YEAR OF SAINT PAUL By Dave Pivonka, TOR
Fifth in a series of Reflections on the Life of Saint Paul
For the Jubilee Year of St. Paul
June 28, 2008-June 29, 2009
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St. Paul and Suffering
By Fr. David Pivonka, TOR
Why does my mother have to suffer? Why did my child have to get sick? Why does life seem to be so hard? All good questions and questions I am sure we have all asked at one time or another. Life is difficult. It just is. And St. Paul understood this as well as anyone. Paul reminds the community in Corinth of the suffering he has endured stating that his suffering has been more intense than theirs. “. . . I have far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death. Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure” (2 Cor 11:23-27).
So often in our life we try to run away from suffering, we try to keep away from the cross. But St. Paul is very different. He says, when writing to the Colossians, that he rejoices in his sufferings. Think about this for a moment. Do you, do I, rejoice in our suffering? Perhaps in moments of grace I can accept them, but rejoice? That is an amazing step. St. Paul goes on to say to the Galatians that he desires only to boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 6:14). There are often times when it is difficult for us to understand suffering and when it is even more difficult to accept. Can we, as Paul did, really boast of the cross or do we believe, as the Corinthians did, that the “message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” Contrast this to what Paul believed; “…but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).
It all boils down to this fundamental reality which is that for St. Paul the cross is the power of God! To the world, then and now, the cross makes no sense; it is absurdity and foolishness. But to Paul it is a sign of hope. It is the confirmation that love is more powerful than hate and light defeats darkness. What a tremendous conversion of heart and mind we would experience if we were more able to believe, as Paul did, that the cross is God’s power alive in our lives. How different would our spiritual life be if we allowed God to reveal his love and power to us in the midst of our suffering?
God is revealed in a very particular way in the cross. We can never lose sight of the self-revelation of God at the cross. At times this is difficult for us to look at and we prefer to look away or ignore our crosses. We must not do this. God is there and desires to show himself in the midst of our suffering and darkness. If we can find God at the cross, if we can find God’s love shown to us in the cross, we can find God anywhere. St. Paul reminds us that if we can find Jesus in the darkness of the cross we can find him in the darkness of sickness, pain and even death. This truly is something in which to boast and rejoice.
© National Service Committee November 2008. All rights reserved.