Redemptive Suffering: Reasons and Explanations - Research Proposal Example

1 REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Suffering is a nasty word. It is something that with even an iota of thought makes anyone convulse with revulsion. Among all words invented by humanity, this is one that normal persons avoid and shun. It is a leprous thing and is certainly unpleasant and unwelcome. Enemies, secretly or not so secretly, wish each other to be afflicted with lots of suffering. In medieval times, wherein witchcraft was practiced, one inflicts the hated one with needle pricks to cause him corporal suffering. There is 'unexplainable' suffering when one comes to this world with some faculties that are deformed or sorely lacking, as when one is born blind, crippled or maimed with a harelip or when one is severely deformed as in the case of the thalidomide babies. But suffering could also be the result when a person is at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man, a victim of his greed, his violent nature, his envy, anger, concupiscence and his predilection to do something evil and unjust. The recipients of the above could also be a race as when during the gore-splattered Hitler era, the Jews were brought to the brink of extermination in what historians call as the holocaust. Suffering may also be joyfully invoked as when a masochist craves for flagellation to satisfy his deviant urges. Suffering may also be self-inflicted as when because of lack of judiciousness in one's selection of food, as the intake of too much alcohol, processed foods containing saltpeter, fertilizers and monosodium glutamate, too much cholesterol as well as sugar especially aspartame and other artificial sweeteners, the use of genetically modified foods, too much salt and that bane of all banes, the cigarettes, one makes himself vulnerable to a host of dreadful diseases such as cancer, diabetes, kidney problems, heart ailments, emphysema, hypertension and other dreadful diseases. Science still has to come up with the possible effects of eating cloned animals. Indeed, scientists have toyed with the idea of playing God, subverting nature 2 and challenging God's wisdom with questionable effects on the human race. But of all suffering, the one that permeates even the soul and goes straight to the human psyche is the psychological or emotional suffering. To name a few, there is the loss of a loved one through death, divorce, separation, incarceration, unexplained disappearance as in Argentina when 'desaparecidos' just vanish into thin air. To this, we also add financial loss or bankruptcy, marital infidelity, and racial and sexual discrimination. There is also suffering caused by fortuitous events or natural catastrophes such as conflagration, hurricanes, typhoons, floods, earthquakes, most of which, in reality, are caused by humanity and heavy industries' abuse of the environment which abuse spirals to this horrid phenomenon called global warming or climate change. But of all suffering known to humanity, the most pervasive, inhuman, unjust and unnecessary is poverty. According to Fr. Aloysius Rego, "2/3 of mankind is unfree, enslaved and starving to death" (40). Fr. Rego further continued, "Poverty is the consequence of all kinds of interactive human factors of a cultural, socio-economic and political kind" (40). Indeed, that 2/3 of humanity goes to bed every night with an empty stomach is an appalling idea, a cruel reality which most prosperous countries and affluent citizens of the world choose to ignore and opt to be blind to. We therefore say, whatever happened to Jesus Christ's injunction "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:39) as well as His veiled warning, "Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me" Matt. 25:45). The nature of human suffering Human suffering from the very beginning was destined to become mankind's second nature. It is something man cannot escape from. When God cursed Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:17), suffering became a universal experience in human life. It cannot be ignored , it has to be 3 confronted squarely because it touches our existence at its very roots. Like a plague, absolutely no one can escape its often arbitrary and merciless hand. Suffering is a fact of life that we all must try to make sense of. Suffering , though, was not part of God's plan when he created humanity. Rather, it was Adam and Eve's undoing when they misused their God-given free will and chose the beaten path that leads to misery and suffering. According to Fr. Duffner, God endowed humanity "with special gifts that made him immune from all suffering and free of the necessity of undergoing death. These gifts, however, were not essential to human nature and could be lost. But as we know, it was man's free will that upset what God had planned" (!). Fr. Vieujean's description of it is more emphatic and straightforward, calling it "evil, a disorder in nature" (xii). He further added that humanity reacts to it in a variety of ways e.g. "stoicism, optimism, resignation, despair etc." (xii). Pope John Paul II in his 'Salvifici Doloris', viewed human suffering philosophically. According to him, "suffering seems to belong to man's transcendence. It is one of those points in which man is in a certain sense destined to go beyond himself and he is called to this in a mysterious way" (1). The saintly pope also pointed to the Bible as the source of many anecdotes about suffering, in the process enumerating instances wherein Bible characters met suffering head-on. He also compartmentalized suffering into physical and moral suffering, basing his division upon "the double dimension of the human being and indicates the bodily and spiritual element as the immediate and direct subject of suffering" (1). He described moral suffering as "the pain of the soul" and added "it is a question of pain of a spiritual nature and not only of the psychological dimension of pain which accompanies both moral and physical suffering" (1). 