Finding God in Life’s Suffering

By Jolene Geier OP ~ June 30, 2008

Memorial for the First Holy Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church (Amos 2:6-10, 13-16; Matthew 8:18-22)

Being a follower of Jesus is not for the faint-hearted.  Jesus made that clear throughout his public ministry. It tells us that even Jesus does not have a place to lay his head.  The gospel reading also indicates that there is little we can hold precious, aside from our mission to follow Jesus, once we make the commitment to be his disciple.

When we look at the suffering of our Earth, God seems to be stripping away through the earthquakes, high winds, tornados, hurricanes and floods.  It is almost as if we are being invited to be in increasing harmony with what Earth is suffering at this time with the climate warming, the refugee camps of displaced persons, and the struggle of immigrants.  It is almost like a gift from God to be stripped like this, but that doesn’t necessarily make it less painful.

I have been observing when a disaster happens in areas of extreme poverty and hunger there is a large loss of life.  In areas of the world where there are sophisticated warning systems for evacuations there is more a loss of property and material possessions than the loss of life.  In my prayer I thank God for taking the lives of the people in poverty because they are in a better place with him no longer experiencing the hunger pains and health hazards as before.  And I pray for those left behind that they will be comforted and helped by the goodness of people who have more. For those who experience such loss of material goods you often hear prayers of thankfulness that they are alive.  They find out that they can do without all the extra stuff that they have accumulated in their lives.

While in New Orleans for the Union Convocation some of us took the tour offered to see and hear about the devastation of hurricane Katrina and flood damage caused by the broken levees.  Since the hospitals in the area kept all their documents in their basements those hospitals had to be abandoned. They are useless buildings right now.  The people in the ninth ward or St. Bernard Parish (county) have to travel a great distance into the city to get any kind of health care. I do not know this for a fact but I am supposing one of the hospitals belonged to the Sisters of Charity.  To assist the poor and their health care needs the Sisters of Charity opened up small clinics to serve the people for lesser health problems since the people many who are poor would have so much trouble to travel into the city to get help.  It was a response to create a new ministry for the common good of the people in that area.  It was sad however, to know how many people could not rebuild their homes because they lack the financial support to rebuild.  Was God in all this?  Yes, indeed.  These sisters put their hearts into another kind of health care ministry in response to a common need.  Was it easy?  I doubt it – to lose their institutions.  Making a shift like that is painful.

It was sobering to see the very large motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Joseph standing empty after the flooding and burned because of a lightning strike.  Those sisters experienced displacement much like refugees. Was God in this?  Yes!  Calling forth to follow and suffer with Jesus who did not have a place to lay his head.

Capuchin father Owen O’Sullivan said in an article using a river as a metaphor:   “You could just go with the flow in a directionless drift like a branch in a stream. Or you could dig in your heels and stubbornly fight against life, trying to defeat it, like a fallen tree.  Or you could treat life as a partner, learn about its currents and work with them.”  I believe the Sisters of Charity worked with life in New Orleans as a partner after Katrina;  As did our Dominican Sisters in New Orleans.

How do we respond to life’s problems?  Do we see God in them?  Do we see opportunities to follow Jesus more closely in the suffering?  The early martyrs suffered greatly at the hands of Nero but gained a crown of glory for following Jesus. Let them intercede for us but more importantly to intercede for our persecuted Christians especially in Iraq.