God in Human Suffering
If you feel forgotten by or even punished by God you are
certainly not alone. Many people who
figure they do not deserve the heart-wrenching circumstances they are in feel
abandoned by God. How, after all, can
God love us yet still allow the suffering we see day in and day out? Why does God not punish those who do horrible
things rather than those who are simply trying to serve him by raising their
families and teaching their children about God and his great wonders?
God is not some far off spirit who looks down upon us
waiting to zap us for failing to pray enough, for getting angry, eating too
much, (insert your vices). God wants to
be – and is – part of the human condition.
Think about that. God who is
perfect and is worshipped by the angels and saints chooses to be part of all the faults, disappointments and
imperfections that is the human condition.
So why doesn’t God jump in and heal us when we are suffering?
God allows us to suffer because we are called to be saints
and saints suffer. Jesus suffered and as
Christians and disciples we are called to follow Jesus. To heaven, yes. But let us not forget the road Jesus traveled. We are called to follow him on the road laid
out for us. This is naturally going to
involve suffering because even Jesus suffered and he suffered much more than
any one of us ever will on this earth.
This can be a very difficult concept to grasp and especially
to accept. When you are ill, it is not a
natural reaction to think “Wow, this is great!
I’m preparing for sainthood.”
Most of us are more of the mindset, “I hate being sick” then proceed to
be annoyed because we caught the latest bug going around. It can be even worse when we have something
more serious. “Why did this happen to
me? I didn’t do anything that bad to
deserve this.”
I was once watching Mother Angelica’s show on EWTN when a
caller asked the nun why a particular relative suffered so much. The caller’s relative was a very devout
Catholic and the caller did not understand why God would allow this suffering
by someone so loyal to God. Mother
Angelica told the caller that maybe because this woman is so devout that she
suffers. Jesus suffered and all saints
are called to suffer. Let’s not forget
too that God allows us to do some of our purgatory on earth. No matter how hard our circumstances are
here, our being disallowed from being with God (Purgatory) until we are ready
will be much harder. We will have seen
God and we will want more than we every wanted anything to be with him. Yet we will not be allowed to do so until we
are cleansed to the point when we may enter heaven.
If you feel you’ve been abandoned by God, take heart. You have been called to sainthood! How we handle our woes can please or
displease God. If we carry on
complaining and feeling sorry for ourselves, this is obviously not the kind of
behavior God is looking for from us.
Rather, we need to learn to offer up our suffering to God because of our
love for him.
“Lord, I offer up my suffering to you because of my love for
you. Please stay close to me and help
me. Above all, your will be done.”
This simple prayer is pleasing to God because in it we accept
our suffering. In addition, we ask for God’s help and closeness but we ask that
God’s will – not ours – be done.
Remember, God knows you.
He knows the areas in which you need to be healed and sometimes
suffering is the way he heals us. He also realizes that disappointment and
sadness are normal in harsh circumstances, so do not feel guilty for failing to
rejoice when say, you are up all night with the latest version of the flu or
going through a bout of depression.
Feeling gratitude for our suffering is a process and it takes time to
get to where God is leading us so do the best you honestly can. And be patient with yourself just as God is
patient with you.
Do not concern yourself with those who seem to “get away
with everything” while they leave others to suffer in their wake. Such people have problems of their own even
if those problems are not obvious to us.
Not knowing God, not loving God and failing to serve God is suffering in
itself. And while many Christians
believe that all who simply believe that Jesus is the Son of God are going to
heaven regardless of what they do or how they act on earth, Catholics believe
no such thing. Catholics believe that we
have decisions to make. Anyone can,
after all, say they believe that Jesus is the Son of God but many do not
realize the full weight of their assertion.
We cannot simply accept Jesus as Lord to “be on the safe side” and
expect to enter heaven. Those who cause,
do or permit evil in the world have more problems than the worst suffering
cancer patient. The cancer patient may
well be preparing for heaven, but the evil-doer is preparing for a different
place entirely. He must turn from his
evil ways because there is no place in heaven for evil. Unfortunately, we are all sinners and none of
us are perfect or guaranteed a place in heaven.
But the cancer patient is beginning his healing process while the
healthy, oppressive evil-doer has a long way to go if he ever gets there.
God will not abandon you.
He wants to be close to you and the closer you draw to him the closer he
will draw to you. In suffering,
consider yourself blessed. You are in
training for sainthood and to enter the Kingdom of God
