In this next to last post in this series on suffering, we
will take a look at what it means to help
those who are suffering.
Saint John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Salvifici Doloris, references the
Parable of the Good Samaritan. Here is
the parable in its entirety:
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And
who is my neighbor?” Jesus
replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the
hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half
dead. Now by chance a priest
was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to
the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came
near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his
wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal,
brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii,
gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come
back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was
a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:29-37)
John Paul II has this to say regarding this parable:
For it indicates what
the relationship of each of us must be towards our suffering neighbour. We are
not allowed to "pass by on the other side" indifferently; we must
"stop" beside him. Everyone
who stops beside the suffering of another person, whatever form it may take, is a
Good Samaritan. This stopping does not mean curiosity but availability. It is
like the opening of a certain interior disposition of the heart, which also has
an emotional expression of its own. The name "Good Samaritan" fits every individual who is sensitive to the
sufferings of others, who
"is moved" by the misfortune of another.
Nevertheless, the Good
Samaritan of Christ's parable does not stop at sympathy and compassion alone.
They become for him an incentive to actions aimed at bringing help to the
injured man. In a word, then, a Good Samaritan is one who brings help in suffering, whatever its nature may be. Help which is, as far as possible,
effective. He puts his whole heart into it, nor does he spare material means.
We can say that he gives himself, his very "I", opening this
"I" to the other person. Here we touch upon one of the key-points of
all Christian anthropology. Man cannot "fully find himself except through
a sincere gift of himself" . A Good Samaritan is the person capable of exactly such a gift of self.
Just as Christ made
the supreme gift of self, down to his last drop of blood, for us, so we too,
in imitation of, and in union with him, through the Holy Spirit, are called to
likewise make gifts of ourselves. Helping
those in suffering is one way.
Suffering, in the words of the Holy Father, “unleashes love”.
We have mentioned
earlier that in Christ, all human suffering can be redemptive. So we can say truthfully that Christ has
united himself with every human suffering.
This is why it is true what Christ says in the remarkable statements below that I
have underlined below in Our Lord’s description of the Final Judgement:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and
all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before
him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand
and the goats at the left. Then
the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to
drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you
gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you
visited me.’ Then the
righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave
you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a
stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or
in prison and visited you?’ And
the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of
the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’
Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from
me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to
drink, was a stranger and you did not welcome me,
naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not
visit me.’ Then they also
will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger
or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I
tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not
do it to me.’ And these
will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25: 31-46)
We cannot ignore
those in suffering. It is a mandate
from God, as told in the aforementioned Parable of the Good Samaritan, and description
of the Final Judgement. If we ignore
those in suffering, we ignore Christ.
Ignoring Christ is a very bad thing that can have dire, eternal
consequences. If we ignore suffering, we
will likely endure horrific suffering for all eternity (see Part 6 of this
series for a description of this suffering.)
Beyond being a
mandate for our eternal salvation, however, we need to remember helping those
in suffering makes us better people. In
giving of ourselves, we receive more.
In emptying of ourselves, we allow room for God and neighbor. We said before that suffering “unleashes love”. In a way, it also can unleash the best
version of ourselves, to allow us to be all we can be.
John Paul II sums
up Christ’s teaching on suffering as having two aspects. First, Christ teaches us to do good by his
suffering. This we discussed in
detail in Part 5 of this series when we discussed us making up what is “lacking”
in the sufferings of Christ. Secondly, he teaches us to do good to those
who suffer, what we have discussed here.
In these two things, you have the answer to the mystery of suffering,
and hopefully an inkling as to why God allows it.
So, before we end
this series (which we will in our next post), let us briefly recap where we
have been so far in this series:
1)
We saw
that our suffering is a result of sin.
2)
We saw
that specifically, it is the effect of original sin.
3)
We saw
the devil also has a role in fostering our suffering.
4)
We saw
that Christ suffered when he became one of us out of love for us, and that
because of him, suffering has meaning and does not have the last word.
5)
We saw
that we can make our suffering part of his in the work of redemption.
6)
We saw
that the suffering in hell, unlike our current suffering, has no hope or end,
and is much worse than any suffering here.
7)
We saw
that Mary, the mother of Jesus, suffered and can be a model and intercessor for
us in our suffering.
8)
We saw
that we have a role to play to help those in suffering, and it benefits us, as well.
As I stated
earlier, I think we can begin to see now perhaps why God allows suffering. I hope you can see that there is enough reason
and evidence that there is a Divine Plan in all this that works for the good of
everyone who suffers, and everyone who helps those who suffer. (I would imagine for most of us, we would
fall in both categories.)
In the past post in this series, I am going to
try to address an issue that perhaps remains unanswered in our minds:
If suffering is a result of sin, that can
explain suffering as a result of people doing bad things. However, how does that explain “natural” suffering
like diseases that weaken or even kill us, or natural disasters? Does sin cause that?
We will take a look
at that next time.
Joseph, mirror of
patience, pray for us.
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