As I am writing this I am also observing an online conversation between two women about their health problems. One talks about coping with a gastric complaint which involves "poop" difficulties; the other about the arthritis that she has suffered from since a teenager, at one time in her early twenties causing her to be bedridden for a whole year, but now that she is in her fifties, preventing her from doing the craft work that she takes delight in when she is able.
Pain and embarrassment, poverty and disability, often multiple burdens at once, are the lot of many people, while others escape relatively scot-free. Why does God seem to impose suffering on people when he is supposed to be a loving creator?
The two women above have come to terms with their predicament, placing their lives in God's hands, accepting that God has a plan for them that takes them along the rough terrain that is a life worth living.
 |
| A copy of Francis of Assisi's crucifix icon |
For many years, when my eyes would take another turn for the worse, I would go through yet another bout of frustration and anxiety—frustration, because I made the fatal error of comparing my diminished abilities with what I was once able to do—and anxiety, because I was not certain whether the new level of disability would end my productivity or people’s respect for my capacity to “deliver.”
Let me say for the moment, that this initial negative reaction to suffering was really about perspective (how I viewed suffering and challenge), and not so much the suffering or the challenge itself. I was not able to help myself: when the next level of disability came, I looked at it from a self-centric point of view. It seemed that the shocking development of “one more dreaded decrease in eyesight” caused me, despite my faith, to turn into myself.Spitzer, with a typical American zero sum mindset, says he could not accept on a human level that there were benefits to what was happening to himself:
I am not a stoic. That is, I am not prone to seeing suffering as a way of cultivating strength, courage, self-discipline, self-sufficiency, invulnerability, and autonomy.Some of this supposed value in suffering mentioned above runs contrary to my empathetic and interpersonal nature. Therefore I view them as negatives and not benefits.The other stoic characteristics—strength, self-discipline, and courage—can be positive, but they are not ends in themselves. They are only means to greater ends, such as contribution to others and the common good.
However, suffering can have supernatural benefits:
[...] It taught me that the sooner I get over it by putting myself into the hands of God (i.e. looking for the opportunity in suffering that will come through His guidance), the better off I am.
If I did not have faith in a loving God, and hope in eternal life with him, I don’t think I would have this positive outlook on suffering—and I certainly would not be able to view it as an opportunity.
He expands on that point:
I can see positive value in suffering through the lens of love which may be initially defined as a “recognition of the unique goodness of individuals, inducing a sense of empathy and unity with them, and making it just as easy, if not easier, to do the good for them as to do the good for myself.”
Inasmuch as suffering can lead to greater humility, compassion, and empathy, it can also free us to contribute to others and the common good without counting the cost, advancing the purpose of love.
[See also Spitzer's article Why would a loving God allow suffering? ]
In an interview, Spitzer clarifies what he means by the opportunities that arise through suffering:
“First, it taught me humility. I’m not an arrogant type but I can definitely think I’m smart. But when you bash into a few pillars in an airport, that’s a lesson in humility,” he said.
“Nobody is self-sufficient. For a long time, I was a very independent thinker. I thought, ‘I can do this myself.’ Now I can’t do it myself. Blindness helps form a communion of people around you to help get things done. It’s a labor of love and that was a blindness discovery.”
And finally, “The best thing about blindness is that you’re just going to have to trust God. He’s going to help you and take care of you in tough situations.”
For many of us, trusting God requires a new mentality. We could say that it's fine for Spitzer who is a Jesuit priest, a holder of a PhD, and a former president of Gonzaga University in Washington State, but it's hard for ordinary people.
A young woman, Sonja Corbitt, takes up the matter of the difficulty of grasping the meaning of suffering:
When God first began teaching me about suffering, I was a young non-Catholic, and found the whole subject completely depressing. As a rule, most non-Catholics have no theology of suffering. I, personally, had no handle on the glory of suffering, and using those two words in the same sentence seemed, well, stupid, honestly. I wanted the Gospel to be health and wealth and prosperity.
My analytical mind works at extremes, and I began frantically planning for the worst case scenario, imagining the innumerable excruciating ways one could be “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20).
Since I was a Bible geek, it was Revelation 2:8-10 that God used to confront me with my fear, as the church in Smyrna [in modern-day Turkey] was also in danger of the fear of suffering. Jesus personally encourages them in the midst of severe persecution and poverty.
Their works had made them spiritually rich, he said, yet they were about to suffer additional testing by Satan as a result. He adds, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” In other words, “You’re doing great! Now do it until it kills you and I’ll reward you!”
These remarks seemed very flippant to me, and were the cause of my fear. Jesus appeared completely oblivious to, or at least unaffected by, their total humiliation and degradation, and I secretly felt I shared Smyrna’s experience.
An unexpected outcome when suffering is appreciated with the eyes of faith:
It seemed to me as though God did not really care that we suffer; rather, it was simply expected, and that hurt me, as I experienced some things in my childhood that were still very painful. I expressed this hurt to the Lord, and he answered me with an extraordinary thought.
The thought is that anointing with oil had significance in the Hebrews' civic and religious life, with myrrh being the most prominent kind of oil, even being linked with the name "Smyrna". However:
Myrrh was expensive, fragrant, and bitter, as it was a symbol of suffering and death[...]
Jesus, too, would be particularly set aside and anointed with this oil, as prophetically designated by the title “The Christ” or “The Anointed One.”
Jesus does not diminish, in any way, what we endure. Our suffering is so precious, he collects and preserves our tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8). He is steeped in suffering and identifies with it as the ultimate Suffering Servant*.
I have been set apart and called to service by virtue of my anointing at confirmation. What I was invited to accept, and ultimately to embrace, is that, like the Holy Trinity I worship, I must also be awash in the anointing oil of suffering.
The Church in Smyrna knew that there is often no earthly glory in obedience. It is only for the poor in spirit. But victory, peace, and reward await, in Christ: “I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Spitzer has a message for us all, as we struggle with the reality of suffering made present most graphically in the aftermath of the latest massacre of children in the United States:
[T]here can be no suffering that is completely tragic. Tragedy may exist for a while, but in the hands of God, it will eventually be turned into love, and that love will last for all eternity. Even incredible tragedies, like the death of a child, are not ultimately and completely tragic, they are only partially and temporally tragic, for the temporary loss and grief that parents would feel in such circumstances is already compensated in the life of the child by God bestowing unconditional love upon him or her in His heavenly kingdom.
Yes, God feels the grief of the loving parents who miss their beloved, and He will feel that grief for as long as the parents experience it; but God simultaneously bestows unconditional and eternal love and fulfillment on the child whose loss is the cause of that grief.
Therefore, in the Christian view, suffering is complex. It includes the genuine experience of deep grief at premature loss. It also includes an experience of faith or hope that God is already bestowing unconditional love upon this child. It also includes an experience of trust that one will be reunited with that child in the eternity of God’s unconditional love; and it also includes an experience of “peace beyond all understanding” (from the Holy Spirit) intimating that everything is going to be all right.
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revelation of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And He who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:18-27)
Ω If you like this blog, go to
my Peace and Truth newsletter
on Substack, where you can subscribe for free and be notified when a new post
is published.
No comments:
Post a Comment