The mystery of suffering, Part Six

This is probably the saddest post I will ever write.  There is absolutely nothing worse than the sufferings one endures in hell.

Before we discuss those in detail, here is a link to my post last year where I discussed hell in general as a topic:  http://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/tough-teachings-hell.html

In this post, we will focus specifically on the sufferings one endures in hell.

We will focus on two Saints who gave us details on hell, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, and Saint Alphonsus Marie Liguori.   What they say is not within the proper domain of Magisterial teaching, so what they say is not required to be believed by all Catholics.  However, seeing those who said these things are canonized Saints, which means they are in heaven, and that what they teach does not go against Church teaching in any way, their words should be given a high level of respect and credence.  Furthermore, it is also worth noting that Faustina lived in the 20^th century, and Alphonsus in the 18^th, so we are not talking about people who lived a long time ago and therefore, were subject to “ancient” ideas of hell that are not relevant anymore.  No, their visions are indeed very relevant to us today.  Souls do go to hell, even today, despite some, including a few in the Church, saying that that is not true.

Saint Faustina, through whom the Lord gave us the Divine Mercy devotion, was given a revelation of seven specific sufferings in hell.  She listed them in #741 in her spiritual classic, Divine Mercy in My Soul.    Here is what she said specifically about the suffering in hell:

"Today, I was led by an angel to the Chasms of Hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: The First Torture that constitutes hell is:      The loss of God. The Second is:      Perpetual remorse of conscience. The Third is      That one's condition will never change. The Fourth is:      The fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it. A terrible suffering since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God's anger. The Fifth Torture is:      Continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own. The Sixth Torture is: The constant company of Satan. The Seventh Torture is: Horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies.

These are the Tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. Indescribable Sufferings There are special Tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings related to the manner in which it has sinned.

Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like...how terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God's mercy upon them. O My Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend you by the least sin."

Note her last point here.  The sufferings of this world pale in comparison to the sufferings of hell.  

These sufferings, as she notes, are a result of permanent separation, permanent remorse, permanent state of being, constant smell and sight of evil, everlasting company with the devil, despair, hatred of God and everyone, and constant cursing. 

Saint Alphonsus Liguori gives us even more details in one of his sermons entitled On the Pains of Hell.  He shares some of the same ideas, like fire, darkness, and stench, but adds a few more of his own.

He agrees with Saint Faustina that there is a fire in hell.    He says: 

The Pain, then, produced-by the Fire-of Hell, is far-greater than that which is produced-by our Fire, because God has made the Fire-of this Earth for the Use-of Man, but He has Created the Fire-of Hell, purposely-for the Chastisement of Sinners; and therefore as Tertullian says, He has made it a 'Minister'-of His Justice. "This Avenging Fire is always kept-alive by the Wrath-of God.   The Damned are Buried in the Fire of Hell; hence they have an Abyss of Fire below, an Abyss of Fire above, and an Abyss of Fire on every-side. As a Fish in the Sea is surrounded-by Water, so the Unhappy Reprobate are encompassed-by Fire, on every side. This Fire shall Torment the Damned, not only 'Externally', but also 'Internally'. It will Burn the 'Bowels', the 'Heart', the 'Brains', the 'Blood' within the 'Veins', and the 'Marrow' within the 'Bones'. The 'Skin' of the Damned, shall be like a ' Caldron', in which their 'Bowels', their 'Flesh', and their 'Bones' shall be Burned. David says that the Bodies of the Damned shall be like so-many Furnaces of Fire

This fire burns and hurts us unceasingly, but it does not, as we might think, produce light.  Saint Alphonsus speaks of darkness in hell:

The Fire itself, will bring with it, the Pain of Darkness; for, by its Smoke, it will, according to Saint Jude, Produce a Storm of Darkness which shall Blind the Damned. "To whom the Storm of Darkness is Reserved, Forever" - Jude 13. Hence, Hell is called a Land of Darkness, covered-with the Shadow of Death. "A Land that is Dark and covered-with the Mist of Death: A Land of Misery and Darkness, where the Shadow of Death, and no Order, but Everlasting Horror dwelleth" - Job 10:21-22. Hell is a Dungeon, closed on every-side, into which a Ray of the Sun or Light of a Candle, never enters. Thus the Damned "Shall never see Light" - Psalm 48:20. The Fire of this World, gives Light, but the Fire of Hell, is utter Darkness 

