Quote: “Above all the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ gives to His friends is that of conquering oneself and willingly enduring sufferings, insults, humiliations, and hardships for the love of Christ. For we cannot glory in all those other marvelous gifts of God, as they are not ours but God’s, as the Apostle says: 'What have you that you have not received?”
Can anyone help me understand what specifically we are meant to do as pertains to enduring hardships? Most hardships are temporary and tolerable and if we just grin and bear it, we get through it and forget soon that it happened. But what of those hardships that are permanent in our lives - that stand in the way of our functioning and doing those things we are responsible to do. I am thinking of the loss of a child, suffering a rape, mental illness and things of that nature.
I understand that we must bear our suffering but what I don’t understand is what the person is meant to actually do to be ABLE to bear it. Can anyone share wisdom on that question? This quote spoke to me but I don’t fully understand it.
In order to understand what Francis is teaching here, we need some background information that Timmermans does not provide. Francis draws very heavily, not only from the Gospels, but from Paul and John’s letters.
He constantly reminds his audience (the brothers, nuns and laity) that we must conform to Christ in all things, including the cross. We know this is a very Pauline theme. We accept all suffering in union with Christ. It is also a very Pauline theme that we try to be as Christ was. I’ll be back to this.
Another of Francis’ favorite themes came from John. God is love and he who remains in love remains in God. While it is true that life throws much suffering at us, it is also true that we can use that suffering. Francis would be the first person to admit that life is not fair. However, God is very fair, because he is a loving God. Even though life may through us curve balls, God is always there for us. This is the point that St. John makes when he says, “remain in his love.”
We can do one of two things with suffering. Luke plays this out in the crudifixion narrative. On the one side we have a man who struggles with suffering and even offends the Lord. Then on the other side, we have the man who says, “Lord, **remember me **when thou shalt come into thy kingdom.”
I deliberately bolded in red the one part, because that’s the actual prayer. If you remember elementary school grammar
Lord = direct address
Remember me = complete sentences (subject and predicate)
when thou shalt come into thy kingdom = extended predicate
Now that we’ve had our grammar review for the day. Let’s look at this sentences. “Remember me.” Suffering can be turned into a prayer. When we turn it into a prayer . . .
Now let’s go back to Paul,
Our sffering becomes redemptive suffering and we are conformed to Christ…
Francis is pointing out some heavy duty theology here. In a nutshell, he’s saying that we all suffer. Life is not always fair. God knows this from personal experience. Jesus experienced injustice in life. He turned it into a prayer:
“Not my will, but your will be done.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
Forgive them for they know not what they do.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.”
There is no anger at God or at man. What we see on the cross are two things:
- The Suffering Servant begs for the forgiveness of those who made him suffer.
- The Suffering Servant forgets his own suffering for a moment in order to console others who are suffering.
“Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.” (Lk 23: 43)
“Woman, behold thy son.” (Jn 19: 26)
He promises eternity to the man who asks to be remembered. He gives a son to his grieving mother.
This is where Francis is pointing us to. We can complain about our suffering, feel sorry for ourselves, resent those who hurt us, curse them, or we can conform to Christ and remain in his love by turning our suffering into redemptive love.
This does not mean that we do nothing to alleviate suffering. We know that Francis had eye surgery to alleviate his blindness, cared for lepers and fed the hungry. We know that Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry and protected the vulnerable from bullies.
However, there are times, when we cannot change things. Then we have to make a choice. We can be the man who complained and challenged Jesus to get down from the cross and get him down as well or we can be the man who accepted that he was a sinner and his suffering was just, so he threw himself at the mercy of Christ, “Remember me.”
We can do what Francis did. He took Paul and John at their word. He conformed to Christ in all things, even to the cross and remained in his love by accepting suffering that he could not change, as justice for his sins and those of the world.
This is not a novelty. This is a theme that is found in Spiritual Theology from the Apostles to John Paul II. Man must choose how he deals with suffering. Indifference in the face of suffering is not part of our spiritual tradition.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
