By Fr. Roy Cimagala
WITH the memorial of the passion of St. John the Baptist, celebrated liturgically on August 29, we are reminded that we should not be afraid of the cross, of any form of suffering, which the by way, whether we like it or not, will be unavoidable in our life.
With this memorial, we are reminded that the cross actually ought to be welcomed, even to be looked for and to be loved, since if we are guided by our Christian faith, we know that the cross and any suffering that comes our way offers us the occasion to show that our love for God, for others and for ourselves, is genuine, not fake.
We have to learn to lose the fear of the cross and suffering and death itself. If we believe in Christ and follow what he has taught and shown us, we will realize that there is nothing to be afraid of suffering and death, and all the other negative things that can mark our life.
He bore them himself and converted them into our way for our own salvation. Yes, even death which is the ultimate evil that can befall on us, an evil that is humanly insoluble. With Christ’s death, the curse of death has been removed. “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15,54-55)
So, we just have to be sport and cool about the whole reality of suffering and death. What we need to do is to follow Christ in his attitude toward them. For Christ, embracing suffering and ultimately death, is the expression of his greatest love for us. We have to enter into the dynamic of this divine logic and wisdom so we can lose that fear of suffering and death, and enter into the very essence of real love as shown by Christ.
Thus, we have to understand this very well. Unless we love the cross, we can never say that we are loving enough. Of course, we have to qualify that assertion. It’s when we love the cross the way God wills it—the way Christ loves it—that we can really say that we are loving as we should, or loving with the fullness of love.
We have to be clear about this truth of our faith. If we truly have love, the love that comes from God and not just our own idea of love, we should be willing to suffer and die for our beloved who in the end is none other than God, and because of God, is also everybody else.
Thus, we all need to be reminded that all our suffering has a positive and favorable aspect. It’s not all entirely bad and negative, though in itself it will always be bad. But if viewed and lived through our Christian faith, there is something in it that can give us a greater good. We may refer to this advantageous aspect of suffering as the happy Good News or Gospel of Suffering.
In this life, we have to expect and be prepared for the unavoidable pain and suffering. And this means that whether we are guilty or not of our pains and suffering, all we have to do is to go immediately to Christ who shows us how to handle our pains and suffering and who is ready to forgive us if ever we are guilty of suffering.
We should be quick to unite our suffering with that of Christ on the cross, and thus convert our suffering as the very proof of real love!
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
