What does it mean to suffer?
We hear of the word quite a bit in our major media lately. The imposition of people’s “rights” by outside forces, whether by war or legislation. We hear of people suffering from the effects of diseases, war, environment, or accidents.
Laws are written to try to protect everyone from everything with little success.
Nature takes its course and its toll on all organisms across the globe.
But we keep trying.
Suffering…
So what does it really mean to “suffer”?
If we know what it means to “not suffer”, then we are calling upon our human understanding that is beyond our current situation. And somehow, regardless of religious affiliation or political standing, we all agree that there is a position of “not suffering”.
But what does it look like?
It is being disease free, unable to be hurt by falling off a slide or things falling on top of our head, natural disasters bypass everyone and nothing is lost. We are pain free, living free to make up our own minds about what we know is best for us, and not being encumbered by anything outside of our comfort zone.
We live free, we die free.
At least that is the current concept.
But what does it really mean?
To “suffer” is to experience some hardship in our lives. It may mean an illness, or something as irritating as a coworker or relationship.
The definition of suffering is, “To feel or beat what is painful, disagreeable or distressing, either to the body or mind; to undergo…To bear what is inconvenient…” (American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 edition)
We suffer. It is part of the condition of the human race. We cannot avoid it nor escape it.
Our options are to endure what is handed to us, or to try to escape it. And even in trying to escape it, there will always be a certain level of discomfort.
So what does this have to do with Christ’s suffering?
Christ was, to many, an historical figure. He was wrongly accused, tortured, made to carry his own cross, and subsequently died on that gibbet an horrific death.
But what does that have to do with our personal sufferings? He didn’t suffer our problems. Such things as:
- Poverty (Yet He had very little money or belongings, even proclaiming that he had no place to lay His head. Matthew 8:20)
- Pain and mortal illnesses (He died with a perfectly healthy body, beaten with whips that had pieces of metal and bone at the end of leather straps more times than any human could physically endure. For a perfect body, the pain and suffering was far more intense than for one who has had maladies all their life.)
- Betrayal, problems being misunderstood, or other relationship problems (Jesus was betrayed by one of His closest friends, sold for 30 pieces of silver to be hung for something he never did. He had multiple people who were all too eager to get on the good side of the ruling class of the time, so lied about what they heard. And He was thrown out of not only His birth place, but other towns and cities, as well as the main religious place – the Temple – because they didn’t like what He had to say.)
- Losing everything (What is greater than losing one’s life for a good cause falsely portrayed? Scandal, slander, calumny, derision, reputation defamed, attempted destruction of everything about a person because they are not liked or they say things against the current narratives…These are harder to lose than even physical goods, and harder won back. Staying the course of Truth is difficult when all around you is being torn down or lost. Even what you own, or the very fabric of your family – like removal of your children because you will not sway to the mainstream ideology de jours of those in power.)
You have a choice…
In spite of what everything looks like, the darkest night of your life, you can do something about it. The only thing that will bring light to your suffering.
Uniting your suffering to those of Christ’s.
HUH???
Christ died over 2000 years ago in a land far away from the majority of the population. We didn’t meet Him, and didn’t suffer with Him through His Passion.
But we do know He existed. And we know His teachings still exist today.
His fame and knowledge has endured the centuries.
Unlike any other religion in the world, His was one that taught that He was God made flesh in order to save mankind from their sins. He was willing to become the foretold Lamb of the Sacrifice practiced in the Old Testament in order to atone for the sins of everyone.
No other god in the history of man had any intention to do such a thing.
We are told that we get recycled until we get our lives right – if we ever do (Karma). Other gods came down from their lofty heavens to have intercourse with human beings that they lusted after, then messed with their lives in horrific ways to please themselves (Roman and Greek gods).
We also have the teachings of the Eastern cultures that say that we can fix ourselves. All we have to do is meditate, call upon our inner self and make ourselves peaceful (Yoga, Buddhism, and other Easter mysticisms). Basically, we are supposed to be perfect interiorly – we just never connected to that inner resource.
