Professional Documents
Culture Documents
WINTER 1967
VOL. 7 NO. 1
SUFFERING
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
FR. JOHN L. MCKENZIE, s.J., author of The Two-Edged Sword, Myths and
Realities, and The Power and the Wisdom, is professor of biblical history at
Loyola University, Chicago, and president of the Catholic Biblical Associa-
tion of America.
FRo THOMAS HAND, S.J., a native of California, has spent most of his
thirteen years in J a p a n teaching in the jesuit college in Hiroshima. H e is
now engaged in the work of retreats and spiritual direction at K a m a k u r a .
FR. JOSEPH WHELAN, S.J., has recently taken his licentiate in theology at
Woodstock College, Maryland. H e is engaged in a year's ascetical a n d
pastoral studies before beginning his doctorate in spirituality.
FR. JOSEPH BLENKINSOPP, studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute,
Rome. He has taught scripture for some years in England and Central
America and is a m e m b e r of the theological faculty at Notre D a m e University,
U.S.A. He is the author of several books on theology and scripture and has
contributed to the english version of the Jerusalem Bible.
FR. LADISLAUS BOROS, s.J., a doctor of philosophy of the University of
Munich, is one of the editors of the swiss jesuit periodical Orientierung. His
Pain and Providence has recently been published in England.
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TIIE
WAY SPIRITUALITY
A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF CHRISTIAN
WINTER I967
SUFFERING
Page
INTRODUCTION 3
THE SON OF MAN MUST SUFFER John L. Mckenzie 6
IF ANY MAN WILL COME AFTER ME Thomas Hand i8
SALVATION THROUGH SUFFERING Joseph Whelan ~8
WE REJOICE IN OUR SUFFERING Joseph Blenkinsopp 36
SUFFERING AND DEATH:
QUESTION AND ANSWER Ladislaus Boros 45
LECTIO DIVINA
Recommended Reading 8o
of God with h u m a n suffering, and the lasting evil that men do who
profess to be christian.
Reflecting on the same problem in the light of Vatican II we can
hope to profit not only by the insights but also by the mistakes and
exaggerations of our theological past. It has been said that spiritu-
ally we are semites; it is God's revelation and call in the scriptures
and finally in his Son 1 that makes us so. I f we take up an historical
stance at the focal point where Christ became man, and look
forward or backwards, there is a profound factual likeness between
the chosen people before and after. In theory, since we are the
new people, we ought to know better than the hebrews, and there-
fore we ought to do better. The scholars tell us that the hebrew, in
the beginning and for centuries, had no more definite idea of
immortal blessings than his pagan neighbour, and he took it for
granted that the innocent and the just would prosper in this present
life, since God's choice and reward would manifest itself in terms
of a happiness that was material and visible. This view is still
instinctive in much christian thinking, in spite of the theological
efforts made both in the past and particularly now to root out such
stubborn remnants of pelagianism. But the new theology itself in its
efforts to redress the balance may be in danger of ignoring the
lessons of earlier salvation history. I f it were possible to record the
centuries of christendom, say from the Edict of Milan to the end
of the thirteenth century, in the same way that the bible does in
terms of salvation history, we should doubtless find a numerical
proportion between the Anawim, the remnant who listened to the
voices of the post-exilic prophets without hardening their hearts,
and the genuine christian. But we would also discover that the
touch stone of authenticity for all those who declare that it is their
intention to follow faithfully 'the rock that is Christ' ~is still suffering.
The reawakening to the truth of h u m a n solidarity in Christ could
lead to a forgetting that salvation comes through suffering. It is the
experience of most christians that the problems gnawing at the
author of the book of Job are as much ours as his. We too instinc-
tively attribute the evils t h a t befall us to the divine justice or retri-
bution in some shape or form, and we would be foolish to deny the
possibility that there is divine justice or retribution. But, as Job
insists, there will always come a time when such answers fail to
satisfy, when even the awareness of a Paul or a Teilhard de Chardin
t H e b 2, Io; 5, 8 - I o .
T H E S O N OF
MAN MUST SUFFER
By J O H N L. M c K E N Z I E
may take a little thought to see that ideas of this kind are disrespect-
ful to him; in a way they challenge his honesty.
When we think of the suffering of Jesus, we think first of his pas-
sion; and possibly we think of nothing else. We think of the passion,
perhaps, as an exquisite and prolonged agony of physical and mental
pain, beyond anything endured by ordinary man. In fact, the
passion of Jesus, like so much of his life, was commonplace in the
world in which he lived. The hellenistic-roman world was civilized,
but it was harsh in war and in the administration of law. It did not
notably exceed in harshness the later european world until quite
recent times; and indeed one may ask whether the modern european
world has entirely risen above barbarism in these areas. O u r own
generation is no stranger to the cruelty of man to man. The death
inflicted upon Jesus was a routine punishment for certain types of
crime. Appalling as it seems to us, and its cruelty was recognized in
ancient times also, it was not an unusual punishment.
Nor is there any reason to think that Jesus was unusually delicate
and sensitive to pain. As he is described in the gospels, there is ample
reason to think that he was not. The average man of those times
seems t o have been less well nourished and less well developed in
physique than modern civilized man; but the peasant had a sturdy
body which was accustomed to prolonged physical exertion and
lack of adequate food. There was no comfort in his life, and some
things he could endure better than we can. The weak did not survive
infancy; those who did survive were those who could resist disease
and infection and who did not tire quickly. We should not take
anything away from the pains of the passion of Jesus, but he could
stand them better than most of us could stand them. Violent death
at the hands of one's fellow-men was a more common risk in that
world than it has yet become in ours; and I suspect that the mental
attitude of the ancient man towards this hazard was not much
different from our own quite casual acceptance of the risks of the
motor car.
A difficulty in studying the response of Jesus to pain is that the
gospels are extremely objective narratives. They never get into the
minds of the people who appear in them, neither into the mind of
Jesus nor of any one else. They relate the external signs of thought
and emotion. If the ancient near east was anything like the modern
near east, emotions were disclosed with a candour which the modern
european finds embarrassing. The passion narratives tell us nothing
of the response of Jesus to the passion. We have only the account of
THE SON O F M A N M U S T S U F F E R 9
and moves against the powers of sin and death. Suffering belongs
to the reign of sin and death, and suffering cannot be attacked unless
its roots are attacked. When Jesus is asked to cure a paralytic he
first forgives sins; the theological implications are apparent, and no
explanation is necessary. 1 Several times also he expresses simple hu-
man compassion for a fellow human being who is in pain. He is
indignant at the pharisees who believe that a woman who has been
crippled for eighteen years can wait one more day for a cure until
the Sabbath rest is ended." The anger of Jesus at this point is most
revealing, for if the question is weighed in the scale of absolutes the
c o m p l a i n t of the pharisees is quite reasonable. The Sabbath is
important, and one day does not seem to add much to eighteen
years. Yet it is the sheer reasonableness of the pharisaic position
which angers Jesus. This is to put things before persons, to treat
human suffering as a calculable factor - in short, to use it. When
people are suffering, there is no reasonable cause for delay which
can be urged.
