The season of Lent gives us many opportunities to reflect on the mystery of Suffering. Suffering is a hard topic to discuss and talk about even among
relatives. But it is a reality of life. We all suffer in many different ways, including physical, mental, emotional, and moral. While medicine can seek to ease physical, mental, and emotional suffering, it cannot approach moral
suffering. Also we suffer at different degrees.

The Bible is largely about suffering. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, people of God, though chosen and elected by God himself, experience suffering in their daily lives. They do not always find answers to the “why do we suffer?” question and many times suffering is transcendent and involves a sense of injustice. In the Gospel of the fourth Sunday of Lent, Jesus does not agree with his disciples who think that sickness and suffering are punishment from God. On thecontrary to that Jewish view, Jesus gives one
possible reason that the man in front of him was born blind: “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him,”   says Jesus. Yes, if it had not been because of his blindness, he would not have encountered the Savior. Through this blind man, Christ showed that he is truly the Light of this darkened world. Of course, from our point of view, suffering remains a mystery. As I try to embrace that mystery, it is always important to realize that I am not alone in this world of suffering. Once you open your eyes to the suffering of others, you see that we all suffer everyday like in dispersion throughout the world and through out time. Our suffering, or the suffering of our loved ones,opens us to the Mercy of God and becomes a
source of graces so that we might become more compassionate people.

It is always good to read the lives of the Saints and learn from them how to embrace the suffering and live in our body the mystery of
suffering, passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can find many resources that help us to deal with our suffering, but I would
recommend to you the apostolic letter of St. Pope John Paul II, from 1984, “Salvifici Doloris,”meaning “Redemptive suffering.” It is available online in a PDF format that is easy to download. In his reflections of the theme of suffering, he leads us to understand that the “why” of suffering is only answered truly in the revelation of divine love. Only God gives the
definitive answer to this problem of suffering through the cross of His Son Jesus Christ. The famous verse of John 3:16 (“ God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life.”) helps us to contemplate the miracles of Jesus and in his own life the gift of God to each of us.
 
May we always remember, as Pope Saint John Paul II says,  that we are sharers in the suffering of Christ. Because the Church is the Body of Christ, that Body shares in the sufferings of Christ Himself. Also, St. Paul says, we “complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His Body, the Church.” This means that man’s suffering is joined with the Paschal mystery. As we draw closer to the celebration of Easter, may the Lord be our light in the darkness of our unbelief so that we might find answers to all our problems in Him. May the remaining days reveal the supernatural beauty of Suffering of the Lord as well as ours. Since God has bound it up with salvation, may any pain our loved ones and we suffer be offered up with Jesus’ suffering so that all of us may come to find our identity in Christ.
 
Fr. Lambert