Lenten Retreat (Take Up Your Cross) - Second Meditation (The Good of Sufferings)

You who willing endured your sufferings for us, to show us that the way to salvation is the hard and narrow way. Recall to mind the words that Our Lord spoke to St. Peter, when our first Pope rashly tried to defend Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane:

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3 Judas therefore having received a band of soldiers and servants from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and said to them: Whom seek ye?

5 They answered him: Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith to them: I am he. And Judas also, who betrayed him, stood with them.

6 As soon therefore as he had said to them: I am he; they went backward and fell to the ground.

7 Again therefore he asked them: Whom seek ye? And they said: Jesus of Nazareth.

8 Jesus answered: I have told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way,

9 That the word might be fulfilled which he said: Of them whom thou hast given me, I have not lost any one.

10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus.

11 Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard. The chalice which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

Our Lord’s words teaches us the reply that we should give to our rebellious senses, when they incline us not to receive the tribulations which God send us with readiness. Our Lord also seeks to lessen our dread of suffering by the use of a new image. What the prophets referred to as a sea and a deluge, Our Lord calls a chalice. Compared to the immensity of the sea, a chalice is a small thing, but it is also a holy thing.

When God sends us some humiliation, or affront, or infirmity, our temptation is to dwell upon the reasons why we are suffering in such a way, but by doing so we make the trial to appear far greater than it really is. On the contrary try to make it seem as light and small as a chalice. Our Lord looked upon His terrible passion as a small chalice in comparison with the intensity of His desire to suffer for us.

We must also try to have some love of suffering for Christ, and then every great trial will seem to us as only a small chalice. Or again, if we weigh our sufferings against the sins we have committed, with the grace that comforts and helps us, and the glory that is to crown us in the next life, it will appear exceedingly small and light.

ILLUSTRATION

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 spot 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: “O my God,” he said, “You know 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 committed.”

These words of Jesus 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 Blessed Lord, “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

SECOND POINT: The chalice which my father hath given

PRESENTATION

Returning to Our Lord in the Garden, recall again His words, “Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard. The chalice which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” He does not say that the chalice has been given to Him by Judas, nor does he say that it came from His enemies the Jews, but by His own beloved Father, ‘the chalice which my Father hath given me’.

Even in though His Passion had begun, He did not cease to teach. These words were to teach us that in our troubles, we must not stop to think of our adversaries or our enemies, or of the immediate cause of our troubles. In those moments we must raise our eyes to our most loving and provident Father who arranges all things for our good, and Who acts as a true father even when He corrects us. As the Book of Proverbs again says:

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11 My son, reject not the correction of the Lord: and do not faint when thou art chastised by him:

12 For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth: and as a father in the son he pleaseth himself.

Notice too, that Our Blessed Lord does not say ‘the calice which my Father gives’ but rather, ‘the chalice which my Father hath given’. This is meant to remind us that this trial was intended by God from all eternity. Likewise, in our sufferings, we must remember that God providence has intended them from the moment He destined us to eternal glory, and that it is a means to attain that glory.

If we do nothing but evade and refuse an occasion of suffering, we may very well be opposing the will of God in our regard, and may even be exposing our soul to immortal danger. Salvation must depend more upon suffering than on anything else. We read in the Book of Judith:

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21 And now, brethren, as you are the ancients among the people of God, and their very soul resteth upon you: comfort their hearts by your speech, that they may be mindful how our fathers were tempted that they might be proved, whether they worshipped their God truly.

22 They must remember how our father Abraham was tempted, and being proved by many tribulations, was made the friend of God.

23 So Isaac, so Jacob, so Moses, and all that have pleased God, passed through many tribulations, remaining faithful.

24 But they that did not receive the trials with the fear of the Lord, but uttered their impatience and the reproach of their murmuring against the Lord,

25 Were destroyed by the destroyer, and perished by serpents.

ILLUSTRATION

When St. Vincent de Paul was a young man, he was afflicted with so much pain that sometimes he could not get any rest night or day. But in the midst of all this pain, his countenance was always serene and joyful, as if he was enjoying perfect health. Never was there heard to come forth from his mouth a complaint of any kind, and he was always blessing and praising God for His goodness to him. He looked on his sufferings as so many special blessings from God; and when at any time the severity of the pain brought a sigh to his lips, he immediately turned towards the crucifix, where he always found new courage. “I am suffering very little indeed,” he used to then say, “in comparison with the inconceivable pain which Jesus Christ suffered for love of me.”