4 Why is there suffering' On the subject matter of why there exists suffering, different theological authors seemed to hold diverging views on the matter. If Fr. Duffner ascribed suffering to the upsetting of God's plans by the misuse of Adam and Eve's free will, theologian Johan Christian Beker points to idolatry as the source of suffering. Says him, "Idol worship is the source of human injustice and of its attendant suffering in God's creation" (80). He based it on the Bible passage: "They exchanges the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator. (Romans 1:24). Beker's line of thinking links suffering to the destruction of one's relationship to God because of the worship of material things such as money, properties and power. Indeed today's society has become so materialistic that often God has been shoved to the background. He thus continued, :Once my relation to God is perverted, my relation to the created order becomes chaotic and perverted" (81). Kathleen McManus, meanwhile, brought back the free will defense and added that "suffering does not originate in God but is the consequence of the misuse of human free will" (10). Kristiaan Depoortere insisted that human beings are both victims and authors of evil and thus, suffering, which is rooted to sufficient free will predominates. He himself pointed out that Paul Ricoeur postulated an opposing view, arguing that, "this kind of suffering has no guilty author. It is linked with the finiteness of being human. Much suffering arises from the space between freedom and nature, between guilt and finiteness" (11). Pope John Paul II reasons out that "man suffers because he experiences evil, which is a certain lack, limitation, or distortion of good. He particularly suffers, when he ought in the normal order of things- to have a share in this good and does not have it" (2). The most radical view however, is held by Richard Hauser i.e. that suffering occurs through "direct divine intervention ['.] for special reasons: punishment for sin, discipline to foster growth, test of fidelity, opportunity for redeeming others" (84). Because this implies that God Himself, 5 causes evil to afflict humanity, the tendency is to outright dismiss it as heretical. But if we have to consider the chronicle of Job's life, there might be a kernel of truth behind it. God Himself described Job as completely innocent, "There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 1:8).Yet, the worst calamities that may befall on anybody, happened to this man. He lost all possessions, servants, animals, even his sons and daughters and to top it all, he was afflicted with a horrible disease. This made him pose the question, "What did I do to deserve this suffering' Religion has always taught us that God is good and that he rewards the just and punishes the evil. But "how can a good God allow suffering of this kind. We have to ask the other concomitant questions i.e. Is God truly just with respect to His creatures' How could God have allowed so many infirmities, calamities, poverty, wars and mass killings such as that of the holocaust' And, "If God is omnipotent, why hasn't He eliminated suffering' To the first question, Pope John Paul II gives this repartee e.g. "Job's suffering is the suffering of someone who is innocent and it must be accepted as a mystery, which the individual is unable to penetrate completely by his own intelligence" (3). We need to be reminded that Job's trials were the result of Satan's provocation to God. To my mind, this is just a test of Job's fidelity, a test which would separate the saints from the usual believers. To the idea that God punishes on account of one's iniquities, the Bible is replete with the image of an avenging God. Even Buddhism and Hinduism have its laws of karma. As to Hauser's assertion that God afflicts in order to discipline, every parent knows this is one bitter pill to swallow but because of parental love, it has to be done for purposes of "correction, purification, penance, to help us realize how radically dependent we are on Him, or whether it is for His appeasement"(Redemptive Suffering: Offering It Up). As to Hauser's claim that God punishes in order to gain an opportunity to redeem other, this is already in the realm of redemptive offering, which will next be tackled. 6 Redemptive Suffering: Definition Redemptive Suffering or Salvific Redemption is defined as "the Roman Catholic belief that human suffering, when accepted and offered up in union with the Passion of Jesus, can remit the just punishment for one's sins or for the sins of another" (Redemptive Suffering:Wikipedia). This is the layman's definition. The Church definition, as furnished by Fr. John Lombardi, defines it as "any trial or tribulation (physical or mental) we offer up and unite to Jesus as a gift to Him to express our love through a costly way, in exchange for some other good. There are 3 other names for Redemptive Suffering i.e. 1. Vicarious Atonement- the participation in the plan of salvation by human beings. Jesus Christ who alone can atone for the sins of the world, invite others to vicariously assist Him in this work of salvation. Most of us who offer our sufferings to God belong in this category. 