Finding God in Our Suffering

Finding God in Our Suffering

February 6, 2013

Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs

By Colleen O'Sullivan

At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.”  So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.  He was amazed at their lack of faith.  (Mark 6:4-6)

Piety

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains.”  (C.S. Lewis, “The Problem of Pain”)

Study

At the core of Ignatian spirituality is the belief that God can be found in all things – in every person we encounter, every place and every situation.  But even many Christians have difficulty believing that God is with us in times of adversity or suffering.  Where is God now? we cry when our hearts are breaking.   Have you abandoned me? we wail.  We forget that Jesus didn’t promise us lives free of sorrow; rather he promised to be with us always and to lead us to eternal life.

In his life here on earth, Jesus himself suffered at many points.  It can’t have been fun to go home to Nazareth to teach in the synagogue where his family members and childhood friends were gathered, only to have his message and person rejected.  After all, he came to be with us for the sole purpose of bringing us to the Father, and here at home he was confronted by an “amazing” lack of faith.  Jesus’ ultimate suffering, of course, was his death on the Cross.  The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says that, though Jesus was the Son of God, even “he learned obedience from what he suffered.” (Heb.5:8)  In his suffering, he was made perfect and became the source of eternal life for all of us.

So, far from seeing our heartaches or bodily ills as signs that God has forgotten us, we should consider that, out of love, God uses our pain to draw us nearer to him, to bring us to greater understanding of and conformity with his will.  This,  however,  is a totally counter-cultural proposition.  Popular theology has it that the greater your faith, the better health, greater wealth and happiness you will possess.  While that may play well to the crowds, it’s not scriptural nor does it meet the test of many faithful Christians’ experiences. 

Action

No one enjoys suffering or seeks it out.  But when I look back over my life, the times of greatest adversity and inner turmoil have also been the times of greatest spiritual growth.  While I was going through those experiences, I would have welcomed a fairy godmother waving a wand and making all the anguish disappear.  But from this vantage point, I couldn’t wish that my life had been any different, because I would have missed out on the fruits of so many friendships and experiences that have drawn me closer to the Lord.

What about you?  Do you find truth in C.S. Lewis’ words that God “shouts in our pains?”  What has been the source of your greatest spiritual growth?