The Mystery of Suffering

 

Welcome to my blog. Peace be with you.

Today, in the reading, Jesus is about to begin his journey to Jerusalem from Galilee. He knows what will happen when he arrives there and tells his disciples. It is so painful, they can believe it.

 

 

Saturday 26 September 2020

The mystery of suffering

 

Gospel

Luke 9:43-45

They were afraid to ask him what he meant

At a time when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘For your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: “The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.”’ But they did not understand him when he said this; it was hidden from them so that they should not see the meaning of it, and they were afraid to ask him about what he had just said. THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

 

Jesus is still in Galilee. He tours throughout the villages, preaching and working miracles. People were amazed at what Jesus did in healing and driving out devils. Miracles astound but they do not save. They do not reconcile us with God, nor win us the Holy Spirit of God and eternal life. Only the death of Jesus will win for us the graces of eternal salvation. The Cross is not an isolated event. Jesus is building up to that supreme moment. On the Cross, it is his whole life of perfect love, obedience, and service that he offers to his Father in reparation for our sins.

The disciples did not understand when he said that he would be handed over to the power of me. They were still men wedded to the values of this world. They now believed that he was the Messiah and indeed the Son of God. Yet they could not understand that the greatest person in the world should die on a Cross. It simply did not make sense to their worldly way of thinking.

In our sufferings, which come and we cannot avoid, whether physical, domestic, social, or of any kind, we too should unite ourselves with the sufferings of Jesus. Through him we must offer them for the conversion of the world and particularly for those who have caused the sufferings. At the end of our life uniting ourselves with Jesus on the Cross we offer our whole life to God the Father. Into your hands I commend my spirit. May Mary, his Mother, be with us too when we leave this world, as she was with Jesus.