ViewPoints 18
catholicnewsherald.com | October 23, 2020 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD
Dr. Tod Worner
Jesuit Father John Michalowski
‘He emptied Himself, … coming in human likeness’
On going through hell
R
ecently, during the summer of rage, my eighth-grade daughter stood gazing at the television news with furrowed brow and a shaking head. When she realized that I had been looking at her, she blushed and confessed, “With everything going wrong in the world, it’s hard not to get down.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. There is a clever (but depressing) cartoon showing the spines of books neatly ordered on a shelf. Each volume had a date (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) indicating that between each book’s covers is the story of that year. When one arrives at 2020, however, there are well over a dozen books grappling with all that 2020 has been. Just think about it: a paralyzing pandemic; a tumultuous economy; riotous racial strife; vulgar, sophomoric behavior from our elected leaders (from both parties); dislocation from family and friends. It is a time of fear and anxiety, uncertainty, and depression. And yet while each constellation of trials always has its own character, the human grappling with trial is nothing new. Think about all who have preceded us in suffering and darkness: Flannery O’Connor, wracked with lupus in her 30s, wrote to her friend, “I have never been anywhere but sick. In a sense sickness is a place, more instructive than a long trip to Europe, and it’s always a place where there’s no company, where nobody can follow.” Mother Teresa, corresponding with her spiritual director from the intolerable gutters of Kolkata, ached, “In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss – of God not wanting me – of God not being God – of God not really existing.” St. Paul, describing a cryptic affliction, lamented that “a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’” (1 Cor 12:7-9) And Jesus Christ, God Himself, agonized in the garden while pleading, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” (Mt 26:39) And in one of His final utterances from the cross, the Son of God calls out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46) It is a scene of such hellish blackness that G.K. Chesterton quietly wondered if the God on the cross, for an instant, became an atheist. But how is this comforting? While there may be some solace in the notion that “misery loves company,” I don’t want to be miserable. None of us do. But in this hobbled world of broken men and women, our suffering is not something that is completely up to us. We will suffer. Some of us in great ways and
some of us in small but, rest assured, we will all suffer. What is heartening, in fact, about the sufferings of Flannery and Teresa, Paul and God Himself is not simply that they suffered as well, but that they transcended their suffering. Flannery found meaning in her pains and recognized how they humbled her and made her a better writer. St. Teresa discovered a strength to persevere even though the devil tempted her to quit. Paul lived with his affliction and evangelized the world. And Christ, well, He saved you and He saved me. In a puckish proverb loosely attributed to Winston Churchill during the dark days of the Blitz of London, we get the point: “If you are going through hell, keep going.” It is easy to “get down,” as my daughter says. It is easy to flirt with despair and wonder if things will ever turn aright. But here is what I told my daughter that day. First, God, in the end, wins. He created us with dignity, loves us through our fallibility, and goes to the ends of the earth to gather us in His embrace. Life is difficult. There will be suffering. But heaven is forever and God reigns supreme. Next, the world is brimming with saints and heroes. So as the statues fall and the people rage, find those saints and admire those heroes that you know exist. Learn from them. Emulate them. And become one of them. Finally, God gave you great gifts. Love your corner of the world beginning with your faith, family and friends, and then hear the call of how you are to bring your unique gifts to bear on a world desperate for healing. French Catholic writer (and no stranger to immense suffering) Georges Bernanos said it well: “Christians are not supermen. Nor are saints, even less so, because they are the most human of human beings. Saints are not sublime, they don’t need the sublime. They are not the heroes in the manner of Plutarch’s heroes. ... (But) Christ wished to open to His martyrs the glorious way to a fearless death, but He also wished to precede each one of us in the darkness of anguish unto death. The steady, fearless hand can at the last moment lean on His shoulder, but the hand that trembles is sure to meet His hand.” To be sure, the world has darkness and we will always have our share of suffering. But we are called to hope. With God’s help, we were made to transcend it. If you are going through hell, keep going. DR. TOD WORNER is a husband, father, Catholic convert and practicing internal medicine physician. His blog, “Catholic Thinking,” is found at Aleteia.org. He also writes for Patheos (“A Catholic Thinker”) and the National Catholic Register. Follow him on Twitter @ thinkercatholic.
E
very year we read the incredible passage from the second chapter of Philippians that speaks of how the Son of God emptied Himself to enter into humanity by becoming one with us. Every month priests, deacons, religious and many lay persons read and pray that passage in the Liturgy of the Hours. Because it is so familiar, we seldom take to heart how incredible it really is. Consider fairy tales for a moment. It is not uncommon in fairy tales for a prince or a princess, who falls in love with a commoner, to disguise him or herself as an ordinary person in order to win the heart and the hand of the one whom he or she loves. They don’t want the poor man or woman to be overwhelmed by them or to say “yes” to them because he or she is dazzled by their riches and prestige. No, they want to be loved for themselves. Only then do they reveal who they are. Jesus went infinitely further. Not only is He God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, but, as Philippians tell us: “He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness, and found human in appearance, He humbled Himself…” (2:6-8). Think about that for a moment. Let it sink in: the God of the universe, Creator of all that is, decides to enter into the history of a small planet that rotates around an average star in the Milky Way galaxy. God so humbles Himself that God not only enters into human life, but God depends on a human being to become one with us. What an amazing young woman He chooses to ask: “Mary, will you become the Mother of the Messiah?” And the angel Gabriel tells her that “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.” (Lk 1:31). In Hebrew the name is “Yeshua,” a name that means “Yahweh saves,” for He will save His people from their sins. The Son of God empties Himself because He is love, and He finds love in the womb of Mary, and then, once born, in the care of Mary and Joseph. But Jesus’ love was not completed by becoming human and showing us what humanity is called to be. No, Jesus loved us to the end, embracing even death, “death upon the cross.” From conception to death, He embraced humanity to the full, and then bestowed an infinite gift upon us, the gift that only divinity can give – He resurrected to give us the loving gift of eternal life. It is only right that we return love for love. But Jesus tells us that we cannot love the God whom we do not see, unless we love the brothers and sisters whom we do see: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me” (Mt 25:40).
St. Paul urges us to respond generously with love. “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important
than yourselves, each looking not for his own interests, but also those of others. Have the same attitude among yourselves that is also yours in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 2:1-5). Will we empty ourselves for others? Will we even embrace the cross, if that is our calling? Will we embrace life and death, trusting all to the Father’s love, as Jesus did? Or will we turn away? We cannot do it on our own. That is why Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit. In Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13) Let us pray: Lord Jesus, send us your Spirit that we might embrace your attitude of love and service. Help us to empty ourselves of selfishness and greed, of anger and untruth, of timidity and fear. Help us to live in you. We ask this of the Father in Jesus’ Name and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. JESUIT FATHER JOHN MICHALOWSKI is the parochial vicar of St. Peter Church in Charlotte.