2. Victim Souls- are those chosen by God to be His disciples for the purpose of suffering for the saving of other souls. They participate in Christ's passion. They manifest the signs of Christ's suffering in the cross, in their own bodies. The stigmata is in the palms of the hands and the feet, bearing signs of nail puncturing. There are also wounds in the head, which showed evidence that a crown of thorns was once forcibly embedded in it. There are also wounds in the sides of the body, which signify that an elongated weapon found its target in that area. There are also documented cases of stripes in the body's torso showing signs of vicious scourging as well as other body phenomena that recall Christ's passion. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Lydwine of Schiedan and venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich belong to this chosen group endowed with stigmata. Padre Pio himself, had to cover his palms with bandages because the blood keeps on spurting. But it was never known that he suffered blood loss, anemia or vertigo because 7 of it. They all willingly accepted their mission to suffer for the sake of God and for the Church. St. Catherine of Siena expressed her acceptance by saying that "the only cause of my death is my zeal for the Church of God, which devours and consumes me. Accept, o Lord, the sacrifice of my life for the Mystical Body of the holy Church" (Redemptive Suffering: Offering It Up). Padre Pio himself was quoted i.e. "Calm yourself and be quite certain that these shadows (trials are not a punishment. You are not wicked. You are merely one of the chosen ones who are tried like gold in the furnace" (Bertanzetti 29). 3. Co-Redemption- when the faithful answers the call of Jesus to come and follow Him, to deny and mortify oneself and take up His cross, his suffering "fills up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the Church" (Col. 1:24). Because the sufferer completes what is lacking in Christ's afflictions, there ensues the certainty that in the spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption, he is serving like Christ in the salvation of his brothers and sisters" (Redemptive Suffering" Spero News). He thus becomes a co-sharer in the redemption or a co-redeemer. This is co-redemption. The rationale behind this is that "Jesus willed that the mystery of His Passion continue on in us, so that we may be associated with Him in the work of redemption. He willed to need us in order to apply the infinite merits of His passion for souls. The nature and characteristics of Redemptive Suffering Not all suffering is redemptive. As a general rule, suffering hides God and thus the sufferer becomes embittered, depressed , desperate and sometimes stoic. "many suffering people want to love God, but cannot see past their tears. They feel hurt and betrayed. Sadly, the Church often responds with more confusion than comfort" (Yancey x). The natural reaction by each person to suffering is to exterminate it totally from his life. It is generally considered evil and a deterrent to one's objectives. Even the Church by putting institutions and hospitals whose aim is 8 To alleviate human suffering, agrees that it is something not good and pleasant. The sufferer, after battling so many trials and tribulations wakes up to the reality of his human frailties and limitations to transcend suffering and admit that there are forces beyond his control, which render him utterly helpless. His baby faith undergoes transformation to a mature, solid faith when he realizes that Christ Himself, the incarnated Son of God, suffered and died on the cross. Because He is spotless and blameless, He didn't deserve the lot that had befallen Him. But since it is His mission to liberate mankind from the bondage of sin and from his fallen state, He had to pay the price with His own blood. As St. John said "For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him" (John 3:17). Christ manifested His omnipotence by freely accepting to suffer. "He could have chosen not to do so. He could have chosen to demonstrate His omnipotence even at the moment of the Crucifixion" (Pope John Paul II 66) but He did not do so and instead chose to stay on the Cross until the end. "In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus, each man through His suffering, can also become a sharer in that redemptive suffering of Christ." (Pope John Paul II 2). In His Passion, Christ gives to human suffering a supernatural value. If each one embraces his cross and accepts his suffering in union with the Passion of Christ, He gives His suffering a redeeming value, a share in the fruits of His passion. The resultant redemptive suffering is the reason why St. Paul, despite his sufferings, jubilantly exulted "I find joy in the sufferings I endure for you. In my own flesh, I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His body, the Church" (Col.1:24). This is also the reason, why Pope John Paul II, after suffering excruciating pains due to bullet wounds inflicted on him by the Turkish assassin Ali Agca, found it easy in his heart to forgive the assassin, totally without rancor. It is also because of redemptive suffering that Mother Teresa, after breaking 3 ribs blurted: "I offered it up, the 3 ribs. I never offered anything up to 9 The Trinity before, so I did that" (Lombardi). It is also the reason why Fr. Anton Luli S.J., an Albanian priest who was mercilessly tortured by the Communists in Albania, testified: "On that night, I experienced the true meaning of the Incarnation and cross. The Lord asked me to live nailed to a cross and with my arms spread out in the service of denial, to celebrate my Eucharist, my priestly ministry, through every form of chains and sufferings" Lombardi 1). Fr. Lombardi, then briefly gave 5 characteristics of redemptive suffering i.e. 1. We consciously choose or embrace suffering. 