What happens when one is exposed to the heat of fire?  One becomes thirsty.   But that thirst is never quenched in heaven.  The Saint writes: 

To Suffer a Parching Thirst, without having a 'Drop-of Water' to Quench it, is Intolerably Painful. So great is the Thirst of the Damned, that if One (1) of them were offered, all the Water on this Earth, he would exclaim: All this Water is not Sufficient to Extinguish the Burning Thirst, which I endure. But, alas! the Unhappy Damned shall never have a Single Drop of Water, to Refresh their Tongues.

When one suffers heat, thirst, and exhaustion, one begins to smell, and indeed there is an incomparable stench in hell.   Liguori writes: 

The Reprobate shall be likewise Tormented-by the Stench that pervades Hell. This Stench shall arise-from the very Bodies-of the Damned. "Out of their Carcasses shall rise a Stink" - Isaiah 34:3. The Bodies of the Damned are called 'Carcasses', not because they are Dead (for they are Living, and shall be Forever (∞), Alive-to Pain), but on Account-of the Stench, which they 'Exhale'. Would it not be very Painful to be shut-up in a 'Close' Room, with a Fetid Corpse? Saint Bonaventure says, that if the Body of One (1) of the Damned, were placed-in the Earth, it would, by its Stench, be Sufficient to-Cause the Death of all Men.

Besides odors, souls in hell emanate loud sounds that are piercing.  He writes:

They are Tormented, not only by the Stench of their Companions, but, also-by their Shrieks and Lamentations. How Painful is it to a Person, longing-for Sleep, to hear the Groans of a Sick Man, the Barking of a Dog, or the Screams of an Infant. The Damned must Listen Incessantly to the Wailing and Howling of their Associates, not for a Night, nor for a Thousand (1000) Nights, but for All Eternity (∞), without the Interruption-of a Single (1)

Not only must one experience all these beyond comparable sufferings, he or she must also experience them in a narrow space.  Alphonsus writes:

The Damned are also Tormented by the 'Narrowness' of the Place, in which they are Confined; for, although the Dungeon of Hell is Large, it will be too-Small for so many- Millions (10⁶) of the Reprobate, who like Sheep, shall be Heaped, One (1) over the Other. "They are Laid in Hell, like Sheep" - Psalm 48:15. We learn from the Scriptures, that they shall be Pressed-together like 'Grapes in the Winepress', by the Vengeance of an Angry God.   In whatever Position, the Damned shall fall-into Hell, after the General Judgment, whether on the 'Side', or on the 'Back', or on the 'Head' Downwards, in That, they must Remain-for Eternity (∞), without ever being able to 'Move' Foot or Hand or Finger, as-long-as God shall be God.

Finally, souls in hell are tormented in all their faculties.  The Saint writes:

The Reprobate, then, shall be Tormented in all the Senses of the Body. They shall be Tormented in all the Powers of the Soul. Their Memory shall be Tormented-by the Remembrance-of the Years which they had Received-from God, for the Salvation of their Souls, and which they spent in Laboring-for their own Damnation; by the Remembrance-of so many Graces and so many Divine Lights, which they Abused. Their Understanding shall be Tormented by the Knowledge of the Great Happiness which they Forfeited, in Losing their Souls, Heaven, and God, and by a Conviction, that this Loss is Irreparable. Their Will shall be Tormented by seeing that whatever they Ask or Desire, shall be Refused. "The Desire of the Wicked shall Perish" - Psalm 111:10. They shall never have any of those things for which they Wish, and must Forever (∞) Suffer all that is Repugnant to their Will. They would wish to Escape-from these Torments, and to find Peace; but in these Torments, they must Forever (∞) remain, and Peace they shall never Enjoy.