While much of this sounds great, it is terribly ineffective. We are the most imperfect of beings. If we could draw out of ourselves perfection, we wouldn’t have need to each other, we wouldn’t keep searching for the true meaning of life, and we wouldn’t have need of a Savior. And we would already have achieved such a goal, even at birth.
Looking around ourselves at the current situations across the globe can tell you that none of these things are working. People have not found inner peace. If they had, then all this violence and ugliness would have stopped centuries ago.
So what gives?
We need to recognize that the solutions we keep trying to follow aren’t working.
Except one. And only if those who claim to believe actually practice what they preach.
This isn’t a matter of being preachy. It is a matter of fact.
Those who truly follow this historical Christ and His teachings, believing he was Who He said He was (which was God, not just a “good man”), and coming for the purposes He claimed He came for (to offer salvation to the world and opening the gates of Heaven back up that were closed when man decided they’d find a way to be their own god), are the ones who hold fast to this secret.
The secret…
Yet it isn’t actually a secret. It is an acceptance. Complete. Total. Fully accepting.
And it giving everything to God. One’s life, possessions, finances, family, circumstances, stresses, positions, fame, poverty, calumnies, and sufferings. All of it. Everything that makes them who they are and what they have. Everything.
When relinquishing all back to God, it is freeing. The person no longer has to feel the intensity of the burdens laid upon their backs, having to decide for themselves the best solutions. They often fall very short of the mark.
If something goes awry, whether they accidentally caused the problem or not, they can take it back to the One Who created them. When they repent of their part, and give it all to God to help work our the problems in spite of themselves, it gets worked out.
The suffering becomes bearable because there is hope in the cross given back to God to handle.
So how do we do this?
We unite our sufferings with Christ’s.
Remember the sufferings He endured? It was for our sake. He wanted, as God, to show man that He understood what they were going through. He was willing to endure everything for them.
Unlike any other god throughout the history of man, He is the ONLY God willing to become His own creation to share in what the creature was going through.
There isn’t any other god that did that.
He recognized that He was to give us a way to rise above the suffering for the sake of enduring peace.
And that comes by recognizing this point.
Then…
Once that is understood, we can then unite what we are going through for the sake of others.
Just like Christ did.
As a part of the Body of Christ, if we follow what the Head does, then we can unite what we are experiencing as He did. Our sufferings are given to Him for the sake of others.
If we accept this, then the Graces necessary for others to change their ways or endure their own crosses can flow through our sufferings to them. We become a conduit through which Christ can work miracles for others who might not make it on their own.
Grace is key. Not power and might in and of ourselves.
If we suffer and are seeing the suffering as just our own that we must either escape or endure, there is no Grace that flows from any of that. It remains with us.
But if we are willing to give God our suffering, then He can use our willingness and acceptance of our circumstances to bring comfort interiorly to those who are abandoned, or have lost hope.
Also…
It also provides the means of Grace to flow through the whole Body of Christ where there is a lack of acceptance of Christ Himself.
There are many who claim they are Christians, but they remain in name only. Their form of Christianity is to cherry pick what they like and discard the rest because it doesn’t suit their version of the “perfect life”.
We can see that clearly among public figures today.
But we can equally see clearly the antithesis. The Saints Theresa of Calcutta, John Paul II, Padre Pio – all gave their lives to bring peace to others, even from within the walls of a monastery.
None of their efforts were wasted. All were given for the sake of others. And they never caved to the ways of the world to accomplish any of this.
They succeeded because they gave everything of themselves away for the sake of others.
The peace of the Passion…
The next time you endure suffering, remember the suffering of Christ. In His Passion you will find yourself and your suffering. Then give it to God to give away.
Become the conduit of Grace needed that someone may be lacking. That Grace could be the difference between the life and death of someone you never knew.
God bless you on your journey.