Increased suffering in old age

[Lief_Erikson]

As I bade my aging grandmother goodbye today, before she was driven back to her home, I thought about her suffering from lack of sleep at night, and then of the suffering of so many others as they age.

I’ve been reflecting on how suffering provides an opportunity for us to deepen our self-abandonment and come closer to God. As the saints have said, those that are more deeply conformed to Christ Crucified will rise higher in Heaven. The Cross is our salvation; it is our unity with everlasting life.

I think the Lord may be offering the elderly a great mercy through their suffering. As the aged draw closer to death, their sufferings usually multiply more and more. What they used to enjoy in the world becomes more meaningless; old pleasures and worldly attachments begin to look irrelevant. There are many deathbed conversions.

It seems to me that God, knowing that these souls are going to die soon, increases their sufferings so that they might have greater opportunity to conform to His likeness on the Cross. He gives them increased sufferings near the end so that they will escape Hell, spend less time in Purgatory, or rise higher in Heaven. Seen from the vantage point of eternity, these final miseries of the elderly in the world, like the final agonized hours Christ endured on the Cross, might cause many souls to offer God many prayers of thanksgiving and praise forever.

 

[rebecca123]

Thank you for the great insight! I agree.

I’ve also been thinking about how physical suffering just naturally seems to increase with age , sometimes to intense degrees. Honestly, I’m not looking forward to this, but looked at from the perspective you explain, it does seem there can be great meaning and purpose in the process.

 

[reen12]

As I bade my aging grandmother goodbye today, before she was driven back to her home, I thought about her suffering from lack of sleep at night, and then of the suffering of so many others as they age.

I’ve been reflecting on how suffering provides an opportunity for us to deepen our self-abandonment and come closer to God. As the saints have said, those that are more deeply conformed to Christ Crucified will rise higher in Heaven. The Cross is our salvation; it is our unity with everlasting life.

I think the Lord may be offering the elderly a great mercy through their suffering. As the aged draw closer to death, their sufferings usually multiply more and more. What they used to enjoy in the world becomes more meaningless; old pleasures and worldly attachments begin to look irrelevant. There are many deathbed conversions.

It seems to me that God, knowing that these souls are going to die soon, increases their sufferings so that they might have greater opportunity to conform to His likeness on the Cross. He gives them increased sufferings near the end so that they will escape Hell, spend less time in Purgatory, or rise higher in Heaven. Seen from the vantage point of eternity, these final miseries of the elderly in the world, like the final agonized hours Christ endured on the Cross, might cause many souls to offer God many prayers of thanksgiving and praise forever.

youtube.com/watch?v=Rw5TtwJFIKU

** Abide With Me**

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

**Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
**In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
**
**
reen12

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Dear reen12,

Thank you for posting that beautiful hymn. I never knew what it was about, but it was special to me because when I took organ lessons I got to work on that hymn, on a magnificent pipe organ. Now that I have heard the lyrics, I find it even more moving.

Alan

 

[reen12]

Dear reen12,

Thank you for posting that beautiful hymn. I never knew what it was about, but it was special to me because when I took organ lessons I got to work on that hymn, on a magnificent pipe organ. Now that I have heard the lyrics, I find it even more moving.

Alan

When one keeps vigil, as someone whom one loves more than life itself lays dying,
a body broken and riven by illness, the mind dimmed, as life slipped away,
the words of this hymn brought comfort to my heart and soul.
Earlier in life I would have had an intellectual appreciation of this hymn,
but as aging closes in, and those whom you have so loved dearly in this life begin to slip away,
to entrust the one who is dying to the love and mercy of God brought peace to my mind and heart.

Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me*.*

Kindest regards, Alan

reens

 

[jimcav]

As I bade my aging grandmother goodbye today, before she was driven back to her home, I thought about her suffering from lack of sleep at night, and then of the suffering of so many others as they age.

I’ve been reflecting on how suffering provides an opportunity for us to deepen our self-abandonment and come closer to God. As the saints have said, those that are more deeply conformed to Christ Crucified will rise higher in Heaven. The Cross is our salvation; it is our unity with everlasting life.

I think the Lord may be offering the elderly a great mercy through their suffering. As the aged draw closer to death, their sufferings usually multiply more and more. What they used to enjoy in the world becomes more meaningless; old pleasures and worldly attachments begin to look irrelevant. There are many deathbed conversions.

It seems to me that God, knowing that these souls are going to die soon, increases their sufferings so that they might have greater opportunity to conform to His likeness on the Cross. He gives them increased sufferings near the end so that they will escape Hell, spend less time in Purgatory, or rise higher in Heaven. Seen from the vantage point of eternity, these final miseries of the elderly in the world, like the final agonized hours Christ endured on the Cross, might cause many souls to offer God many prayers of thanksgiving and praise forever.

Excellent post Leif.

I think you have stated quite correctly what Christ wants for us at the end of lives - to become closer to Him in a way we never can without such suffering. We live in a modern world where people will spend there lifes fortune to avoid aging and suffering, because they don’t understand what you stated. Hollywood is busy glorifying Dr. Kevorkian with a new movie, as if this man is doing people a favor by euthanising them. IMHO, besides being a murderer, he is denying these people the chance to became closer to our Lord, to attain true peace with Him and if needed, to have that deathbed conversion you speak about.

I pray always that when my turn to suffer comes, that I will suffer well…

From St. Paul of the Cross, somebody I know you are familiar with -

"I wish that all men could understand the great favor that God grants them when, in His goodness, He sends them suffering, and especially suffering devoid of all consolation; for then the soul, like gold which is purified in the fiery crucible, is cleansed, made beautiful, detached from earthly things, and united to the Sovereign Good, without even being conscious of it."