Do souls in hell get a reprieve from their sufferings?  No.  He writes: 

In this Life, how Great so-ever may be the Tribulations which we Suffer, there is always some Relief or Interruption. The Damned must remain Forever (∞) in a Pit of Fire, always in Torture, always Weeping, without ever Enjoying a Moment's Repose

Does anyone in hell have pity on them?  No.  The Saint concludes:

But, perhaps there is someone to Pity their Sufferings? At the very Time that they are so-much Afflicted, the Devils continually Reproach them, with the Sins for which they are Tormented, saying: Suffer, Burn, Live Forever in Despair; you yourselves have been the Cause of your Destruction. And do not the Saints, the Divine Mother, and God, Who is called the Father of Mercies, take Compassion on their Miseries? No; "The Sun shall be Darkened and the Moon shall not give her Light, and the Stars shall Fall from Heaven" - Matthew 24:29. The Saints, represented-by the Stars, not-only do not Pity the Damned, but they even Rejoice-in the Vengeance Inflicted on the Injuries, Offered-to their God. Neither can the Divine Mother Pity them, because they Hate her Son. And Jesus Christ, Who Died-for the Love of them, cannot Pity them, because they have Despised His Love, and have voluntarily brought themselves, to Perdition.

These visions should scare us to our core.  They do me.  

The suffering in hell, unlike the suffering of Christ which is redemptive, and human suffering in this world, which can be redemptive, can in no way ever be redemptive.

The suffering hell, unlike the suffering of Christ and human suffering in this world, never ends.
There is no hope.

Does this put our suffering here in perspective, at least a little?

Let us use these as motivation to remember that the sufferings of this life are nothing compared to the sufferings in hell,     Let us realize that in the midst of all our suffering here, there is hope.   There is truly only one state where suffering has no value, and has no hope for relief.  Let's do whatever we need to, including enduring any suffering we have to do on this side of the grace, to avoid ending up there.

Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for us.

The mystery of suffering, Part Five

In the last post, we discussed the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ.   His suffering liberated us from sin. Sin, we have said, is the cause of our own suffering.   Through Christ's own suffering and death, however, we are no longer losers in the battle against sin, suffering, and death, but victors.   We still fight the battle now, and will continue to do so, but if we remain faithful to God’s commands, obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and receive the Sacraments regularly, we know suffering and death, even though we continue to experience both, will not have the last word in our lives. 

So if the suffering of Christ did its job, and was sufficient to win to free us from sin, then how do we understand this curious passage from Saint Paul’s letter to the Colossians, in which it appears to say there was something lacking in the suffering of Christ?

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.  (Colossians 1:24)

Christ’s suffering is again complete, and all that is necessary for the redemption of mankind.  So how can the Apostle imply something is lacking?   The basic answer is this:  Christ freely chose to allow human suffering to be part of the redemptive plan.   Saint John Paul II wrote a beautiful apostolic letter on suffering, Salvifici Doloris (Christian Meaning of Human Suffering).   In it, he had this to say regarding this Scripture passage quoted above.  Please read carefully: 

Does this mean that the Redemption achieved by Christ is not complete? No. It only means that the Redemption, accomplished through satisfactory love, remains always open to all love expressed in human suffering. In this dimension—the dimension of love—the Redemption which has already been completely accomplished is, in a certain sense, constantly being accomplished. Christ achieved the Redemption completely and to the very limits but at the same time he did not bring it to a close. In this redemptive suffering, through which the Redemption of the world was accomplished, Christ opened himself from the beginning to every human suffering and constantly does so. Yes, it seems to be part of the very essence of Christ's redemptive suffering that this suffering requires to be unceasingly completed.

Thus, with this openness to every human suffering, Christ has accomplished the world's Redemption through his own suffering. For, at the same time, this Redemption, even though it was completely achieved by Christ's suffering, lives on and in its own special way develops in the history of man. It lives and develops as the body of Christ, the Church, and in this dimension every human suffering, by reason of the loving union with Christ, completes the suffering of Christ.

Faith in sharing in the suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty that the suffering person "completes what is lacking in Christ's afflictions"; the certainty that in the spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption he is serving, like Christ, the salvation of his brothers and sisters. Therefore he is carrying out an irreplaceable service.

If you can only take away one point in this entire series about suffering it is this:

Through the will and grace of Christ,  human suffering has a redemptive quality to it.    If we suffer as members of Christ’s body, our suffering can be used to merit salvation for us, and for our loved ones.  Christ freely allows us to share in the experience of suffering for our good, and the good of those he loves.  It is not just his suffering that redeems us; in a very well way, our own suffering can redeem.  John Paul II says: Those who share in the sufferings of Christ preserve in their own sufferings a very special particle of the infinite treasure of the world's Redemption, and can share this treasure with others.

