Persevering Through Suffering This Advent

Annie

A while ago, I asked a woman what I could pray about for her, and her response was pretty memorable. She asked me to pray for her to suffer with Christ — to suffer well, and that her suffering may be used to bring her loved ones closer to Him.

I didn’t know that she was suffering, but if I did, I would have probably thought to pray for her — that she might be relieved of that suffering and that her burdens would become lighter.

And yet, instead of asking for relief, she asked for the graces to suffer well — so that she may be united with Christ on the Cross, and so her loved ones would, too, be drawn closer to Him.

Her prayer request and her faith reminds me of the faith of the saints, who suffered so much — and, notably, so well. Their suffering, when offered to God, served a great purpose: redemption. It’s clear, then, that the prayers of the suffering are some of the most powerful prayers.

Now, I know that all suffering has meaning, and I know that all suffering can be transformative when placed in the hands of God, but my first instinct when I am suffering has always been to ask, “Why?”and then quickly follow it up with, “Please relieve me from this.”

And so this woman’s request really inspired me. Instead of asking God why she was suffering, she wanted God to know that she would do it for Him — that He may use it for His glory.

We are called to do everything we do for His glory — after all, the world was made for the glory of God (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 293).

But suffering for it? I wish we could all avoid it… but Christ could not avoid the Cross, and neither can we.

Maybe a more beautiful way of thinking about it is that God could have chosen any way to save us, any way to redeem the world, and in the end (or really, our beginning!), He chose that Jesus Christ would have to suffer.

I think it’s a human inclination to ask, “Why?” when we’re faced with great suffering.

But Managing Editor of America magazine Kerry Walsh gives us a better question to ask.

She writes, “Sometimes the more helpful (question) is this: Where? Where am I being called by this suffering? Where can I find a supportive community? Where is God in all of this?”

We have to persevere.

And maybe this time of the year, maybe this Advent season, will remind us to keep our hope alive in that perseverance.

In the Letter of James (1:2), we read, “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

That isn’t easy, I know.

Suffering is complicated, but it is also so meaningful in the eyes of our Lord.

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska wrote in her diary that Jesus told her, “If the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving of Holy Communion, and the other is suffering.” (1804)

Since, “we love only to the degree that we are willing to suffer,”(Fr. John Hardon, S.J.) we have to allow ourselves to accept our suffering, and to offer it back to God for His Glory, for His love, for His people, for you — and for me.

We must have hope in order to do this. And to have hope, we must have a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

Advent can be a long season — a miserable one, if we didn’t have hope. But with hope, we can live through and accept whatever we’re suffering from, because we are sure of one thing: the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. His coming is enough to justify our longing, our hope, and our perseverance through any hard times.

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9 thoughts on “Persevering Through Suffering This Advent”

  1. Annie this is a great article! I don’t like it at all when I suffer! But I know God uses suffering for good, sometimes in ways that we do not see. Sometimes He actually increases our faith through suffering!

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  3. I have learned thru trial and error that suffering is one of the greatest gifts God has given us. It causes us to open up to God, it corrects selfishness, self pity and wipes out self-love, replacing it with an ever growing and ever more pure and true love for God and for others. I could not start growing spiritually without the pain and suffering in my life. Now, I thank God every day for everything that causes me to suffer in any way. I would not trade any of it. Jesus told us to pick up our cross and follow Him. His Cross was infinitely more painful then anything we could ever even begin to understand. I for one am grateful to be able to participate in the Passion of Jesus Christ who so loving suffered for us all.
    Merry Christmas everyone!

  4. I hesitate to respond for fear of being offensive, but sometimes my truth is offensive and unacceptable. I care full time for a non-verbal, spastic quad, minimally conscious 28 year old son and have done so for the past 16 years. I have come to have a disdain for suffering, a rejection of any acceptance of suffering, an angst at witnessing the balance between living and dying on a daily basis. My son has allowed me to love unconditionally and in a unrequited manner. He is my son and I would have done this care regardless. I know suffering daily and reject any redemptive value it has, because this value is neither rational nor real. It simply IS and my commitment is to alleviate it to any degree possible and to be his warrior in fighting for life. I abhor the notion of a “victim soul” as a masochistic explanation of suffering.
    I also abhor the notion of “offering it up”; joining with a deity to redeem another soul; so see it as a consequence of “original sin.” You see, the four Gospels and other gnostic gospels, portray the CHRIST as freeing people from suffering and oppression. When confront with a dead man, He brougt him to life, a mentally involved persons has “demons cast out’; the deaf heard, the blind saw, the cripple walked….and Matthew 25 we are clearly told where to see Christ on earth: in the imprisoned, the naked, the hungry, the homeless, the disabled. Christ did not say offer it up, join me in suffering with a smile…he cured suffering; religion is the answer to human suffering….a cure. We do not, nor should we ever accept suffering which can be mitigated…that’s not Christ’s way. It is said, and I have often repeated a carving by a victim of the Shoah on a wall…”If there is a God, He will have to ask me to forgive Him.” I work daily to make my son’s suffering less because it is not the natural state of affairs. The problem we need to examine is theodicy…I have yet to see an answer which makes sense without theological gibberish not attainable to the common man. Christ can to relieve suffering….that’s all He did.

    1. Phil, I am sorry for your views on suffering. I will pray for you and your son. But I will also tell you that you have been greatly Blessed by God- you have no idea how much and He loves you and your son- obviously very very much! God bless you both!

    2. Just how are my perceptions of suffering incompatible with the message of the Four Gospels? How do my views of suffering address the problem of theodicy? Do you find a justification in the Four gospels that God approves of human suffering when He did all in his power on earth to eliminate it?

    3. The part where you state that suffering has no redemptive value. That is false.
      The part where you say it is neither rational or real, and that it simply is. Do you believe your life is out of control and that God doesn’t care? The truth is anything that is not sin is God’s Will in a person’s life. God allows everything and can use everything for good. He also never gives us more than we can bear. It is what we do with pain that matters. We all have pain, not single human being has lived pain free from the beginning to the end.
      Jesus said of the poor (who always suffer) they will be among us always. And He did not alleviate all suffering on Earth.
      There’s nothing wrong with seeking relief or help but when all avenues have been exhausted, that’s when we carry the cross and offer up to Christ who suffered our own pain.

    4. I will also say concerning your last statement about Christ feeling abandoned, He experienced everything (and more) so we could have comfort when it happened to us. How many “feel” abandoned? We have a God who is so merciful He allowed Himself to feel our pain. Jesus was fully God but also fully man and He experienced anything and everything we ever will…for our sake.

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