0190930 TOLERANCE AND ACCEPTANCE OF SUFFERINGS

0190930 TOLERANCE AND ACCEPTANCE OF SUFFERINGS 

First reading

Job 3:1-3,11-17,20-23 ©

Job broke the silence and cursed the day of his birth. This is what he said:

May the day perish when I was born,

  and the night that told of a boy conceived.

Why did I not die new-born,

  not perish as I left the womb?

Why were there two knees to receive me,

  two breasts for me to suck?

Had there not been, I should now be lying in peace,

  wrapped in a restful slumber,

with the kings and high viziers of earth

  who build themselves vast vaults,

or with princes who have gold and to spare

  and houses crammed with silver.

Or put away like a still-born child that never came to be,

  like unborn babes that never see the light.

Down there, bad men bustle no more,

  there the weary rest.

Why give light to a man of grief?

  Why give life to those bitter of heart,

who long for a death that never comes,

  and hunt for it more than for a buried treasure?

They would be glad to see the grave-mound

  and shout with joy if they reached the tomb.

Why make this gift of light to a man who does not see his way,

  whom God baulks on every side?

Psalm            Psalm 87:2-8 ©

Let my prayer come into your presence, O Lord.

Lord my God, I call for help by day;

  I cry at night before you.

Let my prayer come into your presence.

  O turn your ear to my cry.

Let my prayer come into your presence, O Lord.

For my soul is filled with evils;

  my life is on the brink of the grave.

I am reckoned as one in the tomb:

  I have reached the end of my strength.

Let my prayer come into your presence, O Lord.

Like one alone among the dead;

  like the slain lying in their graves;

like those you remember no more,

  cut off, as they are, from your hand.

Let my prayer come into your presence, O Lord.

You have laid me in the depths of the tomb,

  in places that are dark, in the depths.

Your anger weighs down upon me:

  I am drowned beneath your waves.

Let my prayer come into your presence, O Lord.

Gospel Acclamation           Ps118:36,29

Alleluia, alleluia!

Bend my heart to your will, O Lord,

and teach me your law.

Alleluia!

Or        Mk10:45

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Son of Man came to serve

and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Alleluia!

Gospel           Luke 9:51-56 ©

As the time drew near for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely took the road for Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead of him. These set out, and they went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for him, but the people would not receive him because he was making for Jerusalem. Seeing this, the disciples James and John said, ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?’ But he turned and rebuked them, and they went off to another village.

TOLERANCE AND ACCEPTANCE OF SUFFERINGS 

SCRIPTURE READINGS: JOB 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23; LUKE 9:51-56
http://www.universalis.com/20140930/mass.htm

Both readings in today’s liturgy speak of tolerance, or the lack of it, with respect to suffering and rejection.  In the first reading, Job was in great distress because of the afflictions he was suffering.  Misfortune after misfortune had struck him.  At first it was merely his property, then he lost his loved ones and finally he was afflicted with unbearable illnesses. He had lost everything in life.  If ever anyone were in his predicament, it would be difficult to carry on.  Like him, we too would wish that we were never born.  With strong words of deep regret, he said, “May the day perish when I was born, and the night that told of a boy conceived. Why did I not die new-born, not perish as I left the womb? Why were there two knees to receive me, two breasts for me to suck?”  Anyone who speaks in this manner must surely be really broken and hopeless.  We can identify with him as well.  It is not uncommon for those of us who have been so humiliated by our bosses or friends; or because of mistakes and failures in life; or have been ditched in relationships, made use of, whether sexually or financially, to wish in such moments that the earth will swallow us up, that we were never born or that we would not wake up from our sleep.

In the gospel, Jesus was rejected by the Samaritans.  The latter and the Jews were long time enemies.  The Samaritans were castigated as traitors and sinners because of their inter-marriage with the pagans and the adoption of pagan religious practices into the pure Yahwistic Faith of the Israelites.  The angry reaction of the disciples for the hostile reception was not surprising. Still unenlightened, the immediate response of James and John was to take revenge.  They said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?”

