When life is a struggle

PHILIPPINES

WHEN life is a struggle Edited by Br. Francis Wagner, O.S.B. Text Š 2013 Saint Meinrad Archabbey Published by Abbey Press Publications St. Meinrad, Indiana, 47577, USA All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Publisher and Exclusive Distributor in the Philippines: Paulines Publishing House Daughters of St. Paul 2650 F.B. Harrison Street 1302 Pasay City, Philippines E-mail: edpph@paulines.ph Website: www.paulines.ph Cover design: Ann Marie Nemenzo, FSP Photo credits: Noel Salisid 1st Printing 2017 ISBN 978-971-590-839-9 Areas of Distribution: Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore

Papua New Guinea, Thailand

at the service of the Gospel and culture

Introduction

A

word of encouragement. A willing ear. A shoulder to lean on. Each one of us can use these things from time to time — when the path of life seems arduous or even perilous. Whether the circumstances are chronic or urgently critical, we all encounter difficult periods, and in one way or another, we seek healing, comfort, or simply the strength to endure.

The five chapters in this book present that word, that ear, that shoulder — both for yourself and possibly others whom you, in turn, may be called to help heal, comfort, and strengthen. Originally published by Abbey Press as individual titles in the Catholic Perspectives CareNotes series, each chapter in a distinct way expresses our belief that as the Body of Christ, we both hurt and heal together. As one, we call out to God in the words of the Psalmist: Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; My eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also.

For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.

But I trust in you, O Lord: I say,“You are my God.” Psalm 31:9-10, 14

Trust in God’s providence is at the heart of our Catholic tradition, and in times of difficulty, we are called even deeper into faith and reliance on the God who asks us to “cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). May the God of peace dwell in your heart through the Gospel message shared in this book.

–Br. Francis Wagner, O.S.B.

Contents Where Is God in Human Suffering?

1

The Healing Cross: Reflections for the Sick and Suffering

11

Living Simply in Tough Times

21

Living the Beatitudes as a Source of Strength

31

Finding Comfort and Healing in the Rosary

40

Chapter II

The Healing Cross: Reflections for the Sick and Suffering

By Br. Francis Wagner, O.S.B. it hurt?” asked the mother of a good “D oes friend, pointing at the large cast on my

left arm. “Yes, especially at night,” I said. She smiled, and then offered what I thought was an odd note of sympathy: “That’s good. That means it’s healing.”

It didn’t make much sense to me at the time.

The conversation took place a few years ago in a funeral home as we stood next to the casket of my father, who had died after a long battle with alcoholism. My throbbing arm was in a cast because three weeks earlier I had undergone surgery to reconstruct a finger shattered in a freak accident.

It was one of the most painful, confusing times of my life. I was suffering from other chronic health problems — including my own excessive drinking — and was simply unhappy 11

with my life in general. Because of the cast on my arm and the medication I was taking, I couldn’t work or do much of anything for several weeks.

Then, my father’s death seemed to bring my world to a standstill.

The overwhelming feeling of powerlessness and abandonment far surpassed my physical and emotional pain. So, I did something I had never sincerely done before — I cried out to God. Ironically, the cry for help was — after many years of spiritual apathy — a genuine act of faith and trust in God. By asking where God was amid my suffering, I was acknowledging his desire to heal me and inviting him to do so.

Working your way through An invitation is all God wants. Extending it changed my life in ways I never would have imagined. It doesn’t involve a pain-free existence,

There is a vocation for suffering with Christ, and through it the possibility of being involved in his salvation. Christ continues to live and suffer in his members. The suffering experienced through union with the Lord is his suffering, and is a fruitful part of the great plan of salvation.

–Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)

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but a deeper understanding of what it means to live the Paschal Mystery of Christ — that is, his life, death, and resurrection. It involves commitment to a lifelong process of personal conversion and a universal sharing in Christ’s salvific mission for the world.

