Suffering In Life Of Christ By Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Many of us suffer in our lives, Archbishop Fulton Sheen endured suffering from a ten year disgruntled with his superior, Cardinal Francis Spellman. Though this was difficult, Sheen did not act out of bitterness and never publicly spoke ill of Cardinal Spellman. It was through this suffering that one of the greatest fruits came from Sheen’s life, the writing of his book Life of Christ. It is through this that Sheen shows the good that comes out of suffering and we can always expect suffering. It was Christ that said “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:18-25).

Although Christ promises persecution for his followers, God never intended for suffering to enter the world. Suffering is a consequence of death, which was brought into the world by Adam and Eve. It is our continual choice to sin that keeps suffering in our world and the only ways we could eliminate it is by matching our will to God’s or by God taking away our free will. Since the latter option will never happen, our continual suffering is brought on by ourselves and our resistance to align our wills with God’s.

Sheen speaks about how there would be no Resurrection on Easter Sunday if there was not great suffering on Good Friday, in the same way we can not expect happiness without suffering.

Some moments it feels as if we suffer much more than we experience joy, but we are meant to suffer greatly here for the bliss that awaits in heaven. As Sheen says, “pleasure is reserved for the next world; that is why it plays traitor to us here. Pain is not intended for the next world that is why we can exhaust it here" (Zia

30).

Christ suffered greatly on earth, particularly on the cross. By his crucifixion suffering itself was redeemed because he changed suffering from being just an awful thing that happened to being a sacrifice to God. Pope St. John Paul II tells us that our pain can unite us to the cross, "Thus each man, in his suffering can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ” (Zia 36). God gives us each our own unique crosses and by carrying them with the right attitude we can let our sufferings be a sacrifice to God and grow in holiness

One thing I learned is that Christ first forgave his enemies from the cross. I often think of Christ as being nice to everyone and forgiving anyone for any reason, but it wasn’t until I read this that I realized that while Christ preached to forgive enemies he hadn’t done so until he was on the cross. When he said “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” Jesus forgave everyone who had wronged him not just for their sins, but for causing him pain(Luke 23:24). He showed them love when they showed him the opposite. Jesus’ love for his enemies transformed his pain into sacrifice, bringing the Divine into the earthly action of suffering.

God gives us all our own crosses, I’ve been told this many times before but I’ve never stopped and thought about how "every cross is custom tailored for us by the divine carpenter. No two crosses are exactly alike" (Zia 34). God gives us each our cross, our suffering and has a plan for the fruit that it will bear if we handle our pain with love. While my friends and I might struggle with the same things, our sufferings are unique and the sacrifice of it we give to God is a completely new gift from each person.

I have always thought that the only important person on Calvary was Jesus, but I am realizing that the thieves next to Jesus not only show how Jesus is also true man but they bring human reactions to suffering to life. One man is a fountain of hate while the other realizes his faults and asks Christ to forgive them even though he doesn’t deserve mercy. The thieves teach us how to not only deal with pain appropriately, but to use our suffering as sacrifice to grow closer to God.

One way Christians can improve the way they live their lives is revolutionizing how they suffer. With pain we are given two options, to let our suffering “lead us to bitterness or inflame us with a sense of the divine" (Zia 31). The options are personified on Calvary with the two thieves next to Jesus. One became so absorbed in his bitterness that his mouth became a breeding ground for hate. This happens to many Christians, we undergo a tragedy like a family death and we hatefully question why God could be so awful and let something like this happen.

The other thief on Calvary let his suffering bring him to learn of Christ and accept his fate with grace and hope of heaven. There are Christians who live their life like this. In Haiti after the earthquake Catholic Relief Services went to help the community and in one woman’s destroyed house her family wrote “God is good” on the wall. In the trauma of natural disaster and having nothing left they still rejoiced in having life and God’s love. This is how we should look at our suffering, acceptance and trust that God will bring good out of our suffering.

Our pain can be more than just feeling awful on earth, but it can be a preparation for eternity in heaven and at the same time our pain can bring forth no fruit if we deal with it rashly. We can waste pain, let it flow into anger instead of letting it help us die “little deaths" that prepare our hearts and minds to be properly disposed to accept, rather than to fear, our own death when it finally comes (Zia 37). Through acceptance and learning to deal with our sufferings we unite our will with God and grow in holiness and closer to our end goal of heaven. Not only do we get closer to heaven but we find greater peace on earth when we choose to handle our suffering with love. Sheen teaches us that "Love is the only force in the world which can make pain bearable by transforming it into the joy of sacrifice" (Zia 36). Through love we can learn to change our negatives to gifts to God and find the good that will come from our suffering.