The same theme appears in stories of the disputes of Jesus with
the pharisees concerning the Sabbath observance. He allows the
Sabbath to interfere with no human need, even if the need be small.
When the disciples nibbled at the raw grain in the fields, there is no
doubt they were h u n g r y ; modern civilized man rarely if ever expe-
riences the perpetual hunger of the poor. But they were not, in the
terms of their own life, starving; nevertheless, the pettiness of the
pharisiaic observance again arouses the anger of Jesus. Such an
attitude shows more interest in the welfare of draught animals
than in the welfare of people. ~
Nothing drew more severe words from Jesus, words in which anger
is evident, than words and actions which bring suffering to others. 4
Scarcely less severity is shown to indifference to h u m a n suffering
which one has not actively caused; we are reminded of the parable
of Dives and Lazarus, in which the rich man is damned for literally
doing nothing. Perhaps this particular species of moral fault should
be more prominently listed in our catalogues of vices. The great test
recounted in Matthew is entirely concerned with what one has done
or failed to do to alleviate the suffering ofothers.S The more obvious
and vicious crimes against the human person do not appear in this
In the synoptics
The first challenging fact is that suffering is our vocation. Nothing is
clearer in the New Testament than the call of every disciple of
Christ to follow him in suffering and death. The importance our
Lord gives to this call is inescapable. At Caesarea Philippi, when the
Lord asked what people and what the apostles thought of him,
Peter answered from his heart, 'You are the Messiah'. O u r Lord
accepted this identification of himself; and 'From that time Jesus
began to make it clear to his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem,
and there to suffer much from the elders, chief priests, and lawyers;
to be put to death and to be raised again on the third d a y ' ? The
impact of these words on the apostles was shattering. Such words
demanded a complete re-identification of the Messiah and of them-
selves as his disciples.
At this Peter took him by the arm and began to rebuke him;
Heaven forbid, he said. No, Lord, this shall never happen to
you. Then Jesus turned and said to Peter, Away with you,
Satan; you are a stumbling-block to me. You think as men
think, not as God thinks. ~
Having insisted in the strongest terms on the picture of a Messiah
who is to accomplish his mission through suffering and death,
Christ goes on to demand the same of his disciples.
Jesus then said to his disciples, If anyone wishes to be a
follower of mine, he must leave self behind; he must take up
his cross and come with me. Whoever cares for his own safety
is lost; b u t ira man will let himself be lost for my sake, he will
find his true self. What will a man gain by winning the whole
world, at the cost of his true self? Or what can he give that
will b u y that self back? For the Son of M a n is to come in the
glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will give each
man the due reward for what he has done2
All three synoptics record this important passage with only slight
differences. In fact, 'The language suggests that jesus frequently
spoke in this way'.~ Certainly the same idea, even in the same phrases,
1 Mt I 6 , 2 I . z Mt 16,2~-23. 3 Mt 16,24-27 .
4 According to a note in the Oxford Annotated Bible ( R S V p I~56).
20 IF ANY MAN WILL COME AFTEI~ ME
In St John
The fundamental call to suffering is made just as clearly in St
John, with typical johannine imagery.
Then Jesus replied: The hour has come for the Son of M a n
to be glorified. In truth, in very truth I tell you, a grain of
wheat remains a solitary grain unless it falls into the ground
and dies; b u t if it dies, it bears a rich harvest. The man who
loves himself is lost, but he who hates himself in this world
will be kept safe for eternal life. I f anyone serves me, he must
follow me; where I am, my servant will be. Whoever serves
me will be honoured by my Father. ~
Jesus is here replying to the request that some greeks have made to
meet him. This request at once reminds him of his appointed task as
Messiah of the greeks and all men. This task is 'his hour' of suffering,
death, and resurrection. H e then goes on to say: 'And I shall draw
all men to myself when I am lifted up from the earth. This he said to
indicate the kind of death he was to die'. 3 It is in this context that
Christ calls upon each of us to be his servants. We are to follow him
in service. His service was to die and to become perfectly open to
union with all. Our service, too, is to die to the closed self and thus
open out our true selves to perfect union with him and all others.
Christian service is always to create the conditions for an ever more
perfect union.
In the epistles
One of the purposes of the First Letter of St Peter was to give
courage to the christians in Asia Minor who were undergoing
persecution. Again, the call to follow Christ in suffering is forceful
and clear.
fore all mankind has died. His purpose in dying for all was
that men, while still in life, should cease to live for themselves,
and should live for him who for their sake died and was raised
to life. With us therefore worldly standards have ceased to
count in our estimate of any man; even if once they counted
in our understanding of Christ, they do so now no longer.
When anyone is united to Christ, there is a new world; the
old order has gone, and a new order has already b e g u n ?
Conclusion
In all the texts given here we have the basic theme of the whole
New Testament: the risen Christ, Christ, the Lord, is the suffering
servant who died and rose so that all might follow him in dying to
this-world-isolation and in rising to perfect human-divine union.
The theme of St Peter's first sermon, the first sermon of the newly
born Church, 2 was the risen Lord who saved us from the evil of
disunity by suffering, death, and resurrection. The message is always
the same, but the means used to proclaim it are different. The gospels
preach the risen Christ through the events of his h u m a n life and
death and rising. St Paul preaches the same, using the actual situa-
tion of the people to whom he was preaching, and the writings of the
Old Testament. But this same gospel was first proclaimed by Christ
himself immediately after his resurrection. This proclamation also
stresses the same conclusion, that suffering is integral to the vocation
of a christian. Personal commitment tO Christ is unthinkable without
unconditional acceptance of ail that was integral to his own living
out, in h u m a n terms, of his divine personality, his sonship.
1 Ibld., 5, I 4 - I 7 . ~ A c t s 2. 8 L k 24, 2 5 - 2 7 -
IF ANY MAN WILL COME AFTER ME 23
One thing that stands out in these passages is the importance our
Lord gives to the scriptures. He turns to them for his whole explana-
tion of his death and resurrection. M a n y years ago this writer used
to wonder about all this concern for fulfilling the scriptures. M a y b e
it was important for the feelings of the jews, but it hardly seemed of
importance to the twentieth century 'me'. But, as modern insights
into salvation history point out so well, the scriptures have to be
fulfilled; not merely because something is written there, but because
what is written there is the revelation of the great plan of God. It
would be wonderful if we had the full text of our Lord's scriptural
explanation of the salvation event, but it would seem that we know
its basic theme: the paschal mystery.