So there is an important lesson for us here:  When we suffer, let us not turn inward.  Let us make this suffering about God, and others.   Despite our sufferings, we know we will be OK in the end, we know we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, and granted eternal life through his Resurrection.  Despite all that are we going through, we know that in the end, suffering and death do not have the final word in our lives.   But here is the question we must ask : do others we know and love also know that?  If not, can the way we handle our suffering be a teachable moment?   Christ has, in the mystery of Divine Providence, has allowed our human suffering to be part of the redemption of all mankind.  If that is the case, should we not embrace suffering with a hopeful attitude?

The picture that is with this post is of Paul in prison for preaching the Gospel. He was later killed for his beliefs.  Let us be able to say with this Saint:  We boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,   and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Romans 5:3-5)

Before this series closes, we will share a few more insights from Saint John Paul II’s apostolic letter.   In the next post, however, we will discuss the terrible suffering that awaits us if we refuse Christ.  I am referring to the sufferings in hell.  Meditating on that suffering that will help put our experience of suffering here on Earth in perspective.

Joseph, head of the Holy Family, pray for us.

The mystery of suffering, Part Four

As we continue tonight to meditate on the mystery of suffering, someone comes to meet us on our journey who, because he is both God and man, knows more about suffering than anyone.  This person is, of course, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Back in July of 2016, I wrote a post entitled “Suffering and dying Jesus for a suffering and dying world”.  Below is a link to it.   I am going to re-post a little bit of it here, but I do encourage you to read it in its entirety as a supplement to this post.

http://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/suffering-and-dying-jesus-for-suffering.html

The suffering of Our Lord can be explained on both a natural and a supernatural level.   On a natural level, he suffered because of his enemies.   His enemies led him to be arrested, convicted, and ultimately sentenced to die.  Why did they think that way?  I wrote in that post back in 2016:  Jesus' words and actions gained him enemies among the Jews and partisans of Herod.   Because of his healings, some thought his was the devil's work.    They thought he downplayed the importance of the Temple, and were outraged when he predicted it would be destroyed.   They thought he downplayed some aspects of the Law, and were outraged he acted as an authority on the Law.  Finally, they were upset because he seemed to be equating himself with God, who along could forgive sins (“I and the Father are One." [John 8:58]).   Their incredulity though, on all of these, was not justified.  He had respect for the Law and the Temple.  He himself said the Law will never pass away.  He had amazing reverence for the temple, even from childhood.  He was correct to act as God because He was and is.   So even before Jesus was crucified, he suffered misunderstanding.  (I would say all of have suffered this to one degree or another at numerous points in our lives, and sometimes, it really hurts, does it not?)

There is also a supernatural explanation for his suffering.   We have written that sin came into the world through our first parents, and its continued effect in our lives is the reason for the existence of suffering in the world.    To remedy this, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins. 

Now, one could make an objection here, and say:  Wait a minute, Christ was not impacted by Original Sin because he is God, and was born of someone who also was not impacted by Original Sin. (Mary’s Immaculate Conception, topic for another post!), and he still suffered!  How can you say then that suffering is caused by sin?

Paul gives us the answer in 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  Jesus freely took on our sin, and as a result, suffered.

 We read in the Catechism (#619-620, 622-623) some more beautiful words regarding our sin and what Christ did with and for it.  Most of the quotes here are drawn directly out of the Bible (underlines are mine for emphasis). 

"Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures" (I Cor 15:3).

Our salvation flows from God's initiative of love for us, because "he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins" (I Jn 4:10). "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor 5:19). 

The redemption won by Christ consists in this, that he came "to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28), that is, he "loved [his own] to the end" (Jn 13:1), so that they might be "ransomed from the futile ways inherited from [their] fathers" (I Pt 1:18).

By his loving obedience to the Father, "unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:8), Jesus fulfills the atoning mission (cf. Is 53:10) of the suffering Servant, who will "make many righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities" (Is 53:11; cf. Rom 5:19).

