Suffering

I feel dead.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't be such a drama queen, but only I would be lucky enough to get sick the week of midterms. God's idea of humor and mine are apparently two very different things--I guess that's what it means when Scripture says "My ways are above your ways, and my thoughts are above your thoughts." Ha.

I've heard a few Christians voice disapproval about the way we Catholics tend to dwell on suffering, and I guess I can see where they come from; from where I sit at the Newman house, I only have to look up to see a large, wooden crucifix on the wall. That crucifix is a staple in every single Catholic church worlwide; each one hangs a crucifix in a prominent place behind the altar.

Well, why? In other non-Catholic churches, almost all display an empty cross, and the rationale makes sense. That business--the Crucifixion--is done with, right? Even we proclaim that at Mass when we sing, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again."

Wrong. It doesn't stop there. If the Crucifixion was a one time deal (and it was, in reality), only the people alive in Jesus' time would have been saved. But because the one dying was God Himself, the event transcends time. That one sacrifice continues now, and will continue until the end. That's why Catholics wear and display crucifixes--without suffering, we'd have no hope. We never want to forget that.

That's why in times of sickness or trouble we "offer up" our sufferings in prayer for ourselves and others. Anything is possible for God, and if we humbly give Him ourselves in weakness, it's amazing how we'll be blessed in return. It also helps to remember as I go through a whole box of tissues that He suffered much worse. It puts things in perspective.

So, as some old school folks say, I guess I'll just "quit complaining and offer it up!" :P

The best way to keep your peace of heart is to accept everything as coming directly from the hands of the God who loves you.

--St. Paul of the Cross