Lk ~4, 44--47.
2~ IF A N Y M A N W I L L COME AFTER ME
selves as having a real place in Egypt. It was this suffering that made
them ready to follow Moses out into the desert and seek God there.
Moses was the leader, the evolutionary prototype who first fled to
the desert and there met God and experienced his peace. Then,
again, after the people had followed him to the foot of Sinai, it was
Moses who experienced the great theophany on top of the mountain
and who came down to establish the solemn covenant whereby
Israel became God's people. During the time of trial in the desert,
while the people were being t a u g h t what it meant to be God's
people, they sometimes lost their trust and identification with him.
They even began to yearn for the fleshpots of Egypt. But at last
they made the final passage through the J o r d a n and entered into a
new life of union with God and each other.
An act of love
The whole paschal process must be seen in terms of love, for love is
the drive for union. One of St Paul's most beautiful expressions of
Christ's love for us is: 'The Son of God, who loved me and sacrificed
himself for me'.l Let us paraphrase it in the terms we have developed
here. Who loved me: He wanted to take me and all mankind into
a perfect h u m a n unity. Therefore, he came and took flesh. He
entered this state of flesh, this state of disunion. He identified himself
with me. And sacrificed himself for me: He encountered and bore all
the forces of disunion: insults, rejection, bodily pain, interior suffer-
ings. He bore all that could close the h u m a n heart against God, man,
and lower creatures. He trod the path of the fallen man even to the
very disuniting of his own h u m a n composite into body and soul. But
through it all he remained open to the Father, to man, to all crea-
tion. He loved to the end and to the utmost. For this reason, because
of the perfect fidelity of his love, he was raised to a new life. He pas-
sed on into a state of total openness, total love, total readiness for
perfect union. 'Because of his humble submission his prayer was
heard: son though he was, he learned obedience in the school of
suffering, and, once perfected, became the source of eternal salva-
tion for all who obey him'. ~ When he rose from.the dead, the state
of his body was matched to the state of his heart. Just as his heart
was completely open and in a state of love toward all beings, so now
his body is ready to unite with all matter to form a perfect unity.
It is precisely this unity that brings us into that eternal unity
with the Father in the Spirit that is his from all eternity.
Psychological suffering
Each of us lives in his own private world. We cannot help but
see things in relation to ourselves, and all reality is coloured by our
own self-concept. Everyone has areas of falsity in his self-concept
and I will only be perfect when my self-consciousness is identical
with that of the true Son of God made man. For the sake of example,
suffice my self-concept to be shot through with a guilt complex.
Suffice that, in the course of a very strict unbringing, I gradually
came to identify myself as never performing adequately, as never
achieving what was demanded. This may have been reinforced by
some actual sins and culpable failures, so that now I live constantly,
though largely unconsciously, in a feeling of guilt and inferiority.
I cannot take myself or my ideas seriously. This complex will
always produce at least a dull suffering, but it will happen that
sometimes I get into situations in which the flaws in my personality
cause acute pain. I realize that there is something wrong with the
pattern of my response to reality. I have a terrible sense of this not
being the 'true me'. Because I am not in order and do not possess
myself correctly, I cannot freely and openly enter into communion
with others, even with Christ. A psychologist can help me to see
my actual state, to see its causes, to see it as evil. But the deepest
and ultimate salvation dan only come from m y encounter with
Christ. To experience his acceptance and that of the Father, this is
what will create the true image of myself. This will recreate my
private world into a world that is no longer private. I must go into
the desert of trust and follow Christ into a new world of resurrection-
al union. Perfect h u m a n union must be bodily. Therefore, while
still in this-world-flesh, I must always suffer because of disunion.
But I rejoice in this saving pain which spurs me on to put to death
the self of disorder and isolation. The final goal, the new life, still
remains a mystery; but the revelation 0fits reality has been made in
the actual event, the historical resurrection of the Son of Man.
The glory of God shining in the face of the risen Christ: with this
our gospel begins and ends. Christ is risen and alive! H e is totally
open to us, even in his Body. O u r relationship to him is deeper and
more real than to any other person. Union with him is the actual
goal of all human striving, of all human suffering.
SALVATION
THROUGH SUFFERING
By J O S E P H P. W H E L A N
T to be said about man, and about each one o f us, are not
problems. W h a t man fundamentally is, what he does, what
happens to him - these are not problems. For they are not
available to man for adequate analysis or definitive solution. They
lie too deep for that. Man, at the roots of his being and his activity,
where he stands partner to his world, his fellows and his God, is a
mystery. We ponder mystery, we entertain it, we try to formulate
and structure it ever and anew. We criticize our past attempts to do
so and begin again, or further build on what seems adequate. The
aim and the task is to keep the mystery whole and immediate, so
that the mind may recognize its importance and the heart may
become involved in its beauty, that man may experience the reality
of which the mystery speaks, and respond to the mystery of himself,
his world and his God.
No mystery assails the heart of man so immediately, or so
scandalizes his faith in his God and in himself, as does the mystery
of suffering. And none has cast more doubt upon the nature of
salvation or the value of this world. Every man finds the mystery
of suffering thrust upon him, carved into the marrow of his own
bone and spirit. And if he loves, he is likely to confront it even more
fearfully in the tears of others. M a n may not opt for or against
suffering. It is there: a battering experience whose history man
fears and whose future he can count on.
At the same time, there are ways of taking thought or action
against the mystery of pain. For example, it can be denied that
suffering is mysterious at all by reducing it to one of those h u m a n
problems as yet unsolved; an incredibly formidable problem, of
course, which may never be answered or controlled completely.
But on this view, the answers are theoretically within man's reach
if he will persevere. Such a view is probably not a common one.
The inner reaches of the heart give the lie to such a hope, in spite of
what our philosophers tell us.
SALVATION THROUGH SUFFERING 29
And man's instinct ever since has been to classify his world in
order to divide and separate it, whether by colour, creed, or econom-
ics. Sin is also the rupture within the man himself, the lie the
mind tells to the heart, the betrayal of the spirit by the flesh. Even
in the beauty of our h u m a n loves we catch the rhythm and the
footfall of this sickness unto death. The very goodness of our lives is
shadowed by the curse that has been dealt us. Sin that even stalks
our innocence, taxing it with suffering, with loneliness, and death.
