Our nature tends to seek comfort and pleasure in everything. Technology and social media very well support our desires, giving us suggestions on what to like or buy, how we can be loved or noticed, allowing us to soak terribly in our own vanity. Vanity, in many ways, dulls our spiritual senses and distracts us from our relationship with God.
Nowadays, many think it is practical to get rid of things – and even people – when they hinder this so-called “comfort”. Anything, from things to personal relationships to one’s life, can be discarded or replaced easily.
Sacrifice has become a vague thing of the past, irrelevant to the modern man’s present goals and desires. When married couples no longer feel ‘compatible’ or romantic towards each other, it is quite easy to decide to get a divorce and find ‘happiness’ in somebody else’s arms.
When women, single or married, want to enjoy sex without the fear of getting pregnant, they have the option to use contraceptives. And when they get pregnant, and are not ready for the responsibility of having children, abortion is an option.
When a person realizes he or she is attracted to the same sex, he or she feels entitled to be understood and to be happy in that relationship, to succumb to one’s emotions and desires despite what Christ teaches through the deposit of Faith.
The nagging question is: Why suffer? Why suffer when we hold our own destiny and we have the rights to our own body?
We think religion should be convenient and God should adjust to what we want. We do not trust Him enough to know what is good for us. And if it is God who says we cannot do this or that which we want, then we can even decide – let there be no God! – so that we can do as we wish and we can fool ourselves into taming that silly guilt feeling and barely audible voice inside.
And once our conscience has been tamed, we lose that moral compass, or we simply ignore its natural direction.
But though we insist relentlessly, with so much pride, that we do not really believe in God, the truth of the matter is that our god is ourselves, our own will, and through this, we rationalize why we should get what we want. When this happens, we thrive in this for a time. But at some point, we shall eventually find ourselves drowning in emptiness and loneliness – that incomprehensible void that only God can fill.
Thus, it can be pretty confusing when a person of this digital age, by God’s Mercy, led by the Holy Spirit, starts praying, reading and studying the Scriptures and the lives of saints. It is then that he realizes how far these are from the popular views and beliefs in the current society. And he begins to think, which world is real? Which is madness?
I remember reading these series of reflections from a Catholic layman about the avoidance of suffering. I also had these beliefs that if we always pray, obey His Commands, stay close to God and serve Him, then we will not be hurt in anyway. I was so into these beliefs until I started reading the reflections of St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Therese of Lisieux and other saints, especially about love and sufferings. which were very much aligned with the Scriptures. How come these reflections seemed to be the complete opposite of this layman’s beliefs? I was really taken aback.
The truth of the matter is that those who are close to Christ are those who suffer the most. We saw this based on what happened to the apostles, his friends for 3 years during his public ministry. We read this happening to the early Christian martyrs, the early popes and bishops.
Many atheists would argue, what kind of god is one who would allow suffering in this world? Well, God has never meant nor planned for us to suffer. Adam and Eve had everything they needed, God’s provision and His Love and Friendship. Man was never meant to be hungry, tired, to be sick and to die. By the original sin of our first parents, by their own choice, by their wrong use of their God-given free will, sin entered mankind, and so did suffering. There is no joy apart from God’s Will. Being our Creator, God knows this which is why He gives rules, commandments, guidelines. These are not meant to restrict us but to protect us. He should know because He made us, after all.
Suffering was the consequence of this rebellion against the Will of God. As a result of this original sin, we were meant to suffer here on earth and eternally, away from our Creator. But even so, God was able to draw something good out of the bad. I echo St. Faustina’s musing when she witnessed how much our Lord suffered, Who can comprehend His Love? God sends His Only Begotten Son so that through His Own Suffering, healing and forgiveness can enter mankind – for all who freely choose to believe. Thus, Jesus calls us to tread this path of temporary suffering, for love of God, so that eventually we can go home, pure and perfect, to our Creator. For how can we enjoy the wedding feast if we attend with our clothes all stained, dirty and stinky?
Saints, who were obviously the ones who followed this narrow and thorny road, definitely had their abundant share during their lives on earth. They knew the value of suffering and imitated the Lord. They learned that there can be no love without suffering and that when they embraced their cross, they found joy in suffering. the kind of joy that cannot be disturbed and cannot be taken away by anyone.
Saint Paul the Apostle experienced firsthand how it was to be in dire need, to be imprisoned, to be persecuted, to suffer physically and spiritually, and eventually to die for Christ and for the Gospel. In his letters to the Philippians and the Corinthians, he acknowledged his frailty and boasted for these as well. Through his humble submission to the Lord, he embraced these human weaknesses and surrendered his nothingness to Him. God gave him the grace he needed for his mission (2 Corinthians 12:9).
We remember St. Paul today as we celebrate the feast of his conversion from being the persecutor of Christians to being an apostle, persecuted for his love for Christ. But we also remember him for his wisdom, his courage, his humility, his words of encouragement in the Scriptures. St. Paul, through his letters, has explicitly shared with us the value of suffering and the secret of conquering our weaknesses!
Having this faith in God, he was able to conquer this human nature enslaved by concupiscence. Through his example and the examples of other saints, we realize that by God’s Grace, we are capable of conquering our own weaknesses that lead us to sin. Jesus Himself had set this Divine Example, followed by the apostles. He revealed to us that on our own it is not possible but with Him, everything is possible (Mt. 19:26).
Today, as we reflect on our own weaknesses and sinfulness, we fervently ask for St. Paul’s intercession, for our own conversion and enlightenment, that the scales of unbelief and mistrust may be removed from our hearts, and we can see Christ as our true Source of Strength in this mad world.
We only need to desire and to will what He wills and He shall give us the grace we need to accomplish His Will for us.
With Christ as our Strength, what amount of weakness cannot be conquered?
St. Paul, pray for us!
To God be the glory!