A survey was done in
America a few years ago to see who were the happiest people and why.
The survey found that the happiest people were old black women.
The second happiest people were old Hispanic women. The third
happiest group of people were old women in general. Why?
Because they had suffered so much throughout their lives. It had
taught them so much and they had learnt to be at peace. And now
they were very content and very little would put them out. I
used to notice the same thing with many of the old people when I
worked in the hospital. Older people were usually much more patient
and tolerant that younger people, even though they would often be
suffering more. But they had generally learnt to be tolerant
and patient. They weren’t too easily phased.
We always
wonder when we see people suffering, why we have to suffer so much,
especially at the end of someone’s life. It is the one thing
that all of us find hard to face and we have no explanation for.
However, the whole journey of Lent tells us a lot about the place of
suffering.
Suffering is
an unavoidable part of this life, where everything is so imperfect,
but it does have its use. God doesn’t want us to suffer, but
God brings great good out of the suffering by allowing us to be
transformed by it. However, it is a slow process and we don’t
usually see the benefit of it until afterwards, which makes it all
the more difficult. If at the time of suffering we knew that it
would lead to something much greater, it would make it a lot easier,
but the problem is that we usually cannot see any point to it at the
time, and that is part of the suffering.
Unless a wheat
grain falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a single grain.
But if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.
The whole
life of Jesus is also telling us something about what we are called
to. As you know, his life was one of total self-giving.
He lived for others. Yet in spite of all that he did, he was
continually persecuted. And in the end he was betrayed for
money, falsely tried and executed and yet he was totally innocent.
Totally unjust, and yet look at what God brought about from the death
and resurrection of Jesus: we are now offered eternal happiness with
God when we die. From the point of view of worldly thinking it
makes absolutely no sense, but seen with the eyes of faith we see
something quite different and that is why our faith is so important.
It helps us to make sense of what does not make any sense from a
human point of view.
You know how
angry we all get when we are faced with injustice. What’s
going on with the economy is a good example. The greed of a few
causing great suffering for so many and as a result everyone is
enraged and rightly so. It is totally unjust and yet I have no
doubt that we will see great good come out of it as well.
It says in
the second reading, ‘Although he was Son, Christ learnt to obey
through suffering.’ Jesus didn’t want to suffer any more
than we do, but he trusted that the Father knew what He was doing,
and so He accepted his will. He became perfect through
suffering. We don’t want to suffer either, but we try to
trust that God knows what he is doing.
Our society
continually tells us that we should be able to have everything
exactly as we want it and whenever we want it, and that we should
never have to give in to anyone. Everything is for our
pleasure. But that’s not what Jesus taught us. He said,
‘Try to enter by the narrow door’ (Lk 13.24). And he said,
‘Anyone who loves his life loses it, but anyone who hates his life
in this world, keeps it for the eternal life’. Jesus is
telling us not to invest everything in this life, because it is
passing and what we have here is not really important. The only
thing that is important is what will happen to us in the next life.
We are being faced with a long-term investment. If we try to
find total happiness here, we will be disappointed, because it is not
to be found. When Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette at
Lourdes she said to her ‘I cannot promise you happiness in this
world but in the next.’ That is also why it is so sad when
you see people driven by greed, even if they get away with it.
They are trying to find happiness in this life, through money.
But no matter how much they are able to acquire, they still won’t
be happy. It cannot bring happiness, because we are much more
than that.
The Lord is
telling us not to be afraid of what we have to go through in this
life because it is gradually transforming us and helping us to become
the best version of ourselves. God is well aware of the
potential we have and God wants us to reach it. That is why we
must trust him with the process of what He allows happen to us.
Unless a wheat
grain falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a single grain.
But if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.
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