In the person of Jesus Christ, the Godhead enters history and
the world: not to destroy that world, but to confront it with him-
self, as he is. God is that condition of Persons who are completely
at one, perfectly and endlessly together, present to one another in
mutual self-surrender. Thus, the revelation of Christ's divinity is
specified. H e is not thrust into our history simply as our God.
H e is revealed to us and for us as our God the Son, the Son of a
most loving Father. And the love, the self-donation, that is given
and received between them, is a gift so joyous and complete that it
is a Person like and equal to themselves: the holy Spirit of Father
and Son.
This is the love affair that breaks in upon our history of sin,
upon our world of shattered loyalties, our land of Cain that lies
far east of Eden. Our world, in a word, of hate. We would expect
the confrontation of hate and unconditioned love to be drastic and
explosive. And so it is. In one man, one of our own, Jesus Christ,
this love affair assumes our world of hate, not to contract its guilt,
but to forgive it: to assume its grievous aftermath of suffering,
loneliness and death. In becoming man, he took on our flesh of
sin, 1 and then forgave it in himself. He forgave us in and through
his Christ, that we might then forgive ourselves, bless one another,
and our world. This is the atonement; it is the walking together, the
being at one, of God and man: and so, too, of man and man, the
brothers of Christ. As man had given Christ his flesh, so Christ
gives man his Spirit; the brothers become sons, who can say,
with the Son, abba, Father [2
This is salvation. It is a fact for one man, Jesus Christ. For the
rest, it is a possibility. The salvation of Jesus Christ reaches its
victorious conclusion in the enactment of his passage to the Father.
But it was a road to travel, a passage to be made. The salvation of
the Son of God who is now also Son of Man, the coming together
of lover and beloved, the end of loneliness and hate: all this occurs
at the very moment of dereliction and of death. He was alone, and
the loneliness became union. And then he d i e d ; and the death
turned out to be life and perfect love. 'He handed over his spirit' ;1
he gave his Father all the love he had: the holy Spirit. And with
his Father he poured out that Spirit upon all men, bringing to
birth his bride the Church in a community of love with himself and
of all men with each other.
This happened to the Man. H e suffered and was saved. This
salvation is available to all men; but there is a road to travel, a
passage to be made. This is the suffering through which lies the
entrance into glory. Salvation is an exodus, a journey from the
isolated self into community. There are no options here; there is
only his way to walk, his truth to trust, his life to live. There is but
one altar, one victim, one priest. Christ's work is done, and its
effect remains: salvation wrought by pain. We are bidden in both
liturgy and life to follow and repeat it in effective commemoration.
And here we face our fact. Christ's salvation of the world was
won through suffering and loneliness, death and resurrection. This
alone is what saved us; not life alone, nor death alone, but pain and
death for the sake of life. We are taught here, yet with no questions
asked or answered, what is and shall be the meaning of love, and
what the cost of hate. It is a pierced and gloriously risen Christ
who is and will remain forever the apple of his Father's eye. ~
And still this suffering and loneliness, this death and resurrection
remain an impenetrable mystery. W h y could not love forgive, and
then let be ? Why could not love astonish and defeat our petty hate,
except by suffering, by loneliness and tears, by sorrow unto death?
W h y could not life conquer death except by dying? The Old
Testament is crowded with shadows of what Christ will do: with
Isaac, 8 and the covenant made by Yahweh with Israel when Moses
sprinkled blood on the altar and the people, to signify the union and
new friendship of the living God and man. * It tells what
Christ will do and what his deed effects. But it does not finally tell
us why Christ had to suffer. We are left with the mystery of a divine
and suffering messiah who died for love. I do not understand this
love, or why he had to die, I know it, I experience it, and I am
asked to follow. 'Master, where do you live'? 'Come and see'. 5
He died for our sins, and rose for our justification. And Paul
goes on: We are baptized into his death, buried with him by
baptism into death, and by his resurrection, we walk in newness of
life? The deed of God in Christ, and our baptism into it, transforms
the world, the world of men and trees, of the city and the tomb.
It is a new creation, alive to God, become one in the h u m a n flesh
of Christ. The baptismal waters of death and life build us into that
victory of Christ, and through him, into one another.
But baptism is not a magic moment that destroys our history
and time, nor does it shatter our psychology. Salvation kills our sin,
our hate, but not its consequences. Our sin and hate took time; they
have a history and a structure in our flesh and our psychology, and
in the world about us. Our love must have a history too, as did
Christ's. The victory of Christ will never be gainsaid, but it, too,
will have a history. Our evil shall be ailowed to test it, and our
suffering augment it, as Paul says. ~
Salvation is Christ's love for us; it is his holy Spirit offered to
our freedom. In that Spirit, in each one of us, Christ makes his
passage once again, as many times as there are men to make it,
if we will have it so: through suffering and loneliness, to death
and resurrection.
Suffering, then, is integral to the mystery of Christ. Yet we must
not sentimentalize his suffering; it is a thing to fear and dread.
Christ was a teacher in Israel, with powerful gifts of mind and
heart and personality, who wanted to succeed and to find happiness
as a man. We mock the man if we say less than that. And suffering
sent him grovelling to the earth in sweating panic in the very hour
of his glory2 Suffering is an evil, the aftermath of hate. Yet the
intelligence of God in Christ found in its irrational terrors a fruitful
passage back to his own love.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ, his coming to life again in his
Father's love, is our salvation. It is the term of a passage that we
have briefly sketched: suffering, loneliness, death - and resurrection.
And we follow Christ in this. But what of Christ's history as a man
who loved and ate and slept, who grieved for Lazarus? W h a t of
the work of the carpenter who lent his hands and strength, as all
are called to do, to the building of man's city here on earth? Was
this salvific for himself, for us? The question is not: Did his life
contribute to the salvation that was perfectly wrought in his death
1 C f J n i7, i 4 - i 7.
34 SALVATION THROUGH SUFFERING
a J o b 5, 7" 2 Ps37,95.
WE REJOICE IN OUR SUFFERINGS 37
one issue - at least for the christian: 'my grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness'. This is in the pattern of
him who was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God.
O f Paul's almost daily consorting with death during the stay in
Jerusalem after the three missionary tours we hear at length from
Luke, who was with him for part of the time. This writer's habit of
describing vividly and at length selected key-scenes in the story, and
passing rapidly over the intervals, must not lead us to forget the
two years spent in prison at Caesarea, only fleetingly referred to in a
subordinate clause. 1 Two years is a long time for a man with Paul's
sense of urgency. Then the voyage, shipwreck, contrarieties in Rome
and another two years of house arrest, at which point Luke's story
ends. If the pastoral letters are from his hand, or even reflect faith-
fully his condition during the last years, we see that he suffered
what Simone Well described as the only evil - absence, in this case,
the absence of friends, a sense of isolation and abandonment:
'Demas in love with the present world has deserted m e . . . Crescens
has g o n e . . . Luke alone is with me'. ~ H e may well have died almost
alone.
