God suffers?

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Today at Mass we read about the beheading of St. John the Baptist, such a terrible and sleazy story, such a senseless murder by a madman beguiled by wine and lust and pride, such a horrendous ending to the life of a man whom Jesus called the “greatest born of women,” who had done so much to prepare the way for Jesus’ public ministry.

I remember the remark of St. Theresa of Avila that if this is the way God treats His friends, it’s no wonder that He has so few of them. And we might well wonder why God permitted this to happen and why He was silent about the onslaught of evil against what is holy. If we extend this question more broadly, we might also wonder why He allowed the Holocaust to place, or why He has allowed so many to suffer from natural disasters (as the people in Texas are now doing), why He permitted the seeming destruction of His only Son, or even why He seems to be looking the other way when terrible things happen in our own lives. Why has He been silent?

But has He been silent, truly?

Cardinal Sarah (“The Power of Silence”) believes that God suffers when we suffer, that He is present with us at the point of our suffering and misery (just as He is present with us in the reality of our greatest weakness and sinfulness), and that, just like a parent who suffers when her child makes bad and dangerous choices in life, God grieves with us.

Consider your own life, if you will. Perhaps God has never “spoken” words to you that helped you get through your trials and difficulties, but if you are a person of prayer, you might well be aware that He has been with you and has sent you graces and strength and even solutions to the problems you face.

I was concerned and frustrated about something yesterday, when all of a sudden, a solution to the situation “appeared” in my mind and I was able to act on it. I don’t know about you, but I believe that God was not silent as I was considering what to do.

Cardinal Sarah writes that, “God manifests himself in the tear shed by the child who suffers, and not in the order of the world that would cause this tear. God has his mysterious way of being close to us in our trials.” and that “The person of prayer is also the only one to grasp the silent signs of affection that God sends him.

I pray you might have that experience as well.

God bless you!