‘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.’
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 African-American 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. They had grown so much through what they had suffered and now they were generally quite content and very little would put them out. And I notice the same thing with many of the older people in my work. Most of them are quite happy and patient, much more patient that young people.
We always wonder when we see people suffering, why they have to suffer so much, especially at the end of their life. We feel they have had enough suffering and they should be able to relax a bit now. Today, euthanasia is presented to us as a way to avoid suffering, but that goes against what God teaches us. Only God can give and take life. Also, the suffering that people go through can be transformative. Sometimes you can see how it changes people and families. If we deliberately cut that out through euthanasia, we may be depriving someone of a really important step in their journey, only we can’t see it.
If you think of times of suffering that you have been through and people go through the most horrendous ordeals. But when you look back, you can often see that it helped us to grow, mature, become wiser, more compassionate, even though we would rather not go through it.
We look at death as the end of the life we know and to us this life is everything, because it is the only thing we know. When we are dying we are coming to the end of all that we see as good and worthwhile. But if you imagine what it would be like if we could step over that threshold into the next life and look back. Then we wouldn’t see death as the end of everything, rather as the final and most important step of the journey to heaven. Then we would probably realize how important it is to be ready for that very important step. We would realize that this life is only a preparation for the next life. You could call it a training ground, to learn the ways of God and to choose to love him and follow in his steps, or not.
If the next life is forever, then the preparation that we make for it in this life is extremely important. God knows this better than we do, so He helps us to learn in the most effective way possible, which is often through suffering. It’s not that God makes us suffer. Suffering is part of this life, but God uses it to help us to learn what is really important. And you can see in the hospitals, the effect that suffering often has on people. People who sometimes come in arrogant and full of themselves, are soon humbled and realize that they are no better than anyone else, and that they too have to wait their turn.
I remember visiting a man who had just been admitted to hospital. He was there with his wife. His wife told me that he was a movie producer and obviously wanted me to realize how important he was. She kept emphasizing how important he was. A few days later he was still there, but was just like all the other patients, having to wait his turn. His earthly importance didn’t make him any more special when it came to his mortality.
It says in the second reading, ‘Although he was Son, Christ learnt to obey through suffering’ and that ‘He was made perfect through suffering.’ Christ didn’t want to suffer any more than we do, but he trusted in the Father’s will. If you think of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He begged the Father if there was any way that he could avoid going through what was facing him. ‘Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will, but yours’ (Mt 26:39). We don’t want to suffer either, but we must also learn to trust that God knows what He is doing. One of the hardest parts of suffering is that we can’t see any point to it, or any good outcome from it. If we knew that it would have a good outcome, that would help us endure, but we can’t see anything.
The society that we live in tells us continually that we should have everything as we want it and that we shouldn’t have to suffer. Everything is for our pleasure and our fulfillment, 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’. In other words, if you want to follow the ways of God, which lead to heaven, then it will require change, humility and God will teach you how to grow in your spirit, so that when we die, we will be more ready to meet him. That means we won’t always be able to have everything as we want it. We are called to sacrifice, rather than seek self-fulfillment. This generally happens through the ongoing challenges that we face through our life. You who have children know how much sacrifice is involved in raising a family and in being married and in religious life and in any way of life where we try to follow the Lord.
It is no wonder Satan offers us so much pleasure and temptation, because he doesn’t want us to get to heaven and this world is the only one in which he can destroy us, by trying to make us choose against God. Jesus called him ‘The prince of this world, a liar and deceiver,’ because he tempts us through this world. He tells us, ‘God doesn’t love you. See how He makes you suffer. God is unjust. If God were really good, He would make your life happy.’ We are in the middle of a spiritual battle and that’s why we need to arm ourselves with the spiritual strength that God gives us.
St. Paul writes, ‘Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places’ (Ephesians 6:12). How did he know this? Because God revealed it to him. But if we live as though none of this is real, as so many people do, then we leave ourselves wide open to the workings of Satan and his minions, who are constantly trying to lead us away from God, with worldly temptations and what seems to be the easier way.
How do we fight the dark spiritual powers? Through prayer, reading God’s word, receiving the Eucharist at mass, going to confession and living as the Lord shows us how to live. The Scriptures keep reminding us of what is true and acceptable to God. They are usually the opposite of worldly values and this is why we need to keep hearing them, so that we are not deceived.
So I must ask myself, do I want to live what God shows me? It is the narrow winding path, but it is also the path that leads to God. If we allow him to, God will transform us through all that we go through here on earth, the good and bad.
‘Unless a wheat grain falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it produces much fruit.’
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