2. It is a precious gift because it is painful. 3. It brings us closer to Jesus in an intimate and intense way. 4. The suffering may spiritually repair my own soul or others. 5. We thus, thereby help in the work of redemption. ( Lombardi 2) The theologian Pinn gives us the 6th trait of redemptive suffering e.g. it brings assurance and joy. Says Pinn, "For those who understand God's presence and activity in the world and its radical consequences, there is the assurance that suffering has been fully dealt with by and in God. Pain serves to confirm rather than negate the love and presence of God. As a result, we are free to struggle out of our pain" (70). Lest we forget, we must remind ourselves that redemptive suffering may also include some mortification or self-denial. Mortification is defined as "the act of dying to oneself by killing off the sinful desires of the flesh as taught by St. Paul" (Redemptive Suffering: Offering It Up). These acts of mortification may include the offering to God of small, trivial acts such as fast and abstinence, forgiving the enemies or offering to God acts that are a little bit bizarre and out of the ordinary. "These sorts of external voluntary mortifications that are not a matter of duty and which do not fight an evil habit directly are only beneficial in so far as they arise from desire for humility, penance and to build up the Body of Christ and in so far as they actually 10 lead to humility and penance" (Redemptive Suffering: Offering It Up) The 7th trait of redemptive suffering is that it is basically an imitation of Christ. It consists of denying oneself, taking up one's crosses and following Jesus. In the book "Imitation of Christ", Christians are being exhorted to be not afraid to take up the cross because in the cross, there is strength of mind, spirited joy, salvation and perfection of sanctity. (Kempis 117). Kempis teaches us that everything boils down to the cross and thus we must sacrifice the way Christ sacrificed and practiced daily mortification. He asserted that there will always be troubles and snags in our lives and worse, we may become a burden even to ourselves. But still, we have to keep on bearing the cross as long as it pleases God. "For God wants you to learn to suffer tribulation without comfort, so that you may wholly submit yourself to Him and thus become more humble through tribulation" (Kempis 122). Kempis also asks us to voluntarily bear our crosses for the cross will bear us and lead us to the desired end: that is, to that place where suffering will end. If we bear our crosses unwillingly or even half-heartedly, then these will become a burden to us and will even feel heavier . If we throw away one cross, it's for sure we will meet another one that's most likely be heavier. In fact, Kempis stressed that for all the saints, their common denominator is the cross which they humbly and willingly bore. Kempis tells us that it is not an easy matter to bear the cross, to mortify the body and reduce it to servitude, to willingly suffer reproaches and to tolerate all adversities and losses. "If you look at yourself, you can do nothing ['] but if you confide in the Lord, strength will come from heaven and the world of the flesh will be made subject to your rule " (Kempis 121). Kempis further advised us that we should prepare ourselves to tolerate many adversities and all kinds of discomforts in this miserable life. He said that if we cannot bear suffering and only seek to avoid it, all will go wrong with you, and tribulation will follow you wherever you go. Kempis then concluded that if we are free to choose, we must prefer to suffer adversities for Christ's sake, 11 Rather than seek comforts in life, because in so doing, we become more like Christ and all the saints. We imitate Christ and become His co-redeemer for our own sins as well as others' sins. Kempis then exhorted us "we must resign ourselves to suffer, but to suffer with patience and if possible with joy. To suffer in order to make amendment for our sins; to suffer for the love of Jesus, who suffered and died for our salvation (Kempis 123). How is Redemptive Suffering relevant to our daily lives' If we offer our suffering to God for our sins and for the sins of others, we rid ourselves of tensions, heartaches, frustrations, bitterness and we enjoy peace of mind, despite being swallowed by trials and tribulations. Thus, we are kept away from possible maladies such as hypertension, heart attack, nervous breakdown, schizophrenia and other lesser forms of insanity. Thus, we enjoy better health of mind and body. We may also use redemptive suffering to attain success in our vocation or in our means of livelihood. This was exemplified by martin Luther King, who confessed that by his acceptance of suffering, he was able to make a turnaround in his struggle for injustice and oppression. Says he, Suffering can be a most creative and powerful social force. The non-violent says that suffering becomes a powerful social force when you willingly accept that violence on yourself, so that self-suffering stands at the centre of the non-violent movement, and the individuals involved are able to suffer in a creative manner, feeling that unarmed suffering is redemptive and that suffering may serve to transform the social situation.