SUFFERING
1. Suffering is needed to help us rise above the weakness that is found in
our nature as a result of original sin. For we are inclined to evil and are
like a bent piece of springy metal. Imagine a piece of such metal standing
up, the lower part straight,the upper part bent. To make it finally become
straight,it is necessary to push it beyond the center position many times.
So, suffering helps us regain freedom. Otherwise we can become as it were a
slave to these tendencies, in a sort of addiction.
To explain this damage from sin, we notice first, it is not the total
corruption of which Luther spoke - then, since St. Paul says we are temples
of the Holy Spirit, it would mean the Holy Spirit would dwell in total
corruption! The real meaning of the damage is this: It means that our
nature is left where it would have been if God had created it without any
added gifts. Human body and soul each have many drives or needs - none evil
in se, but yet each drive goes for its own object mechanically,
automatically, blindly, without regard to the needs of the other drives or
of other persons. God gave Adam and Eve a coordinating gift, or, the gift
of integrity, which made it easy to keep these in place. By sin they lost
that gift and so did not have it to pass on to us. We see this fact since
after the fall, God asked Adam: Adam, where are you? - I was naked and I
hid myself.- How did you find that out if you did not sin? Before the fall
he was naked, but it did not bother him. After it, it did bother him,
because of loss of the coordinating gift. To regain the freedom Adam once
had, we need self-imposed mortification, or acceptance of suffering sent by
God.
Pope John Paul II said in General Audience of Oct. 8, 1986:
"According to the Church's teaching it is a case of a relative
and not an absolute deterioration, not intrinsic to the human
faculties....not of a loss of their essential capacities even in
relation to the knowledge and love of God." It is only in this
sense that we can speak of our mind as darkened and will
weakened.
2. Suffering, whether self-imposed, or providentially sent, has a related
aspect: it makes one more open to divine inspirations and guidance. We
might start with Mt. 6:21: "Where your treasure is, there is your heart
also." In a narrow sense that would mean a box of coins buried under the
floor of the house. One who had it would love to think of it, it would be
like a magnet to pull his thoughts and his heart. But one can put treasure
in almost anything - in huge meals, in gourmet meals, in sex, in travel, in
study, even in the study of Scripture. These are all lower than God, in
various degrees. In proportion to how much lower they are, they make it
that much less easy for thoughts and hearts to rise to God. But there is
another, a second factor: how strongly a person lets these things get hold
of him. At the mild end of the scale, they pull only far enough to lead him
into imperfection, which less than venial sin. The next step would be
occasional venial sin - then habitual venial sin - then occasional mortal
sin - then habitual mortal sin. When the pulls are very strong, and the
thing to which they pull is much lower than God, blindness can result: it
will be almost impossible for thoughts and heart to rise to God. We can see
this with the help of another comparison, which means the same thing. We
think of a galvanometer, which is merely a compass needle on its pivot,
surrounded by a coil of wire. We send a current through the coil, and the
needle swings, the right direction and the right amount. It will read
correctly if there is no competition from outside pulls, such as a 30,000
volt power line, or a lot of magnetic steel. Then two forces affect the
needle, the outside pulls, and the current in the coil. If the current in
the coil is mild and the outside pulls strong, the current in the coil may
show no effect on the needle. This meter stands for my mind. The current in
the coil is grace, which is mild in that it respects my freedom. But the
outside pulls do not respect that - if I let them get strong enough, they
will make it impossible for the needle to register the effect of grace. If
grace cannot do that, the very first step, it cannot do other things
either. Then the person is blind. He is eternally lost unless someone would
put an extraordinary weight into the scales, as it were, to call for an
extraordinary grace. Such a grace is comparable to a miracle, and it can
forestall or even cancel out human resistance.
3. Suffering is also needed for reparation for sin. Every sin is a debt,
which unbalances the scale of the objective order. The holiness of God
loves all that is good, and so wants it rebalanced. Suffering freely
accepted will rebalance. However, even one mortal sin means an infinite
imbalance so if the Father wanted to fully rebalance - He was not obliged -
the only means was the incarnation of a Divine Person. He did that. We can
have merit, a claim to reward, in that we become members of the Incarnate
Divine Person, Christ, and in as much as we are like Him - like Him in
suffering for reparation. This is the true sense of merit.
