Dominica III post Pascha - Suffering Leads to Joy

PRESENTATION: A little suffering leads to a lot of joy

Beginning with today’s Gospel and continuing now for the remainder of the Paschal season, our Gospel passage returns to the Last Supper as recounted by St. John. As with so many aspects of St. John’s Gospel, his account of the Last Supper is unique. As we probably know, it is the only Gospel not to mention the Institution of the Eucharist directly. It is also the only Gospel to recount Our Lord’s Farewell Discourse, as scripture scholars describe it, comprising three full chapters.

However, since the Church has given us these Gospel passages to consider after Easter rather than before, it tells us something important. It tells us that while Our Lord’s words were preparing His disciples for His death and resurrection, they have another meaning. Presented to us in this post-Easter context His words take on an eschatological significance. Eschatology is the part of theology that studies the Last Things. So, in other words, Our Lord’s Discourse has a meaning beyond the end of His earthly life, it has a meaning for the end of our earthly lives as well.

When Christ says, “A little while, and now you shall not see me: and again a little while, and you shall see me: because I go to the Father”, the disciples are confused. They discuss amongst themselves what this could mean. We know, of course, that he was talking about the three days between his crucifixion and resurrection, but understood in our new context, the “little while” actually becomes the length of a human life.

Eighty or ninety years many not seem like a “little while”, but when measured against the eternity that awaits us in the life to come, it is incredibly short. Our Lord also uses the image of a woman in labour who forgets the labour pains once the child is born which also tells us something important about this “little while” that we spend in this life, that it will be maked by suffering.

Venerable Bede describes it like this:

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Medieval Church The Time for Labor and Agony Is Not Long

God has provided this also, that the time for labor and for agony should not be extended—not long, not enduring, but short, and so to speak, momentary: that in this short and little life should be the pain and the labors; that in the life which is eternal should be the crown and the reward of merits; that the labors should quickly come to an end, but the reward of endurance should remain without end; that after the darkness of this world they should behold that most beautiful light, and should receive a blessedness greater than the bitterness of all passions.

The problem comes when we expect the joys of the next life while we’re still in this one, and if we fail to embrace this life’s sufferings, our sufferings will be far greater in the next.

EXPLANATION: St. Peter of Verona learns to endure

St. Peter of Verona, one of God’s holy martyrs, was falsely accused of a great crime, and in punishment for it was banished to a lonely place far away from all who knew him. For a long time he bore this heavy cross with joy and patience, but as the years rolled on he began to feel weary. One day as he was praying before the great crucifix in the church, he complained to Our Lord.

“Oh my God,” he said, “You know that I am innocent of the crime of which I was accused, and that I am suffering this punishment without having merited it.”

But Our Lord answered him, “And I also, Peter, was innocent. Did I deserve to receive all the injuries and insults and sufferings men heaped upon Me in My passion? Learn, then, from My example to suffer with joy the greatest punishments even for crimes which you have never comitted.”

These words of Christ consoled him. From that time he felt great joy in suffering, and nothing gave him so much consolation as to suffer humiliation for the love of God. God in His own good time showed the innocence of His servant, and he was not only restored to his former position, but loaded with greater honour and glory than before, according to the words of Our Lord, “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

In this life, we all experience suffering, but the choice is ours whether we wish to embrace or reject those sufferings.

IMPLICATION: Bitterness or joy, the choice is ours

St. Augustine in his City of God, says this about the sufferings of life:

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Early Church Enjoyment and Suffering Common to the Good and Wicked

To the divine providence it has seemed good to prepare in the world to come for the righteous good things, which the unrighteous will not enjoy; and for the wicked evil things, by which the good will not be tormented. But as for the good things of this life, and its ills, God has willed that these should be common to both, so that we might not too eagerly covet the things that wicked men are seen equally to enjoy, nor shrink with an unseemly fear from the ills that even good men often suffer. There is, too, a very great difference in the purpose served both by those events that we call adverse and those called prosperous. For the good man is neither uplifted with the good things of time, nor broken by its ills; but the wicked man, because he is corrupted by this world’s happiness, feels himself punished by its unhappiness.

Put more simply, everyone suffers in some way in this life, and everyone can experience good things, but here’s the choice, we can recognize that the good things we may experience in this life are passing and temporary, and so when they are taken away we can remain happy in God, and look forward to the good things to come after the “little while” of this life.

On the other hand, we can cling to the good things of this life, and when they are taken away we can become bitter, complaining and lamenting our sufferings, getting angry with those who may have caused those sufferings, and even getting angry with God for allowing us to experience those sufferings. Eventually that bitterness, can lead us to eternal suffering.

If we wish to remain positive, even in the midst of suffering there are two very simple things we can do. The first is, as St. Peter of Verona was doing, to meditate on the Cross of Christ. Remember all of the sufferings that Christ endured even though he was completely innocent. Remember the condemnation, the insults, the mockery, and the physical pain that Our Lord willingly endured, and consider how small our sufferings often are by comparison.

The second thing we can do, is to pray the penitential psalms. These seven psalms depict individuals in just about every kind of terrible suffering, including mental and spiritual anguish, physical illness and pain, and attacks by enemies, but who nonetheless find joy in God. They are also a good reminder that quite often, the source of our suffering is ourselves.

This week, when we encounter the sufferings of life, whether big or small, let us remember that the pains of this life are nothing compared to the joys that await in the life to come, and when we are tempted to sadness, bitterness, or anger because of life’s sufferings, let us go to God, remembering that they will only last “a little while”.