Christ, by coming into the world, united humanity with divinity.   We became sharers in his glory, and he became a sharer in our suffering.   By uniting with him, we can overcome the power of sin; Original Sin, our personal sin, and the devil.

Christ did all this out of love for us, as these quotes above attest.  Is it not true that a lot of our suffering is a result of love?  When someone we love is hurting, we suffer.  When a loved one dies, we suffer.    The Latin word for suffering is patior, from which the word “passion” comes from.   Suffering is a passion because we love so much it hurts.   This is why we call the Sunday before Easter Sunday “Passion Sunday".

Every Friday, and on all the days of Lent, we reflect on the Passion of Christ, his suffering out of love for us.   One of the traditional Lenten devotions is the Stations of the Cross.  Pope Benedict XVI approved a new version of the Stations that has a lot of similarity to the traditional model, but is more Scripturally based.   I think a deeper reflection on each of these stations/ events is called for, and perhaps we will do that during Lent.  For now, I am going to list each one, and put something next to each one that I hope maybe offers insight into the specific nature of each of the sufferings, and hopefully you can all relate to a lot of them.   Each of these events points to some aspect of suffering which we encounter in our lives.

1.       Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Struggling with God’s will

2.       Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested.  Losing friends

3.       Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin.  Being falsely accused

4.       Jesus is denied by Peter,  Friends denying you in time of need

5.       Jesus is judged by Pilate.  Convicted unjustly

6.       Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns.  Struggles in the mind; intellectually, mental state

7.       Jesus takes up his cross.  Carrying huge burdens

8.       Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross. Suffering with a friend

9.       Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem.  Seeing friends weep for you, and you weep for them

10.   Jesus is crucified.  Physical and emotional pain

11.   Jesus promises his kingdom to the repentant thief.  Still trying to do good while suffering

12.   Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other.  Passing on burden to others when cannot carry on

13.   Jesus dies on the cross.  The pain of death

14.   Jesus is laid in the tomb.  The sadness of burial, and unknown future

I will have a few more thoughts on Jesus and suffering in the next post.

After that, there will be two more posts in this series:  one, on the sufferings in the afterlife, namely purgatory and hell, and two, a final reflection on suffering.  

Joseph, diligent protector of Christ, pray for us.

The mystery of suffering, Part Three

We see more suffering in our country these past several days with the fires out west.   It is an appropriate image for this particular post as we discuss the devil’s role in suffering.  

For the most part, fires are a good thing.  We use fire to cook, to keep warm, and in a general sense, to purify.  Some religions use fire as a symbol of prayers rising to God.   Even in the Catholic tradition, we see fire used as a positive image of the Holy Spirit.  Our Lord says he has come to “bring fire to the Earth” (Luke 12:49).

But as we see recently, fire can also be a negative thing.    The devil is usually portrayed with fire because it is symbolic of him being in hell, and suffering, tormented for all eternity.  Fire can be a symbol of suffering (or a cause of suffering, as we have seen).    Why is the devil in hell?  He is there because he became, and forever remains, an enemy of God.

What many may not know is the devil was not always bad.   He was, and actually is an angel!  We read in the Catechism (#391) Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy.  Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called "Satan" or the "devil".  The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing."

There is Scripture to validate this claim.  We read in 2 Peter 2 …God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains^[ of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgment….

Before we go any further, let us define what angels are.   Angels are spiritual creatures who glorify God without ceasing and who serve his saving plans for other creatures (Catechism, #350). (In one of my very first posts, I discussed angels, although there it was more personal than theological:   https://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/angels.html .  The topic of angels definitely deserves another post of its own at some point.) 

Let us return to our story. The angels were all happy serving God, and then God decided to create man.  Some angels got furious that God would want to share himself with a creature, and became even more furious when God asked them (the angels) to serve this creature!   Most of the angels, out of their love for God, went along with this, but some, including one particular fallen angel, Satan, did not.   Our Lord confirms this when he said:  He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).

So before our first parents made their choice to sin, the devil and other angels made a choice to turn against God, as well.  Now angels exist outside of time, like God, so once they make a choice, there is no reversal.  Their choice is irrevocable.  (We, on the other hand, since we are in time, however, can reverse our choices.   Thank God!)   Since they cannot go back, they continue forward with their evil works, under the leadership of the devil, Satan.

