As we approach the holiest time of the liturgical year, we should be reminded of the suffering that is necessary for our salvation. Suffering is not elective but required for our salvation. Our Lord told us in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” To follow Christ is a firm resolution to amend one’s own life. To follow Christ is to embrace suffering and the cross that God has deigned for us in His divine providence.
Suffering is inherent to the human condition. Ever since Adam and Eve listened to the temptations of that cantankerous snake in Eden, we have maintained an unceasing search to find the perfect happiness our first ancestors forfeited. Even if we wish to regard Adam and Eve as mere hogwash and fairytales, suffering is still present in the human condition and has been immemorial for a long time. In his play Agamemnon, the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus explains, “Wisdom comes through suffering. Trouble, with its memories of pain, Drips in our hearts as we try to sleep, So men against their will Learn to practice moderation. Favours come to us from gods.” In the ancient pagan tradition of the Greeks, suffering was not only present but understood to hold great promise. Suffering is not sterile but fecund with growth, according to Aeschylus. Through suffering, we attain wisdom, and through pain, we learn moderation. In short, virtue is mastered in suffering. This idea is brought to further fruition in the monotheism of Judaism and Christianity.
The classic Juedo-Christian understanding of suffering is present in the holy Scriptures and throughout the living example of salvation history. The Israelites suffered for four hundred years under pharaoh’s cruel hand in order to grow to love God. Throughout the Book of Judges, the Israelites continued to find themselves under subjugation, only to find God and follow his commandments to freedom once more. The Babylonian captivity directed the Israelites away from their evil ways and brought them back to God again. The prophet Isaiah speaks of the suffering servant, saying, “But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.” This last passage is a direct harbinger of Christ’s suffering on the Cross, through which we are all healed and given the promise of eternal life. “Psalm 119” best sums up the modus operandi of suffering when the psalmist writes, “It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I may learn thy justifications.” The humbling written poetically in the psalms is suffering, and this leads to learning, loving, and keeping the commandments of God.
While suffering certainly has great rewards and has been written about in the classics of literature and the holy Scriptures in such edifying manners, it is still not something that is easy to deal with. The loss of a relative, the diagnosis of cancer or illness, or depression and loneliness are never easy feats to triumph over. Even our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” not once, but thrice. Yet, the most important part of our Lord’s prayer in the garden is the end. “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” The surrendering of our wills to God is essential to following the Christian mode of suffering and bringing about the fruits that the Scriptures most earnestly write about regarding suffering. It is fitting that our Lord teaches us how to suffer and surrender ourselves in a garden, the same setting where our first ancestors taught us how to reject God’s promise. By surrendering our wills to God, we can endure any suffering and grow in any virtue we so desire, especially those most necessary for our salvation. We will find happiness in any suffering because our happiness does not come from the world and cannot be quenched by anything the world and Satan can thrust upon us. We can rejoice with the psalmist when he says, “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124).
As we embark upon yet another Holy Week, let us keep suffering in our minds and seek to unite all of our fears, anxieties, and sorrows with our Lord so that we may not only suffer with him but rise with him on the most hallowed Easter. I came across a brief prayer by one of the great saints of the Church, St. Francis de Sales, a 16th and 17th Century French-Swiss bishop. St. Francis writes, “The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart. This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with loving arms and weighed with His own hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His holy Name, anointed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.” May God bless you and keep you this Holy Week. Amen.
“God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.” -Saint Augustine