One of his priests having one day seen that his legs were swollen to a great extent and were full of sores, said to him in a tone of compassion: “O my Father, the pain you suffer from these sores must surely be insupportable.”

The Saint immediately answered: “What do you say? How can you say that anything that God sends to us is insupportable? May God forgive you for what you have said. It is not in that manner that one ought to speak of what Jesus Christ ordains. Besides, is it not just that God should chastise with severity those who have offended Him as I have done? And do we not entirely belong to God, and cannot He do with us whatever He likes?”

THIRD POINT: The medicine of suffering

PRESENTATION

Once again, returning to Our Lord at the moment of His arrest in the garden, “Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard. The chalice which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” ‘Shall I not drink it?’ We tend to think of sufferings as evil things, poisonous things, but why would Our Lord drink of a poisoned chalice? He would not, because the chalice is not filled with poison, but with medicine. His passion was a remedial chalice not intended for Himself but for us.

That trial too, which is sent by God to us, is a remedy. Of course, not all medicines taste pleasant when we take them, and when we consume the medicine of suffering all we taste is the bitterness of it, but the bitterness of medicine soon passes and health is restored. How long will our sufferings last? A few years, a few months, a few days, and the salvation which it secures will be eternal.

We should be eager to receive the chalice from the hands of our Father, and courageously drink from it, because even though it is bitter it is a salutary draught, giving life eternal. The lives of the saints bear this truth out in abundance.

A certain holy man, who had passed a whole year without being sick or suffering any pain, lovingly complained of it to God, saying: “O my God, Thou hast surely forsaken me this year, since Thou hast not sent me any infirmity.”

One day Blessed Angela of Foligno was asked how she could suffer so much and be at the same time so full of joy and happiness. She answered: “Believe me, we do not know the real value of suffeings, for, if we really knew their value, instead of repining when under pain or suffering, we would rather rejoice, and would always be happiest when we had most to suffer.”

When the Apostle St. Andrew was being led to the place of his death, he saw at a distance the cross on which he was to die. As soon as he beheld it he exclaimed with great joy: “O good cross, so many years desired, and now at length granted to my longing soul; with confidence and great joy I come unto thee. Do thou in like manner rejoice and be glad at receiving a disciple of Him Who hung upon thee.”

The saints drank the chalice of sufferings in abundance knowing their saving medicinal value, do we?

ILLUSTRATION

Among the companions of St. Francis there was one who was remarkable for his great simplicity. He was called Brother Juniper. No one ever saw him angry, and if anyone desired to see him at the height of his joy, he had only to call him names and laugh at him.

One day he was passing through the streets along with St. Francis, when he met a person who had been a great companion of his in his boyhood, but who had grown up without any fear of God.

As soon as this man saw Brother Juniper, he began to call him a fool for having deserted the world and its pleasures. But as these words only made the good brother laugh, he became very angry, and uttered every abusive word that his memory could suggest.

Brother Juniper was only the more pleased at this, and taking up the ends of his tunic, as people are accustomed to do when they are going to carry something, he said: “Come, don’t be so sparing with those precious stones; throw me some more of them.”

This was the name he gave to all the injuries and insults people gave him.

St. Francis, who heard these words, said to those who were with him: “I wish we had a whole forest of such Junipers as this one.”

CONCLUSION

When we receive sufferings and humiliations at the hands of God, we are called to relish them as the necessary medicine of salvation. They are but small things in comparison to the love and grace that God showers upon us, though they may taste bitter in the moment, they are the saving remedy to our sinfulness. Like the insults hurled at Brother Juniper, God will one day gather up each of the trials and affronts that we have suffered lovingly for Him, and will place them like precious jewels in the crown which He will give us in Heaven.

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