I have spoken about the works of the devil in other posts.  Here is a link to them:

https://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-devil-is-real.html

http://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/work-of-devil.html

I wrote in one of these posts the following:  Satan makes his presence known at the beginning of the world, and he will try to influence it to the end.   He hates creation, especially the crown of God’s creation, man.  

Yes, Satan despises man, because he was created by God and given the same, if not greater blessings than the angels, and he was asked, like I said, to serve this creature.   His pride would not let him serve, and that same pride compels him to continue to try to destroy creation.  

Again, please read more about the devil in those two linked posts if you have not read them already, but for now let us circle back to the story from Genesis 3 (which we read in the first post in this series)  where we see Satan’s role in causing suffering.   Remember, we said sin causes suffering.   Man sinned.   What led him to sin?  It was the devil, symbolized by the serpent in the account from Genesis.  We read in the Catechism (#397):  Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. 

It is important we be clear here.  While the devil tempts us to do wrong, to sin, and therefore, to suffer, it is we who make the choice to give in, so sin is our responsibility.   We cannot ever say “the devil made me do it.”   The Catechism (#407) says this:  By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired certain domination over man, even though man remains free.   God gave us freedom, and the devil has no power to take that back.

Our whole lives will be a battle of combat with the power of evil.  We read in 1 Peter 5:  Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.   

We see in this passage a clear connection between the power of the devil and suffering.   We suffer because the devil tempts us, and we suffer even more when we give him to him.    Yes, the reality of the devil does contribute in a large way to the suffering we see around us.   But, we play an even larger role ourselves because we give in to him.  We must resist as the apostle exhorts us!

Before we close, there is one final point to be made, and it is similar to the question we ended the last post.  Why does God allow…?   In the last post, we asked why God allowed our first parents to sin.   Here, we ask why God allows the devil to continue to act.  It is a very similar answer, for a greater good.  The Catechism says in #395: It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but "we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him." (Romans 8:28)

So, how can we win this battle against the devil?  We must cling to him whose mission was to destroy the works of the devil.  We read in 1 John 3:8:   Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.   Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and it is to him, through the Holy Spirit, that we must cling in order to win this battle.  

We will speak more about Our Lord Jesus Christ, and what he teaches about suffering, in the next post.

Joseph, foster Father of the Son of God, pray for us.

The mystery of suffering, Part Two

Tonight, we continue with our series on the reality of human suffering.    In the last post, we discussed what Revelation reveals about the source of evil, how that source of evil is sin, and what sin is.   In this post, we will discuss a more specific doctrine related to sin and suffering.

In the last post, we read the account in Genesis 3 of the sin of our first parents.   This is what is commonly referred to as the original sin.   The term “original sin” can refer to both that original sin of our first parents, that first act of disobedience, the first “abuse of freedom” which is at the crux of all sin.   However, the term is used also to define the consequence of that first sin, the hereditary sin which we are born with on account of our descent from Adam and Eve.  

The consequences of that first sin were devastating.   We read these sobering words from the Catechism (#400) exactly what happened as a result of that one sin:  The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul's spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject "to its bondage to decay". Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will "return to the ground" for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history.

Wow, that is a lot!  One sin and unity, harmony, and life are replaced by disunity, unrest, and death. (How troubled then should we by our many sins?)

Like the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of original sin is not something we can fully understand.  We cannot fully explain how the sin of our first parents long ago still affects us today.   The Catechism tries its best to shed some light in #404:

How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants? The whole human race is in Adam "as one body of one man". By this "unity of the human race" all men are implicated in Adam's sin, as all are implicated in Christ's justice. Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state. It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" - a state and not an act.

We need to make clear what original sin is and what is not.   Original sin does not say that we bear responsibility for what Adam and Eve did.   We simply ear the effects of what they did.   Their sin, as stated in the last paragraph, affected human nature.  It makes our nature wounded.   It makes it subject to, in the words of the Catechism (#405)  ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin - an inclination to evil that is called "concupiscence".

And there we have it.  This is where suffering comes in.   Suffering comes from sin, and it specifically comes as a result of original sin.   Original sin is the best explanation for why the world is at it is, and why we struggle internally as we do.  Looking at ourselves, we ask:  Why do we give in to vice?  Why do we do things we do not want to do?   Why am I not the best I can be?  Why will I die?  The ultimate answer to all these questions is original sin.  Original sin is the reason our nature is wounded, why it is like it is.   

