There was a
line in last Sunday's second reading at Mass that has always captured my
attention. The verse begins last Sunday's second reading from
Paul's Letter to the Colossians: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your
sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of
Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church." This one verse
of Scripture (Col. 1:24) has the power to transform one's interpretation of the
woes that come upon us in life.
Some of
our woes are caused by others; and when this is the case, we can easily
get caught into a cycle of blame and resentment of the one (or the many)
who caused our suffering. In the end blame and resentment are
a dead end; and the only obvious exit from blame and resentment for many
people is vengeance; but this is an even greater dead end, because vengeance
does great harm, including to one's own soul.
Other woes
are caused by ourselves: our foolishness, our immaturity, our small way of
thinking, our misguided adherence to ideas that are contrary to the Gospel, and
so on. The only way out of this dead end seems to be for many
people self-recrimination, poor self image, or a different effort of
seeking someone else to blame for our problems.
Still other
woes are caused by some defect: a genetic blip, a broken piece of machinery, a
defective car, an accident, and so on. Different people deal with these
kinds of sufferings in different ways, like depression, or whining and
complaining, or stoicism, or telling oneself that the suffering is not real, or
a fatalistic attitude like: "This must be my lot in life, woe is me."
It takes a
huge leap to "rejoice in my sufferings", doesn't it? But
consider this: if you are an athlete and put yourself through the greatest
rigors so as to compete in your sport and do it very well, do you not rejoice
in your discipline, your regular exercise, painful though it may be?
The key to
the athlete's successfully coping with the pain of exercise is the meaning
attached to it. By exercise I am healthier, happier and more likely to do
very well in my sport.
Now let's
translate that concept of "rejoicing in my sufferings" to other
aspects of life. What liberating meaning can we attach to the woes
that are caused by others, or to the woes we bring upon ourselves, or to the
woes that inexplicably come our way?
It means
this: When I suffer, I am participating in the sufferings of Christ
because I see myself as part and parcel of the human experience which Jesus
completely lived. Jesus is no stranger to human suffering. Indeed
he shares in every person's suffering by carrying the suffering with the one
who suffers. "Take my yoke and learn from me. . . for my yoke is
easy and my burden is light." When we see ourselves as sharing in
the sufferings of Christ, or when we see Him as sharing in our sufferings,
carrying the burden with us, then we know that we are not alone in our
suffering. Together He and I can do all things.
And beyond
this, by my sufferings I slowly come to realize my own solidarity with other
suffering people on this planet. I no longer see myself as apart from
other suffering human beings, but as sharing in their suffering.
Why? because in sharing their sufferings, I am sharing in the sufferings
of Christ who cares about every person.
The worst
way to go about suffering is to have no meaning attached to it. When I
was growing up, the nuns taught us to "offer our sufferings up for the
poor souls in Purgatory." That is the same dynamic at
work. It attached meaning to the inevitable crosses we all have to face.
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