(Washington 47). The idea of redemptive suffering also gives direction to people's frustrations over their nagging problems. It also teaches them to strengthen their religiosity by uniting their suffering with the passion of Christ. Suffering becomes worthwhile because it is dedicated to the saving of one's own soul or the souls of others. "A theology that does not honestly and adequately 12 address the issue of suffering would be irrelevant in contemporary situation. And any facile attempt to mystify suffering by uncritically giving it a religious meaning, such as divine punishment or pedagogy, or not to take serious account of it in one's relationship with God, will tend to consign religious faith to the world of ideology or fantasy" (Rego 5). Redemptive Suffering is also relevant because we are forced to stop thinking that there is such a thing as unjust suffering. Suffering suddenly gains a positive significance and thus we stop harboring the idea that this is such a cruel world. We now "unite our suffering with the suffering of the crucified Christ [...]For us, suffering loses its negative character; it becomes fruitful, as God's means of discipline, by means of which, in paternal severity, He draws us to Himself" (Brunner 7). Redemptive Suffering also liberates and mentally emancipates slaves who, prior to the introduction of redemptive suffering in their lives, were seized by the belief that their lives are "determined by an arbitrary fate or by evil powers" (Rego 138). Salvation through Christ and his redemptive suffering as well as those of the faithful overcomes the fate or those powers. Redemptive suffering also eases the suffering of those who are innocent and unjustly treated and are perplexed by their condition. By teaching them to offer their suffering to God for their own sins and the sins of others, they are introduced to a "tradition which has hallowed suffering. In this perspective, suffering per se, whatever its origin, is mystified as a necessary prelude t6o salvation (Rego 139). Why does redemptive suffering mitigate the pains of the sufferer' By offering our trials and tribulations to God and uniting it with Christ's Passion, we are able to easily handle our suffering and thus mitigate it. The following Biblical passages express the mitigating effects of redemptive suffering. 13 1. "We are afflicted in every way but not constrained; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed ;always carrying about in our bodies the dying Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body" (II Cor 4:7). 2. My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is made perfect in weakness. Gladly, therefore, I glory in my infirmities that the strength of Christ may dwell in me. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (II Cor 12:8-10). 3. Therefore, we are not discouraged, rather, although an outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light, affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison. (11 Cor 4:10.). 4. What we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed in us. We know that all things work for good for those who love God. For I am convinced that neither life nor death'nor future things, nor powers nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus ( Rm 8:18). 5. With Christ, I am nailed to the cross. It is now no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me. Conclusion The idea of Redemptive Suffering answers a lot of questions that bother the minds and conscience of so many faithful. It also strengthens the faiths of so many because suffering without uniting the Passion of Jesus Christ multiplies the burden and the loneliness of the sufferer. When one suffers but the suffering is offered for one's previous sins and for the sins of others especially the immediate family, the sufferer doesn't feel alone with his fight to rise up from his miseries, his burden is lightened because he knows his suffering is minuscule compared to what Jesus Christ had undergone and because he knows the Lord is present. 14 BIBLIOGRAPHY Beker, Johan Christiaan. Suffering and Hope: The Biblical Vision and The Human Predicament. William B. Eerdman's publishing. 1994. Bertanzetti, Eileen Dunn. Praying In The Presence of Our Lord with St. Padre Pio. Our Sunday Visitor Publisher. 2004. Brunner, Emil. Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption. Westminster Press. 1952. Deponteere, Kristiaan. A Different God: A Christian View of Suffering. Peeters Publishers1995. Duffner, Paul. Theology For the Laity: Redemptive Suffering. The Rosary Light and Life. Mar-Apr. 1996, Vol. 49. Western Dominican publication. Kempis, Thomas. The Imitation of Christ. Saint Paul Publications. 1993. Hauser, Richard. Finding God in Troubled Times. William B. Eerdman's Publishing.2005. Lombardi, John. Why Do People Suffer. http://www.emmitsburg.net/grotto/father-jack/2004. Why-do-people-suffer.htm. McManus, Kathleen. The Place and Meaning of Suffering in the Theology of Edward Schillebeeckx. PhD Dissertation, University of St. Michael's College, Toronto.1999. Pinn, Anthony. Why Lord' Suffering and Evil in Black Theology. Continuum Int'l. Publishing Group.1995. Pope John Paul II. Crossing The Threshold Of Hope. Jonathan Cape. 1994. Pope John Paul II. Salvifici Doloris. Apostolic Letter on the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering. St. Paul Publications.1984. Redemptive Suffering: Offering It Up. ,http://www.fisheaters.com/offeringitup.html. Redemptive Suffering: Spero News. Read More