Examined from this point of view, therefore, Paul's life is in line
with that of Jeremiah, or any of the other prophets, whose mission
was accomplished only at the cost of a mounting experience of
suffering. But Paul, in the text from which we began, goes beyond
what any of the prophets could claim when he asserts that he and all
christians rejoice in their sufferings. The word which he uses here
really means to boast, a point which has to be made in that Paul
began in this letter with the purpose of removing any human ground
for boasting, since all are under the power of sin. 3 No one can achieve
the end of existence, which is to share in the glory of God ;4 this has
been made possible only through what God has done in Christ. By
entering into a faith-relationship with Christ in his great death-to-
life act, this possibility can be actualized in a man's life; but it has
to be translated into the hard currency of real experience, making
the right decisions, endurance issuing in approval or character. This
provides the mainspring for a new forward-movement, the direction
or sense of which is the christian hope. This is not just an illusion,
since 'God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the
holy Spirit which has been given to us'. At the same time, hope is not
time went on, a gradual detachment from this limiting point of view.
This came about in the first place with the realization of the magni-
tude of the missionary task he had set himself. The fulfilment of
God's plan, involving the bringing together in a new family both
those who were near (the jews) and those who were far (the gentiles),
was still far from complete. But this did not prevent him from seeing
the sufferings involved in the apostolate as part of the preparation
for the in-breaking kingdom, as God's authenticating mark and the
assurance that some day he would show his hand. It is precisely for
this reason that he can rejoice or boast of his sufferings, as he does in
the well-known autobiographical passage referred to earlier:
'What I am saying I say not with the Lord's authority but as a fool,
in this boasting c o n f i d e n c e . . . Whatever anyone dares to boast o f -
I am speaking as a fool - I also dare to boast o f . . . I must boast;
there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go o n . . / 1
This rejoicing, even boasting in suffering, is the strange and eccen-
tric element in the christian attitude. For many it can hardly fail
also to be one of the most repellent, and when we remember some
forms this attitude has taken in christian history, there must be some
justification for this. An especially clear case is Calvin, for whom
la souffrance est meiUeure que la joie ; and the one-sided calvinist teach-
ing has seeped through into the lives of thousands of people, as
widely differing as van Gogh brought up in an avid calvinist atmos-
phere, and Pascal, who believed that sickness was the natural state
of the christian. For Paul, on the contrary, the christian does not
just suffer, both in his general humanity and in the particularity of
his being a christian; he rejoices in his sufferings. When we suffer
and no longer know why, when we suffer without rejoicing, then
we are outside of the genuine christian experience. That is the simple
test. At the same time, this shows up all other explanations of human
suffering as insufficient - whether we speak of suffering helping us
towards approaching others in sympathy, or building up our own
character, or contributing to the building up of the cosmos which,
as Teilhard de Chardin has reminded us, involves many failures and
casualties; though this last calls for a degree of faith in the cosmic
process which, one suspects, only very few are capable of.
In itself, however, rejoicing i n one's sufferings might be just
another version of the banal injunction to grin and bear it. W h a t
Paul shows us through his correspondence, which is the mirror of
1 2 Cor II--I~.
w E R]~JOlCE IN OUR SUFFERINGS 43
the high period of his mission, is how this rejoicing is possible. The
answer is simply that the christian suffers in union with Christ. Not
just in the sense that Christ, as the supreme artist of living - the
phrase is van Gogh's - gives us an example which we are called on
to follow; that above all in Gethsemane and on Calvary he showed
us how to face 'the double agony' of suffering and death which is the
lot of all of us. This is already of tremendous significance for us today,
as it was for Paul's catechumens 'before whose eyes Jesus Christ was
portrayed as crucified' ;1 but Paul goes beyond this. By his baptism,
the christian is immersed in the redemptive death-to-life of Jesus; he
is con-crucified with him. 2 The sufferings and death of Jesus did not
just happen to him, but formed a positive act accepted in advance
and thereby became an event. This acceptance, this event-character,
is expressed by speaking of Christ's obedience - 'he learned obe-
dience through what he suffered'. 3 But this loving act of submission
is not simply the archetype of the redemptive process establishing
the christian pattern of existence - through death to life. O u t of the
baptismal faith-relationship of the community with Christ a new
and deep level of communication is created. This implies also a
koinonia in suffering which both links together the sufferings of the
individual christian with those of Christ and binds the sufferings of
the whole body together. Paul therefore can declare that he shares
abundantly in Christ's sufferings during his mission, and goes on at
once to say:
If we are afflicted it is for your comfort and salvation; and if
we are comforted it is for your comfort, which you experience
when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.
O u r hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share
in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 4
This implies that the christian suffers not so much with Christ as in
Christ, that he has to appropriate his sufferings in the suffering
Christ and thus reproduce on the hard-grain material of concrete
existence in this kind of world the pattern of Christ's death. The
key-phrase here comes from Paul, writing in prison to the philip-
Plans: ' . . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection,
and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if
possible I may attain to the resurrection from the dead'. 5
t Gal3, I. ~- R o m 6 , 3 . 3 Heb5,8.
4 ~ Cor 1,5-7. ~ P h i l 3, x o - i t .
44 WE REJOICE IN OUR SUFFERINGS
light, so that from our despair we may pass over into his joy.
This word joy expresses the inner attitude with which a christian
should approach every problem of his life, including therefore that
of pain. J o y is tile ultimate yardstick in christian experience. Depres-
sion - and we are thinking not so much of what happens on the
surface but in the depths of our existence - is unchristian: it contra-
dicts the spirit of tile Lord. Reflection on the darker side of human
life, on sickness, pain and death, ought to lead us to joy: otherwise
it is not christian meditation. J o y happens when human existence
stands entirely open to Christ: he, and only he, can bring light into
our darkness. To seek christian joy cannot mean closing our eyes to
h u m a n needs, or turning away our gaze from human darkness, but
rather to experience in its depths the contradiction of pain, and to
expose it to the light of the Lord.
