art.” It is something that I believe my husband has a better handle on than me…and he was not even really raised in the Catholic Faith. I find it quite amazing and inspiring…I always knew there was a good reason God lead me to him and I thank Him more and more for it…
Hazcompat!The bold in mine
Amen!The bold in mine
I have always loved the Augustinian principle that the Holy Father presents here.
Augustine says that our hearts will not rest until they rest in God. Our restlessness is in itself a prayer. If prayer is raising our hearts and minds to God, then what is it that is happening when we’re searching for God?
At the same time, Augustine tells us that we can find God only because he has found us first. It is God who enables our heart and mind to rise to him. St. Francis de Sales and Bl. John Newman said it best, “Cor ad cor loguitor” (Heart calls out to heart). The heart of the father, which is the Sacred Heart of Christ, calls out to the human heart who longs to enter into union with him.
The person who prays professes truth, is self-evident. This is why the Church tells us that we have to rethink how we look at non-Catholics and nonn-Christians. If prayer is triggered by God’s call to the human heart and if prayer speaks to humanity of the presence of God in man’s life, and if this is Truth, then there is Truth to be found outside of the physicial boundaries of the Catholic Church and what is more interesting is that this is Catholic truth. Every man and woman who feels the urge to pray must be enocouraged to do so, because it is through prayer that men come into contact with the reality of God and God will draw men into full communion with Him.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
I love this citation. A week ago they had Augustine on the new progra on EWTN, The Saints Are Coming or something like that. Anyway, the actor who played Augustine talked a little from this passage. Obviously, he’s not quoting it, since he’s supposed to be Augustne. He’s speakin as Augustine would, on this subject. He was alwesom.Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace. St Augustine: Confessions.
Thank you Lord for calling me. Do with me as thou wilt.
TrueLight, I think you might like this song by Matt Maher. He is a Catholic and his songs are played on Christian radio. I think he borrowed a variation of some of the lines from St. Augustine. Her is the Youtube link. youtube.com/watch?v=ziJQJI2uElILate have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace. St Augustine: Confessions.
Thank you Lord for calling me. Do with me as thou wilt.