Making Sense of Suffering

I begin this post on a day that I am wrestling to make sense of the tragic death of a young mother — a faithful Catholic, getting ready to jump into her minivan of little kids and head off to Ash Wednesday Mass.

There are no words. Please pray for her soul and for her family.

I must admit my first response was “Why her”? Why does a beautiful young mother with young children who desperately need her, tragically die on the way out to Mass?

It just doesn’t make sense.

Her mother and father are model Catholics, faithfully living out the Gospel and serving the poorest of the poor. Why should they lose a most precious daughter, in the prime of her life?

It just doesn’t make sense.

Just one day before this, we were informed that the sweetest, the kindest young girl you could hope to meet — a classmate of my son’s — likely has an aggressive cancerous tumor on her leg.

Why her? Why a sweet, young girl who only brings the Light of Christ wherever she goes?

It just doesn’t make sense.

And only weeks before this, we were told of a young man, recently married, who has discovered a very serious cancerous growth on his major organs.

Yet again, stories of this man are only ones of goodness and kindness and everything one would hope for in a brother, a son and a husband.

Why him?

I could go on.

All the tragedies, all the loss, the pain and the suffering of good people — great people, really — over and over again, in our newsfeeds and our prayer chains.

I could go on with the lives lost to sadness and depression and suicide — sadness and pain and tragedy taking out so many precious young men and women — and I am sure you could share your stories, too.

It just doesn’t make sense.

And I hate to have to go there, but I could name a dozen other men or women who seem far more “deserving” of tragedies like these — so much more so than than these good-hearted men and women.

It leaves a soul to wonder why good people have to suffer, when so many evil people seem to live on, carefree?

Theologians and philosophers, far more intelligent and eloquent than myself, have asked these same questions.

It is the age old question that men and women throughout history have asked, yet not many answers seems to satisfy: “How could a good God allow so much suffering?”

I can’t improve upon what they have said — but I feel that I must wrestle with this question on a day like today.

I know that God is Love — and yet, these tragedies seem to contradict that love. Or do they?

Why must good men and women suffer?

I think the “why” is that we are living in a fallen world and it wasn’t meant to be like this. The truth is, you and I were not made for this fallen world.

We were made for Paradise.

We were made for Heaven — for everlasting happiness, where there will be no more tears or suffering or sadness or sin.

Which is why it’s completely normal to look at the world around you — at the suffering and sin and evil — and to conclude it wasn’t meant to be this way.

Because it wasn’t.

We suffer and age and die because of the Original Sin of our parents, Adam and Eve, who represented all of us, all of their future children when they made that choice to disobey.

They chose death for themselves and their children.

Which is why it’s so important for us to realize that our sin impacts others.

In the same way that our first parents’ sin affected us, our sins also affects others around us.

Which is one of the reasons why there is so much suffering in this world.

I think we must ask ourselves if we want to continue that cycle of sin and suffering — or do we want to put an end to it?

Our sufferings, united to Christ, actually begin a ripple effect of goodness and light that will spread out far beyond our own little sphere of influence.

As St. Paul says, our sufferings can actually make up for what is “lacking in the suffering of Christ”.

To make up for what is lacking in the suffering of Christ — what exactly does that mean?

It is a mystery that is beyond our comprehension, but God chose to allow us the dignity of participating in His story of salvation.

It’s not that God needs us — it’s that He has given us an amazing opportunity to be part of the greatest Love story the world has ever known.

He gives us a gift that other creature have not been given: the gift to suffer alongside of Jesus for our sins and the sins of the whole world — and to share in His reward in Heaven.

Suffering does not make sense unless you look to the One who chose to die like a criminal on a cross, so that we might live.

I guess what I am trying to say is that suffering doesn’t make sense without looking at the cross.

Jesus chose to say “yes” to suffering and death so that we might live with him in Paradise.

Instead of asking ourselves, “Why?” I think we must begin to ask ourselves “What?”.

What will I do with the suffering or disappointments that come my way in life?

Will I let darkness and evil have the final word, or will I fight to give meaning to it all?

We give meaning to our suffering by offering it to God. We give meaning to our suffering by refusing to despair and to continue to strive to do good in this world.

We give meaning to it all by suffering along side of Christ and alongside of those who suffer in this world.

Nobody wants to suffer, but if suffering comes, I think the question becomes what will we do with it?

Let’s not waste one ounce of it — there is great power unleashed in the person who knows how to suffer well.

That power may not be easy to see in the midst of the suffering — but it will be revealed one day in Heaven: all the graces, the souls saved, the battles won because of that suffering.

And so we move forward with that knowledge that suffering is a powerful tool in the story of salvation.

We move forward knowing that God would never allow needless suffering — that every bit of suffering in the life of a Christian has meaning and will bring about a greater good.

We move forward knowing that God will not allow evil to have the final word — the final Word spoken will be love, and love alone.

We move forward in hope and trust in God.

We are a people of hope. We believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

Our lives should reflect that hope.

Hope is not a changing of circumstances. It is a changing of perspective on the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Hope is to have a Heavenly perspective. In the midst of suffering, we must ask God to give us hope.

We must wait on Him and keep our eyes on that final day, when all sufferings will come to an end.

That final day, the day when all the good is revealed and every tear is wiped away will be a beatiful day — the most beautiful day — and it will never end.

Till then, let us resolve to make the most of the sufferings that come our way.

Let us resolve to raise the spirits of those who suffer, to love them and to accompany them so they won’t make this journey of suffering alone.

I will leave you with this excellent short video on the virtue of hope and it’s role in the midst of suffering.

Have a blessed weekend!

Sharing over at Kelly’s