Every reflection on pain and death must be shot through with
this vital truth: after the resurrection of Christ the destiny of the
world is already decided: we are moving heavenwards. Amidst all
the realities of our provisional world, what is definitive and ultimate
is already in process. What we seek cannot end in emptiness; noth-
ing can separate us from the love of Christ. SoJohnwillsayinsistent-
ly: 'God is greater than our heart'. And Paul gives an answer to all
our hopes which goes beyond even the carefully calculated dreams
of humanity: 'When once all things are subject to Christ then will
the son be with God, so that God may be all in a11'. In such a world
there is no reason for despair or cowardice. God wants to see joyous,
renewed, useful souls, souls relieved of anxiety. The christian is to be
a witness to joy in our joyless and pain-ridden world.
The ultimate questions of life, and certainly questions about sick-
ness, pain and death are amongst these, must be answered from the
basic insights of our faith, otherwise the answers will be superficial
or simply false. Revelation gives us a basic answer to the why of
suffering and death: 'it was not always so', and, 'it will not always
be so'. Once mankind lived in a state of wholeness, incapable of
suffering, in a state of immortality, in paradise. And mankind will
once again, in the state of eternal beatitude, achieve this wholeness,
in possession of knowledge, incapable of suffering, and will live im-
mortally, in heaven. We come from paradise and we are going
towards heaven. What stands in between, the whole painful life of
humanity, is therefore simply a transition, an episode of unhappi-
ness in a world which is made for happiness.
In the beginning, man - that is to say, man as he was originally
SUFFERING AND DEATH: QUESTION AND ANSWER 47
last forever. We are moving towards heaven. The suffering and need
which afflict us here are provisional: in the deepest and last analysis
unimportant. And y e t it is still our task to protect those whom we
love (and we have the duty to love as many men as possible) from
all that depresses them and makes them suffer: that is, to make easier
for them the way to their final happiness, to heaven.
We are all committed to oppose suffering. That is the first demand
of the christian's love of his neighbour. As long as it is possible, the
christian will offer every consolation; as long as it is possible, we
must fight with God against evil. Our first task is service of the
suffering brethren, for christian existence is built upon our neigh-
bour. As a christian I have to help my abandoned and suffering
brothers, and in that I am a christian. A Christianity which is not
concerned with the urgent task of love of the poor and the abandon-
ed is empty chatter. The didactic point of the cure of the paralytic
at the pool of Bethsaida, is that he had nobody to help h i m ?
It is the most terrible experience of a human life when a person
has to say: 'I have nobody'. As long as there is anyone in my envi-
ronment, among the people who are accessible to me, who has to
say 'I have nobody', then I am no christian. M y eternal happiness
depends on understanding Jesus' parable of the judgment: 'Come
you blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom which is prepared
for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry and you
gave me to eat'. ~ This is not symbolic language. It must be under-
stood in all its hard truth. It is true that spiritual need, inner impris-
onment and hunger of soul, are also hard realities. Somebody who
has never once in his life given something to eat to someone who is
hungry, or drink to someone who is thirsty, or never harboured a
stranger, clothed someone who was naked, visited the sick, or
consoled a prisoner, will not come into heaven, and so is not inward-
ly a christian; he has understood nothing of christianity. He has
missed its reality. A man becomes a christian not first of all because
he finds ecstasy in his prayer, not because he knows a great deal
about laws and prescriptions, but through the selfless service of his
abandoned brethren in everyday life: of those who are saying: 'I
have nobody'. Whoever goes out and helps a poor man, or even
simply a man who feels abandoned, will one day hear the word of
Christ: 'You are blessed. I have prepared for you a kingdom from
the beginning of the world. You have been a christian'.
1 Mk7,3~-7. 2 L k I7, I 2 - i 7.
SUFFERING AND DEATH : QUESTION AND ANSWER 55
he receives his true reality as a gift. Only in this way can a man
be truly saved: saved from himself, no longer locked up in his own
ego. So God cries out to us: 'Cease to be in love with yourself. Let
yourself go. Confess that you are nothing, that the little that you
are you have received as a gift'.
Then there was the sign in the city of Naim. 1 Our Lord released
a mother from her despair. He gave back to her all that she had
lost. When we think that our lif~ has been of no use to anyone,
wasted on trivialities and frivolities, all our longings unfulfilled,
Christ says to us: 'Have no fear, I will pay it all back to you.
There is no dream and no desire which remains unfulfilled.
You have lost nothing, least of all what you have renounced. Go
forward calmly in self-forgetfulness. Lose all for others. Even if
you have lost all, you will receive all back again from me'. So
Christ draws us out of our spiritual narrowness and out of our
obsessions and sense of failure. This is salvation: salvation from
ourselves, from our own suffering.
In the end h u m a n pain enters so deeply into our being that it
becomes the power of separation and of death. One's whole being
collapses. In death man experiences a radical powerlessness and
:destruction. ls there an answer even here? 'Yes', Christ says to us:
'I possess the key of death'. It is only in the moment of death that
a m a n can finally lay aside the otherness of his own being and
become sufficiently master of himself to encounter Christ completely,
with every fibre of his being. It is in this confrontation that he is
able to make the truly real decision.
According to this hypothesis, ~in the moment of death, every man
is given the possibility of deciding for or against Christ, with com-
plete freedom. Notice that we say 'in the moment' of death. We are
not speaking of the moments immediately preceding death or of
after death; but of the precise moment when the soul abandons
the body. Then it awakens to its full spirituality, and understands
all that created spirit can grasp. It sees its whole life summed up in
a single whole, and discovers God calling and leading. It is im-
possible in this moment to ignore Christ. M a n must decide once
and for all - for all eternity, which will be nothing more than a
development of what happens in this moment. Here he is faced by
all he has sought for, grasped at, longed for. And through it all
Lk 7, 1 I - I 5.
Fr Boros has developed it fully in his Moment of Truth (London, I965). Ed.
56 S U F F E R I N G AND D E A T H : ~ U E S T I O N AND A N S W E R
1 8acrosanatum Conciliurn, 5 I.
s London, 1966 : in the RSV by Geoffrey Chapman, in the Knox version by Burns Oates.
8 I COl?. IO~ I I .
58 T H E W O R D OF GOD A N D P R A Y E R
Second week
after Epiphany
WHAT IS MAN...
I. Formation
~ his
H~. LORD QOD formed m a n of dust from the ground, a n d breathed into
nostrils the breath of life, a n d m a n became a living being.
T h e Lord created m a n out of the earth, a n d turned him back to it again.
H e gave to m e n few days, a limited time, a n d granted them authority over
the things upon the earth. H e endowed them with strength like his own a n d
m a d e them in his own image.
H e placed the fear of them in all living beings a n d granted them dominion
over birds a n d beasts.
H e filled them with knowledge and understanding a n d showed them good
and evil
H e set his eye upon their hearts to show them the majesty of his works. A n d
they will praise his holy name to proclaim the grandeur of his works.