• The power of the Cross. Slowly, I have come to realize that the crosses of our lives are not obstacles as much as they are opportunities for transformation, and for healing in ways that go beyond our present difficulties. “Enduring struggle is the price to be paid for becoming everything we are meant to be in the world,” says Sr. Joan Chittister, O.S.B. Pain, toil, sorrow, disease, and death are realities for each of us — part of the human experience. However, they are not proof of God’s punishment or absence. Rather, they are signs that lead open hearts to reconciliation and deeper joy than anything this broken world offers. As C.S. Lewis noted, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Yet the cross holds an even deeper mystery of God’s healing love. It is not one that provides answers so much as it beckons us to faithfully 13

live the questions as we discover more fully who we are meant to be, our relationship with God, and with one another.

• Why do I hurt? It is difficult to accept and often misunderstood, but we suffer because of sin. This doesn’t mean present difficulties arise from our personal sins, although failings may cause us — or others — to suffer. Rather, we suffer because of Original Sin — the fallen nature of humanity.

Original Sin was not eating a forbidden apple.

It was pride — the decision to control our own lives apart from God. This separation continues to hurt to this day.

It manifests itself in all our sufferings because it’s not how we were created to live. A world without pain would not recognize this, and have no cause to seek God. However, like someone afraid to visit the doctor, we often choose to live with the hurt rather than look for healing.

The good news is that God decided to send the healer to look for us. The divine physician made a free “house call,” embracing our wounded humanity in the person of Jesus so that, by grace,

“Jesus did not come to remove suffering, or to explain it, but to fill it with his presence.”

–Paul Claudel

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we in turn can share his divinity. We are made to become one with God, but sin prevents this.

So, Scripture tells us that Jesus became our sin in his suffering body. “For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The immensity of that statement becomes even more profound in light of the cross on which Jesus was crucified: “By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

• Where is God in my hurt? If we’re healed, then why do we still hurt? Are we being punished?

Before restoring sight to a man blind from birth, Jesus says: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him” (John 9:3). Jesus’ mission went beyond healing all earthly ills, and he performed such signs to point us to faith in a deeper cure. Here, Jesus says that suffering is not punishment, and that its “uselessness” has value and purpose in carrying out God’s plan of salvation.

“God is a physician, and suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation,” says Saint Augustine. The medicine is Jesus Christ. By suffering with humanity rather than eliminating the suffering of humanity, 15

he bridges the pain of separation induced by Original Sin. He accomplishes this once and for all through the Cross, but the process isn’t yet complete. If you take antibiotics for a bacterial infection, it takes a few days for the medicine to travel through your body, but its work has begun.

Similarly, the work of Christ on the Cross flows through the history of human salvation.

Meanwhile, our loving God pursues us, stopping at nothing to win us back. Scripture recounts this love story through flawed and hurting people — who are not so different than us — crying out to God to help them, to heal them. Through it all, God leads in ways seen and unseen, promising what is eventually fulfilled in Christ’s self-giving on the Cross.

• What do I do with my hurt? Embracing the Cross doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to carry. Pain is pain. Contrary to what we might think, it is an act of faith to tell God how much we hurt, and to ask for relief. Recall that Jesus asked to be spared the suffering of the Cross.

However, he was strengthened instead to endure what would bring healing to all.

From the Cross, Jesus cried out the opening words of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). At 16

that moment he was most human — powerless, alone. No suffering is worse, because such human experiences mean having no control. However, through Christ, at such moments the Original Sin of pride is allowed to fall away.

In this moment of “uselessness,” Jesus accomplished immeasurably more than all his miracles and teachings combined. Sin literally became mercy. Jesus entered our sufferings so fully that he took them all to himself and gave them to God with one last gasp: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

• How does this heal me today? As baptized Christians, we are made one with the Body of Christ born from the Cross as the Church.

The Church is not a building or some vague institution — it is each of us, corporately and individually, comprising the Body of Christ who mystically works through us.

The Incarnation continues to this very moment. We don’t imitate the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We are the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We are the Church — the Body of Christ — in the world, and through it he not only suffers for us, but through us, and we through him.

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