Willfully accepting evil is like emotional and spiritual Novocaine

[Layp3rs0n]

I’ve been through a lot in my life. And let me say this thread is not a complaint but a question. I’ve had two separate psychologists ask me how I have managed the things I’ve been through and not attempted suicide. They are amazed I am alive. Whenever tradgedy has struck my life I wallow in it. Figuring that is the best way to “really experience” the suffering that God has permitted. But over the years I have just become bitter and angry with Him.

Now a new idea has entered my head. I could just say, “Lord, I give this suffering to you.”, and decide to be happy and not wallow. To not stew in it. In a way, suffer without suffering and just enjoy the things I do have. But somehow this almost seems disobedient. When I “really feel” the pain God has allotted to me in my life it feels like I am doing what I ought. Being happy when I feel He has given me something to crush me with for atonement of my sins or others, or simply consequences of my own actions, feels like cheating. But the freedom of the new idea! I feel that no matter what befalls me I could just relax and give it to God and be at peace. To finally throw off the dispondancy I feel I am made to experience.

Is it really OK to choose to be happy in the face of suffering, or does that take away from truly suffering?

 

[Trad_Catholic27]

When we offer are suffering to Christ for the salvation of poor sinners and for the poor souls in purgatory we do it as an act of divine love.

God wants us to be holy and being holy requires submitting to God’s will for Our lives along letting go of bitterness and hatred for others.

There is nothing wrong with feeling joyful in your suffering because God desires our happiness and wants to fill us with His Love.

 

[Nita]

The beauty of Our Lord’s suffering is that He converted it from being useless agony and pain into** a means for accomplishing great good **-- the salvation of souls.
Jesus yearned for His suffering to begin (Luke 12:50) because of His love for us and longing for our salvation. Those who have pain and suffering have been given the opportunity to imitate Our Lord – to offer it up for the salvation of souls. And there truly is joy in that. The pain is still there, but it has meaning and a purpose. (I offered mine up for the salvation of my children. I handed it over to the Lord to be united to His suffering.)

Don’t waste pain!!!

 

[Mystical_Seeker]

You experience evil so that you may be full range in your experience, and tested in every way.

There will be “pain” as a fact of life, but it’s useful to recognize “suffering” is a state of mind that may or may not involve something intrinsically painful.

Like if someone hits you in the head with a rock, you will receive pain. But if someone steals the hood ornament on your Rolls Royce, you suffer but there is no actual physical pain involved. If this causes you “suffering” above and beyond the actual loss of money if it results in that, then you are still attached to the things of this world. Oh yeah and if it costs money no fair suffering about the loss of that, either. I only said “pain” because it involves giving away power credits which some think makes one weak.

So for one, untying suffering and pain can be really helpful because if I don’t know the difference, then neither does my body. It will feel physical pain and emphasize illness and fragility in coordination with the mind’s obsession with earning respect or security or gaining safety from others. It all becomes one huge miserable process.

Pain can itself be a safeguard against pride, like in 2 Cor 12:6-10
Although if I should wish to boast, I would not be foolish, for I would be telling the truth. But I refrain, so that no one may think more of me than what he sees in me or hears from me because of the abundance of the revelations. Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

So I like your idea of feeling the full experience. Like if you take an antidepressant, or anti-whatever, it may actually relieve symptoms of the suffering meme the mind likes to keep on a pinned post, but it will not “unpin the post” and let it scroll because the problem is in how we think. So short term it brings comfort. Not peace like Jesus gave us, which is unconditional and eternal, but comfort in the form of comfortable conditions which are be definition, conditional and temporary (as long as the condition persists).

Faith untested is shallow and often stupid and misguided. Problem is, we get so caught up in a suffering/victim mentality that we go around being miserable and confuse faith with worry.

Funny thing about people and their “absolutes” like this is this way and that is that way and By God that’s just the Way It Is. The people I’m thinking about who make these kind of statements, are completely unable to accept certain statements by Jesus as “absolute”… another indication of how we get things confused.

For example: Jesus says not to worry. But of course every Good Catholic worries about this, that, and the other, and who will be elected president and are they pro life and family values are going down the toilet and all that. With all this going on, who has time for taking Jesus at His word?

Another one: Do not judge. Ha! Try getting a thread on that with any two or more consecutive posts in agreement with His teaching, until someone comes in and explains why it is our Solemn Duty to judge. They try to bridge the gap with “love the sin hate the sinner” but that’s just rhetorical cover for their disobedience.

I’m getting a little off-topic so I’ll quit here. Thanks for the great OP!

MS

 

[Nita]

I’ve been through a lot in my life. And let me say this thread is not a complaint but a question. I’ve had two separate psychologists ask me how I have managed the things I’ve been through and not attempted suicide. They are amazed I am alive. Whenever tradgedy has struck my life I wallow in it. Figuring that is the best way to “really experience” the suffering that God has permitted. But over the years I have just become bitter and angry with Him.

It’s no wonder that you became bitter and angry when you “wallowed” in it - deliberately trying to think about it, examine it, … Pain and suffering were an evil/disorder (always negative things) that came about as a result of Adam’s sin. Your mind and heart were focused on the wrong thing - the **negative aspect **of pain.

Now a new idea has entered my head. I could just say, “Lord, I give this suffering to you.”, and decide to be happy and not wallow. To not stew in it. In a way, suffer without suffering and just enjoy the things I do have. But somehow this almost seems disobedient. When I “really feel” the pain God has allotted to me in my life it feels like I am doing what I ought. Being happy when I feel He has given me something to crush me with for atonement of my sins or others, or simply consequences of my own actions, feels like cheating. But the freedom of the new idea! I feel that no matter what befalls me I could just relax and give it to God and be at peace. To finally throw off the dispondancy I feel I am made to experience.

Wonderful. This is how Our Lord wants us to deal with the pain and suffering in our lives. He wants us to offer them up to Him. And after doing so, He wants us to keep focused on the positive aspects - that souls are being saved, atonement being made, graces being merited for ourselves and others. And also there is the real sense of a closer union with Jesus Himself as we realize our sufferings are being united with His. These positive aspects do let us experience joy in suffering.

Is it really OK to choose to be happy in the face of suffering, or does that take away from truly suffering?

It really is OK - to be happy when we have the opportunity to hand our sufferings over to Our Lord so that He can use them to accomplish good. That’s what He did and He wants us to “take up our cross and follow Him”. (Mt. 10:38; 16:24)

 

[Nita]

Your post reminded me of some sayings taken from St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars:I have had crosses in plenty—more than I could carry almost! I set myself to ask for the love of crosses—then I was happy.

There are people who make capital out of everything, even the winter. If it is cold, they offer their little sufferings to God.

All difficulties, temptations, sickness and humiliations become sweet and easy to endure, if one bears them in union with Our Lord. The above are taken from a small booklet of the saint’s sayings/teachings titled “Thoughts of the Cure D’Ars”. So good.
amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B004YCWAJE/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

 

[Mystical_Seeker]

Your post reminded me of some sayings taken from St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars:I have had crosses in plenty—more than I could carry almost! I set myself to ask for the love of crosses—then I was happy.

There are people who make capital out of everything, even the winter. If it is cold, they offer their little sufferings to God.

All difficulties, temptations, sickness and humiliations become sweet and easy to endure, if one bears them in union with Our Lord. The above are taken from a small booklet of the saint’s sayings/teachings titled “Thoughts of the Cure D’Ars”. So good.
amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B004YCWAJE/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all