Lord you search me a n d you know me. For it was you who created m y being,
knit me together in m y mother's womb.
I thank you for the wonder of m y being,
for the wonders of all your creation.
F r o m your dwelling you water the hills.
earth drinks its fill from your gift.
You make the grass grow for the cattle,
a n d t h e plant, s to serve m a n ' s needs,
that he m a y bring forth b r e a d from the earth,
a n d wine to cheer man's h e a r t ;
oil, to make his face shine,
a n d b r e a d to strengthen man's heart.
D o not be anxious, saying, ' W h a t shall we eat?' or ' W h a t shall we drink?'
or ' W h a t shall we wear ? ' Y o u r heavenly F a t h e r knows that you need them all.
But seek first his kingdom a n d his righteousness, a n d all these things shall be
yours as well.
T h e L o r d delights in those who revere him,
in those who wait for his love,
T h e Spirit of God has m a d e me a n d the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Let everything that lives a n d breathes give praise to the Lord.
Now in putting everything in subjection to man, he left nothing outside his
control. So it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
But we see Jesus.
H e is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all c r e a t i o n . . , all things
were created through him a n d for him. H e is before all things a n d in him all
things hold together. H e is the head of the b o d y the Church.
2. Deformation
ND THE LORD GOD commanded m a n saying, 'You m a y freely eat of
A every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good a n d
evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall die'.
A n d m a n a n d his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not die'. She took of the fruit of
the tree a n d ate; a n d she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. T h e n
the eyes of both were opened, a n d they knew that they were naked.
Jesus said, 'You are of your father the d e v i l . . , he was a murderer from the
b e g i n n i n g . . , he is a liar a n d the father of lies'.
W h e n they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel a n d killed
him.
Sin came into the world through one man, and death came through s i n . . .
for the wages of sin is death. God created m a n for incorruption, a n d made
h i m i n the image of his own eternity, but t h r o u g h the devil's envy death
entered the world, a n d those who belong to his party experience it.
T h e fool has said in his heart: 'There is no God above'.
T h e Lord saw that the wickedness of m a n was great in the earth, a n d that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Their deeds are corrupt, depraved; not a good m a n is left. A n d the Lord was
sorry that tie had made m a n on the earth, a n d it grieved him to his heart,
But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord. A n d God said to Noah, ' I
have determined to make a n end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with vio-
lence through them, behold I will destroy them with the earth'.
I f he should take back his Spirit to himself
a n d gather to himself his b r e a t h ,
all flesh would perish together
a n d m a n would return to dust.
You hide your face, they are dismayed;
you take back your spirit, they die,
returning to the dust from which they came.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.
From heaven God looks down on the sons of m e n to see if any are wise, if
a n y seek God.
All have left the right path, depraved every one.
O lord, do not rebuke me in your anger;
do not punish me, Lord, in your rage.
60 THE WORD OF GOD AND PRAYER
3" Reformation
o o BLESSED NOAH a n d his sons, a n d said to them, Be fruitful a n d
O
multiply and fill the e a r t h . . .
Behold I establish m y covenant with you
a n d your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with
you; never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, a n d never
again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.
Noah was found perfect a n d righteous;in the time of wrath he was taken in
exchange; therefore a r e m n a n t was left to the earth when the flood came.
Everlasting covenants were made with him, that all flesh should not be blot-
ted out by the flood. By faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events
as yet unseen, took heed and constructed a n ark for the saving of his house-
hold; by this he condemned the world a n d became an heir of the righteous-
ness which comes by faith.
For a brief m o m e n t I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
I n overflowing wrath for a m o m e n t I hid my face from you, but with ever-
lasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord your redeemer. For
this is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should
no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you
a n d will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart a n d the hills be re-
moved, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, a n d my covenant of
peace shall not be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you.
We await a saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body
to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject
all things to himself. Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. A n d everyone who thus hopes in him puri-
fies himself as he is pure.
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
I n your compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more a n d more fi:om m y guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
The first A d a m became a living being; the last A d a m became a life-giving
spirit. The first m a n was from the earth a m a n of dust; the second m a n is
from heaven...
Just as we have borne the image of the m a n of dust, we shall also bear the
image of the m a n of heaven.
THE WORD OF GOD AND PRAYER 61
God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even
when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. For
he has made known to us in all wisdom a n d insight the mystery of his will,
according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness
of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven a n d things on earth.
N THOSE DAYS the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country a n d your
I kindred a n d your father's house to the land that I will show you. A n d I will
make of'you a great nation and I will bless you, a n d make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, a n d him who
curses you I will curse; a n d by you all the families of the earth shall bless them-
selves. So A b r a m went as the Lord h a d told him.
By faith A b r a h a m obeyed, when he was called to go out to a place which he
was to receive as a n inheritance; a n d he went out not knowing where he was
to go. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living
in tents with Isaac a n d Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. He was
looking forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder a n d maker
is God.
I n Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as m a n y of you as
were baptized into Christ have p u t on Christ. There is neither J e w nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all
one in Christ Jesus. A n d if you are Christ's then you are A b r a h a m ' s offspring,
heirs according to promise.
I n those days G o d tested A b r a h a m , a n d said to him, A b r a h a m . A n d he said,
Here I am. H e said, Take your son, your only son Isaac, w h o m you love, a n d
go to the l a n d of Moriah, a n d offer him there as a b u r n t offering upon one of
the mountains of which I shall tell you.
By faith A b r a h a m , when he was tested, offered up Isaac, a n d he who h a d
received the promises was ready to offer u p his only son, of whom it was said,
' T h r o u g h Isaac shall your descendants be named'. H e considered that G o d
was able to raise men even from the d e a d ; hence, figuratively speaking, he d i d
receive him back. A n d the angel of the Lord called to A b r a h a m a second time
from heaven, a n d said, By myself I have sworn, Says the Lord, because you
have done this, a n d have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed
bless you, a n d I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven a n d as
the sand which is on the seashore. A n d b y your descendants shall all the na-
tions of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed m y voice.
Sixth week
after Epiphany i
THE EXODUS
~E PEOPLE OF ISgA~L groaned under their bondage, and cried out for
T help, a n d their cry u n d e r bondage came u p to God. And God heard their
groaning, a n d God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac a n d
with Jacob.
A n d God called to Moses out of the bush, Moses, Moses. A n d he said, Here I
am. T h e n he said, Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for
the place on which you are standing is holy ground. A n d he said, I am the
God of your Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, a n d the God of
Jacob. A n d Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
T h e n the Lord said, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in
E g y p t . . . I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth m y people,
the sons of Israel out of Egypt.