Then, we look outside ourselves, and look at the world, and we ask:  Why is there war?  Why is there injustice?   Why do people die?   The ultimate answer to all these questions, too, is original sin.  That is why things in the world are as they are.  The Catechism (#407) says the following regarding this doctrine, and the condition of the world: The doctrine of original sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original sin entails "captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil". Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals.

There are two major heresies the Church has had to deal with regarding this doctrine of original sin.  The first was from the Pelagians in the first few hundred years of the Church who said that the effect of original sin is the bad example of Adam and Eve, not some condition we inherit from them.  Scripture makes clear, however, that the sin of Adam and Eve was much more powerful and influential than merely being a bad example to follow:  Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned— sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law.  Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. (Romans 5:12-14)   Mere Imitation of Adam is not the cause of sin and suffering; our wounded human nature, caused by the condition we inherited from Adam, is.

The second heresy came about in the Protestant Reformation which says original sin destroys man’s freedom.   Catholic teaching, however, holds that our natural faculties are not destroyed by original sin; we still have minds, hearts, and wills, and therefore, we still have freedom.   These faculties are wounded, not destroyed.  What is gone, however, is sanctifying grace, and this is what original sin is, the privation of sanctifying grace.   We discussed sanctifying grace in our post on grace a little while back.  http://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2017/08/grace-its-meaning-and-two-types.html

The way to get this grace back, as we have discussed before, is through the Sacraments, starting with Baptism.   We read in the Catechism (#405)  Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ's grace, erases original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle.  There is a way out from underneath the effects of original sin, that is the good news.  However, to receive this good news, we must acknowledge the reality of sin in the first place.

There is one final question that is mentioned in the very last paragraph in this section of the Catechism on original sin.  Why did God not prevent our first parents from sinning?  To sum it up, he allowed it for a greater good.   We read in #412:  St. Leo the Great responds, "Christ's inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon's envy had taken away." And St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "There is nothing to prevent human nature's being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, 'Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more'; and the Exsultet sings, 'O happy fault,. . . which gained for us so great a Redeemer!'"

This, I think, in addition to being the key to understanding the allowance of original sin, is also key to understanding why suffering is allowed to exist, to bring about a greater good.  We will discuss this a little bit more in an upcoming post.

Before that, however, in the next post in this series, we will discuss the devil’s role in fostering sin and suffering.

Joseph, mirror of patience, pray for us.

The mystery of suffering, Part One

Tonight, we will begin a series of posts that deal with the reality of human suffering.  We have had so much tragedy in the world recently, from natural disasters to gun violence.  It is natural to ask “why?” Why does suffering happen?  Why does God allow it to happen?  These are questions no one can or should avoid asking.  

Suffering is real, there is no use denying it.  We all experience it in our lives: some seem to more than others, but we all do, and if we are brutally honest, we will realize we all suffer a little every day in one way or another.  This life is sometimes called a “valley of tears”, but it could also be called a “battlefield of pain”.

So, let’s start by asking why does suffering happen?  Well, the answer is because of sin.

I guess we can end here because that statement is true; sin causes suffering.  That is the answer to the question.  But, I think we can agree that statement deserves a lot more unpacking and thankfully for us, the Church does just that.

There are some beautiful words in the Catechism that show the Church is with us in our experience of suffering, and in our questioning of it.  We read in #385: God is infinitely good and all his works are good. Yet no one can escape the experience of suffering or the evils in nature which seem to be linked to the limitations proper to creatures: and above all to the question of moral evil. Where does evil come from? "I sought whence evil comes and there was no solution", said St. Augustine and his own painful quest would only be resolved by his conversion to the living God. For "the mystery of lawlessness" is clarified only in the light of the "mystery of our religion". The revelation of divine love in Christ manifested at the same time the extent of evil and the superabundance of grace. We must therefore approach the question of the origin of evil by fixing the eyes of our faith on him who alone is its conqueror.  Note the Church does not want us to run from this question of evil, but rather, to approach it and it suggests that we approach it through the eyes of faith.

