Reflections on: Number 21:4-9 / Philippians 2:6-11 / John 3:13-17
What will life be without PAIN and SUFFERING?
by Frank Savadera, SJ
I’ve read recently about current experiments
being done by neuroscientists at the Washington
University
What would life be for man ... without pain and
suffering? Off hand – I say --- what a
boring life? Efforts to eliminate pain
and suffering ... by virtue of bio-engineering or our simple ESCAPE from them
... may perhaps come because of our
sheer misunderstanding of their importance in our lives. Can pain and suffering have a purpose?
Firstly, we may need to distinguish what pain is from
suffering. I don’t know of any normal
person who wishes to go through pain.
But not all pain is suffering. What are examples of pain? Our fingers being pricked by a needle. Losing a loved one. Pain associated with sickness. Pain we associate with shame and
embarrassment. Pain can be anything from physical,
emotional, or even spiritual. We can be
in pain ... but we do not automatically think of this as suffering.
How then is suffering different
from pain? According to one author:
suffering begins at the moment we ascribe meaning to the pain: for example, we
say: this pain is a punishment; this pain is deserved; this pain is undeserved,
this pain is the consequence of injustice ... of my own selfishness, and so
on. Clearly, we attach meaning to our
pains and convert them into forms of suffering.
It appears therefore that to suffer is an option, a decision
any person can take. Suffering
need not be based on REAL PAIN. It is TRUE also however that we can suffer
because of IMAGINED PAINS. Another
person may be a REAL PAIN in the ____, but we need not make ourselves SUFFER
because of that person.
On the feast of the EXALTATION or TRIUMPH of the CROSS, we are asked to reflect on our notions
of PAIN and SUFFERING. We may wish to
ask: How can the CROSS – a symbol of
both pain and suffering – been redefined for us as a source not only of consolation but more so our
very salvation? Hmmm ... the CROSS ... not
simply an image of pain but as well a source of consolation?
Our first reading from the Book of Numbers speaks to us
of the people of God, hungry and starving in the dessert. We hear them complaining to Moses: "Why have you brought us up from Egypt
to die in this desert, where there is no
food or water?
To make things worse, the
LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which
bit the people so that many of them got sick.
Hunger can indeed be a source of
physical pain. Our stomachs growl and we
get a head ache when we are hungry. We
can be hungry and be in physical pain.
But we need not suffer much like how the Israelites in the desert seemed
to have suffered. PRAY FOR THE GRACE OF
COURAGE TO BE ABLE TO FACE OUR PAINS AND PRAY FOR DELIVERANCE FROM SUFFERING.
HOW DID JESUS HANDLE PAIN AND SUFFERING? The mystery of the INCARNATION ... God
becoming man ... shows us the way! Jesus
is the way! How did he deal with pain
and suffering? From 2 Philippians: “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death, even
death on a cross.” WE ARE ASKED TO ALL
THE MORE EMBRACE OUR PAINS ... EMPTY OURSELVES AND BE OBEDIENT TIL THE
END. AMIDST ALL OUR PAINS ... GOD CALLS
US STILL TO BE FAITHFUL.
SENSE OF GOD’S LOVE FOR THE WORLD. DO NOT FORGET THE MIGHTY WORKS OF THE
LORD. For God so loved the world that he
gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him might not perish but might
have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the
world might be saved through him.