This suffering as reparation should be joined to the offering of Christ on
the altar. So it is a major component of what "Lumen gentium" calls
"spiritual sacrifices". In LG 10: "The baptized through their rebirth and
the anointing by the Holy Spirit are consecrated into a spiritual house and
holy priesthood, so that through all the works of the christian man,they
may offer spiritual sacrifices...." In LG 34: "For all their works,
prayers, apostolic undertakings, living in marriage and family, daily work,
relaxation of mind and body, if they are done in the Spirit--in fact the
troubles of life if they are patiently endured - become spiritual
sacrifices,acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, which are most devotedly
offered to the Father in the celebration of the Eucharist along with the
offering of the Lord's body." The theological framework in regard to their
offering in the Mass was expressed precisely by Pius XII,in "Mediator Dei:"
(1) "It is clear that the faithful offer the sacrifice through
the hands of the priest from the fact that the priest at the
altar in offering a sacrifice in the name of all His members,
does so in the person of Christ,the Head [of the Mystical Body]"
(2) "The statement that the people offer the sacrifice with the
priest does not mean that...they perform a visible liturgical
rite...instead,it is based on the fact that the people join
their hearts in praise, petition, expiation, and thanksgiving
with the prayers or intention of the priest, in fact,of the High
Priest Himself,so that in one and same offering of the
Victim...they may be presented to God the Father."
The presentation of the "spiritual sacrifices" is expressed in the second
part--and suffering is a specially important part of it, as a special
likeness to Christ Himself. So someone who is a shut-in and who suffers
chronically can accomplish more by this means than those who labor in
apostolic work.
Our sufferings if considered apart from Christ have no power to bring about
an effect - we are saved and made holy not as individuals, but to the
extent that we are members of Christ and like Him. Then we get in on the
claim, the sacrifice, the merit that He generates.
4. It is important to remember that Our Lady still has a role in each Mass
- this is to be expected, since she had such a role in the original bloody
sacrifice. For Vatican II, on Liturgy 10, said the Mass is the renewal of
the New Covenant. The Council of Trent said that the Mass is the same as
Calvary,"only the manner of offering being changed". If that is the only
change,she must be involved. Hence John Paul II, in an address of Feb. 12,
1984, said: "Every liturgical action...is an occasion of communion...and in
a particular way with Mary.... Because the Liturgy is the action of Christ
and of the Church...she is inseparable from one and the other.... Mary is
present in the memorial - the liturgical action - because she was present
at the saving event....She is at every altar where the memorial of the
Passion and Resurrection is celebrated, because she was present, faithful
with her whole being, to the Father's plan, at the historic salvific
occasion of Christ's death."- To be specific:
(1) as to the external sign: the body and blood on the altar
still came from her -
(2) as to the interior dispositions: her interior union of
dispositions with His is still the same as that which she had on
Calvary. -
Therefore, the more fully one is united with Christ on the altar, the more
fully, ipso facto, with her - and the more fully one is united with her,
the more fully with Christ.
5. In passing we can see why Our Lady at Fatima asked for prayers and
sacrifices for many who would be lost unless someone does it for them. They
are blind, and only an extraordinary grace can rescue them. To get that, an
extraordinary weight needs to be put into the scales of the objective
order.
Conclusion:
2 Cor. 4:17: "That which is light and momentary in our tribulations, is
working (producing) for us beyond all measure and eternal weight of
glory."- If this is true of what is light and momentary - what of something
that is not light but heavy,and not momentary but long running!
Rom 8.17-18: "If we are sons,we are heirs, heirs indeed of God,fellow heirs
with Christ - if only we suffer with Him, so we may be glorified with Him.
I judge that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be
compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us."
For further data, cf. Wm. G. Most, "Our Father's Plan," Chapters 3-11 and
19-20.