Dear Brethren,
THE VALUE OF SUFFERING
Sin is a mystery. St Paul tells us in Rm. 7:18-24 as follows :
"Brethrens I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can do what is right but cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want to do. I see in my members another law.... Making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. "
THE ONLY WAY OUT IS SUFFERING; the CROSS.
1. As Christians, there are certain teachings we are bound to believe; these are called DOGMA/DOCTRINES. These are teachings to which the Church swears that they are true. The belief in all of them is called FAITH. The dogmas are found in the Apostles 'Creed, the Our Father, the teachings on Mary and in the Sacramento. Today the Church wants us to look at of them ,namley, that Suffering has immense value and that Our Lord Jesus Christ 'suffered under Pontius Pilate. '
2. Why did God allow suffering on earth? Why do people suffer? Why did Our Lord Jesus Christ Suffer? Christ suffered to repair what the sin of Adam has damaged. Sin destroys the order and harmony of creation. Suffering restores creation to what it was before it was damaged by sin. The sin of Adam closed Heaven against us and made us enemies of God. The suffering of Christ opened Heaven again and made us children of God. Sin therefore is the source of evil and suffering.
3. Moreover, man is not a 'finished product ' . Man is created imperfect - on purpose. As an intelligent being, God desires that man should contribute to his own perfection. The chief instrument of this great work of perfection is suffering - the cross. The Cross makes man perfect -Heb. 2:10.
Cross or suffering means contradiction; negation. It is the opposite of pleasure and easy life. To bear the Cross is to negate our five senses and the natural desires of the soul. We suffer when we see fearful or repulsive things, smell pungent and chocking odours, hear terrifying sounds taste bitter or revolting substances and when our body comes in contact with too much heat or cold, sharp or hard objects. We also suffer when we are crushed with labour. The soul suffers when one is humiliated / disgraced by poverty, indebtedness, insults, losing a precious object, failures, etc.
4 . All Crosses come to us from God directly, or from man indirectly. Rejection of the Cross is the immediate cause of anger. God the Creator came to teach us how to be successful in the world through carrying the Cross. The law of the incarnation is a law of suffering. Our Lord Jesus Christ purified and made human nature perfect by His Cross. As gold and silver pass through fire for its purification and perfection; as most food pass through fire before we can eat them; as even our clothes pass through fire for it's purification and perfection; so must every human being pass through suffering to be successful both in this world and in heaven. The weakness of our flesh AMD its sinful desires can only be overcome by suffering. There is this story of a monk who was severely tempted by sins against purity. All the recommended prayers and counselling failed to end the temptation. Then the superior secretly ordered another monk to make life very difficult for him. This other monk constantly picked quarrel with him, poured water on his bed, tore his notebooks, make jest of him, woke him up at night, taunted him and make life unbearable for him. All his complaints were to no avail. After several months, the superior called the monk and asked him if he was still having those impure temptations. He repiled that he had long forgotten about them, that his major problem now was this brother monk who has made life very miserable.
5. To endure suffering requires all the powers of our soul- our intellect and our will. Our will must acquire the power to avoid sin, the power to forgive injuries, and the power to keep God's commandments. Our intellect must accept prayer, fasting and almsgiving as means of long lasting happiness and peace. There is no type of sinful habit we cannot overcome by means of " self exorcism "by making use of daily Mass, daily fasting, all done in deep humility.
6. Beloved in Christ, Christianity without the Cross is not true Christianity. Crossless Christianity is the tap-root of most evils. But the Cross is the Tree of Life. May God give us the grace to accept all the sufferings He sends to us.
- Likewise my continuous grateful mind to @sirknight, mainly for being an instrument of God for the creation of SteemChurch to seek and to help the Church communities throughout the world.
Let us continue moving forward in love and unity, together let us celebrate the first Anniversary of SteemChurch and offer the best of you for this wonderful Church.
Happy Anniversary Steemchurch
Thanks for reading.