How then do we react to sufferings from within and without?  We must exercise tolerance.  This is what Jesus did when He was rejected by the Samaritans.  Ironically, if anyone were to feel offended, it should have been Jesus, but instead His disciples were the ones who reacted aggressively and vindictively.  He did not hit back at them but took a different path.  Instead of reacting violently towards the Samaritans He reprimanded the disciples for their unbecoming behavior. Should we be surprised at the way Jesus responded?  No. Throughout His ministry He had faced rejection.  His good works were performed under the shadow of the cross.  From the outset of His ministry, He was thrown out of the synagogue and almost killed by his foes.  His own family members did not understand and feared that he might have gone crazy.  But true to His teachings on forgiveness and compassion for our enemies, Jesus instructed His disciples not to take revenge but to return love for hatred, understanding for intolerance, and forgiveness for sins against charity and justice.  His disciples must necessarily carry the cross after Him.  So in the face of challenges from within our Christian community, the organization we are serving, or from non believers with regard to our beliefs and practices, especially regarding morals, we must be firm in our principles whilst never being spiteful or uncharitable towards our enemies.  To retaliate with violence and hatred will make us no better than them!

Job, too, in spite of the straits he was in, lamented at his inexplicable suffering, but he never once cursed God.  Yes, he was at his wits end.  So excruciating was his bodily pain, but even more tormenting must have been his spiritual anguish, thinking perhaps that God was punishing him for some wrongs he had done, yet not knowing his sin nor the reasons for his incomprehensible suffering. Like the psalmist in the responsorial psalm, he too would have prayed, “O Lord, my God, by day I cry out; at night I clamor in your presence. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my call for help.”

So how do we practice tolerance and where can we find the grace and strength to do so?  Jesus was able to exercise restraint because He was clear of His end.  St Luke wrote, “As the time drew near for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely took the road for Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead of him.”  “The time” refers to His passion and “to be taken up to heaven” refers to His awareness of His imminent glorification.   This explains why Jesus was resolute in going to Jerusalem, the place of His passion and glory.  He was clear of His mission.  His death was not by chance but a deliberate act of Jesus in view of His mission to proclaim the Father’s unconditional love and mercy.

Secondly, He was not afraid of the sufferings before Him, because He knew His Father was in control.  Jesus could surrender His entire mission to the Father, regardless of the outcome of His ministry, because He knew that the Father was in charge.  Jesus believed that the grace of God could overcome the heartless and unrepentant heart somehow.   This grace eventually would come through His passion, death and resurrection, and especially at the descent of the Holy Spirit.  In the paschal mystery, Christ demonstrated that sin and death were not the final words, but that they had been conquered by His death and resurrection.  In His death, man was reconciled to God upon seeing His love for us.  In His resurrection, we were given a share in His divine life.

Unlike Job, the disciples had the benefit of encountering the Risen Lord.  This encounter with the Risen Lord transformed them from cowards to heroes.  We read in the Acts of the Apostles how they courageously witnessed to the Crucified Christ and Risen Lord with boldness and valor.  They were ready to accept persecutions without retaliation.  Such was the confidence in the power of God on their side that St Paul exhorted the Christians in Romans 14:12 to “bless those who persecute him.”

In the light of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we too, like the apostles, must reconsider suffering in a new way.  Firstly, suffering is a mystery. This was what God wanted to teach Job.  His ways are beyond our comprehension.  Nevertheless, He remains in charge of the world and history.  In His own time, He will reveal to us His plan for humanity.  On our part, we must surrender our lives to Him in full confidence.   We need of course to do our part, but we must entrust the outcome to the Lord.

Secondly, St Peter in his letter (confer 1 Pt  3:8-17) encouraged the Christians to bear their sufferings patiently, especially innocent suffering, in imitation of Christ, the Lord who “suffered for you and left an example for you to follow the way he took.  He had not done anything wrong and there had been no perjury in his mouth.  He was insulted and did not retaliate with insults; when he was tortured he made no threats but he put his trust in the righteous judge.” (1 Pt 2:21-23).  Of course, that they themselves had received forgiveness from the Lord, especially when they abandoned Him at the cross, helped them to feel with those who had betrayed their Lord and those who had persecuted the Church out of ignorance.  Indeed, a greater good will come out of it, for “through his wounds you have been healed.”  So too, when we accept our sufferings positively, we can use them to heal our enemies by transcending their hatred for us through forgiveness, love and prayer.

Indeed, whilst suffering remains a mystery, we can take heart with the apostles that God suffers for and with us in Jesus.  Knowing that we are not alone in our sufferings and that there is a purpose to it, will give us the strength to suffer with Him, since “He was bearing our faults in his own body on the cross, so that we might die to our faults and for holiness.” (1 Pt 3:24)  Seeing the love and patience of God for us in our sinfulness, we can exercise the same tolerance for the sufferings of our daily life and those inflicted on us by our enemies.  What more beautiful way can we enjoin our sufferings with Christ than by offering all our sacrifices and pains in the sacrifice of the Mass, thereby making up for the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His body, the Church! (cf Col 1:24).  

WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH


ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
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