Why does the Church want us to approach this issue through the eyes of faith?  Because only through Divine Revelation can we see the reality of sin.   Only through sin, can we begin to understand suffering.  Therefore, only through Divine Revelation, can we begin to understand suffering. The Catechism explains in #387: Only the light of divine Revelation clarifies the reality of sin and particularly of the sin committed at mankind's origins. Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly and are tempted to explain it as merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure, etc. Only in the knowledge of God's plan for man can we grasp that sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another. 

Let me try to explain this point a little here.   Imagine if God had not revealed himself through Jesus Christ.   Imagine if because of that, we were unsure about the existence of God, we were unsure about our dignity as human persons, and we were unsure if we were loved.   It is easy to imagine that in such a world, human behavior would have to be identified by something else other than man's relationship to God.   Therefore, his whole being, including any what we deem abnormal or horrendous behavior, would have to try to be explained by purely natural or human reasons, such as was outlined in the quote from the Catechism above.

The Church, on the other hand, wants us to see that we have meaning, that our lives have meaning.  If that is the case, then there logically has to be a reason and meaning to suffering, as it is such an ongoing part of our lives.  Divine Revelation sheds light on a lot of things, and one of those indeed is the mystery of suffering.

So, the Church proposes that we approach the mystery of suffering by looking to Divine Revelation.  Revelation, remember, is an unfolding of the mystery of God that does not go against the natural, but supplements what we can know of God in the natural order.  We have discussed how God revealed himself gradually through our first parents, then after different nations formed, through his chosen people, Israel, and finally completely in Jesus Christ.    (For more details, here is a link to my post on Divine Revelation in June of 2016 http://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/divine-revelation.html.)

I think if we look at the different stages of Divine Revelation, we will get insight into the mystery of suffering.   It makes sense to start with the first stage of Divine Revelation, where God revealed himself to our first parents.    The following passages come from Genesis 2 and 3:

2 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; ⁵ for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

⁸ They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” ¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
    cursed are you among all animals
    and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
    and dust you shall eat
    all the days of your life.
¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

“I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
    in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
    and he shall rule over you.”

¹⁷ And to the man^[ he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
    and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
¹⁸ thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.”

²⁰ The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹ And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.

²² Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Catechism has this to say in #390 about this story of the fall of our parents: The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents. So, in other words, we do not have to take this story literally but seeing Sacred Scripture is one means of Divine Revelation (http://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/sacred-scripture-part-one.html) we do have to try to see what God is revealing through this story.   For our discussion here related to suffering, I think there is this important point:

God have us freedom and responsibility.  We abused that freedom and responsibility.  This refusal causes suffering.

Indeed, we saw earlier that the Catechism defined sin in those terms.  Let me repeat them here: sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another.  In other words, sin is a conscious choice; it is not something we have no control over.  It is this choice that causes suffering. 

Now, if you read the story closely, you might see something else that contributes to man’s decision to abuse his freedom, and that is the “tempter”, or as we know him know, the devil.  We will discuss his role in all this in an upcoming post.

But before we close this post, I want to just highlight a few other points from this story.  We read in the Catechism #396  The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil"²⁷⁷ symbolically evokes the insurmountable limits that man, being a creature, must freely recognize and respect with trust. Man is dependent on his Creator, and subject to the laws of creation and to the moral norms that govern the use of freedom.  

Several points here:

1)      Man has limits.

2)      God gives us limits for our own good.

3)      We have to trust that he knows what is best because he created us in the first place.

4)      Sin is an abuse of that trust.

When we fail to recognize our dependence on God, that we are not him, and rather try to be like him, we begin to think we can do anything, and can choose what is right and wrong for ourselves, and when we do that, bad things happen.   

So to summarize what we have gone over in this post:

1)      Divine Revelation reveals to us the mystery of sin.

2)      Sin is an abuse of the freedom God gave us.

3)      Sin started with our first parents.

4)      Sin causes suffering.

 I think, however, we are left with two questions after this discussion:

     

1)      How is this sin of our first parents still able to affect us today?   In other words, how does it explain suffering now?

2)      This might explain suffering that is caused by bad deeds, such as one shooting people, but how does this explain suffering caused by seeming natural things, like hurricanes or severe illness?

We will explore those questions and more as we continue this series.

Joseph, solace of the wretched, pray for us.