God said to Moses, I A M W H O AM. A n d he said, Say this to the people of
Israel - I A M has sent me to you.
W h e n Israel was a child I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
T h e first born of the egyptians he smote,
for his great love is without end;
He brought Israel out of their midst,
1 Readings from Exod *, 8 - 14, 3 I.
T H E W O R D OF GOD A N D P R A Y E R 65
Moses considered abuse suffered for Christ greater wealth than the treasures
of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid
of the anger of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By
faith he kept the passover a n d sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the
first-born might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the R e d Sea as if
on d r y land; b u t the egyptians, when they a t t e m p t e d to do the same, were
drowned.
I w a n t you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, a n d
all passed through the sea, a n d all were baptized into Moses in the cloud a n d
in the sea, a n d all ate the same supernatural food, a n d all drank the same
supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed
them, a n d the Rock was Christ.
T h e n Moses called all the elders of Israel, a n d said to them, Select lambs for
yourselves according to your families a n d kill the passover lamb. T a k e a
bunch of hyssop a n d dip it in the blood which is in the basin, a n d touch the
lintel a n d the two doorposts with the blood that is in the b a s i n ; . . , for the
Lord will pass through to slay the egyptians; a n d when he sees the blood on
the lintel a n d on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door, a n d will
not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to slay you. You will observe this
rite as an ordinance for you a n d for your sons for e v e r . . . A n d then a n d
when your children say to you, W h a t do you mean b y this service? you shall
say, I t is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, for he passed over the houses of
the people of Israel in Egypt, when he slew the egyptians, but spared our
houses. A n d the people bowed their heads a n d worshipped:
N o w before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour h a d
come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who
were in the world, he loved them to the end. A n d he said to them, I have earn-
66 T H E W O R D OF GOD A N D P R A Y E R
esfly desired to eat the passover with you before I suffer. This is m y body
which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
Behold the L a m b of God. Behold him who takes away the sins of the world.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no m a n could num-
ber, from every nation, from all tribes a n d peoples a n d tongues, standing be-
fore the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes with p a l m bran-
ches in their hands.
These are they who have come out of great tribulation; they have washed
their robes a n d made them white in the blood of the L a m b . Therefore are
they before the throne of God, and serve him d a y and night within his temple.
and he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence. T h e y
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them,
nor a n y scorching heat. For the L a m b in the midst of the throne will be their
shepherd, a n d he will guide them to springs of living water; a n d G o d will
wipe away every tear from their eyes.
I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.
T h e Lord is m y strength and m y song.
a n d he has become m y salvation;
this is m y G o d a n d I will praise him,
m y father's God a n d I will exalt him.
You have led in your steadfast love
the people w h o m you have redeemed;
you have guided them b y your strength to your holy abode.
Week after
Septuagesima ~
INTO THE WILDERNESS
Therfore, I will allure her, a n d bring her into the wilderness, a n d speak
tenderly to her. A n d there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at
the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
It was I who taught E p h r a i m to walk, I took them u p in m y arms; but they
did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of compassion, with
the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their
jaws, a n d I bent down to them a n d fed them.
O search me God, a n d know m y heart.
O test me a n d know my thoughts.
See that I follow not the wrong path
a n d lead me in the path of life eternal.
Septuagesima
to Sexagesima 1
MAN'S REBELLIOUS HEART
EMEMBER a n d do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to
R wrath in the wilderness; from the day you came out of the land of
Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the
Week after
Sexagesima 1
COVENANT
ND ~aOSESwent up to God, a n d the L o r d called to him out of the moun-
A tain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, a n d tell the people
of Israel: You have seen what I did to the egyptians, a n d how I bore you on
eagles' wings a n d brought you to myself. Now therefore you ~ obey m y
voice a n d keep m y covenant, you shaU be m y own possession among all
peoples; for all the earth is mine, a n d you shall be to me a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children
of Israel.
Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord a n d all the ordi-
nances; a n d all the people answered with one voice a n d said, All the words
which the L o r d has spoken we will do. A n d Moses wrote all the words of the
Lord. T h e n he took the book of the covenant a n d r e a d it in the hearing of the
people, and they said, All that the L o r d has spoken we will do, a n d we will
be obedient. A n d Moses took the blood a n d threw it u p o n the people a n d
said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has m a d e with you
in accordance with all these words.
But when Christ a p p e a r e d as a high priest of the good things that have come,
then through the greater a n d more perfect tent, (not m a d e with hands, that
is, not of this creation), he entered once and for all into the holy place, taking
not the blood of goats a n d calves but his own blood, thus securing eternal
redemption. Therefore he is the mediator of the new covenant, so that those
who are called m a y receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death
has occurred which redeems them from transgressions under the first
covenant.
So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a
second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting
for him.
This cup which is p o u r e d out for you is the new covenant in m y blood. Do
this as often as you drink it in r e m e m b r a n c e of me. For as often as you eat this
b r e a d a n d drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your
fathers, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ, like that of a l a m b without blemish or spot.
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people,
that you m a y declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were no people, b u t now you
are God's people; once you h a d not received mercy, but now you have re-
ceived mercy.
But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far offhave been brought near in
the blood of Christ. F o r he is our peace.
Now m a y the G o d of peace who brought again from the d e a d our Lord
Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of a n eternal
covenant, equip you with everything good, that you m a y do his will, working
in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be
glory for ever and ever Amen.
W o r t h y are you tO take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain a n d
by your blood ransomed men for G o d from every tribe and tongue a n d people
and nation, a n d m a d e them a kingdom a n d priests to our God, a n d they shall
reign on earth.
Great are the works of the L o r d ;
to be pondered by all who love them.
Majestic a n d glorious his work,
his justice stands firm for ever.
He makes us remember his wonders.
T h e Lord is compassion and love.
H e gives food to those who fear him;
keeps his covenant ever in mind.
TEXT
A MEDYIATION ON THE TALE OF SINS
nfind and, as we have said, lifts up a n d fires his affections. Nor should he
always begin at the beginning, b u t at the place where his devotion finds its
pleasure; a n d the meditation should be continued as long as the devotion
lasts.
Meditation
I will call to m i n d in your presence, Lord, all the years of m y life, with
bitterness of soul (Isai 3 8, 15)- W h e n I think of m y time on this earth, a n d
dwell on it more deeply, what strikes me first of all is that I was born in
wretchedness, a n d have continued to live in a wretchedness that appalls m e
whenever I reflect on it. I find in myself a fear that m y departure hence will
be equally as wretched in your sight, that I will be r o b b e d of the c o m p a n y
of your holy ones a n d be condemned to eternal torment. Yet in your loving
kindness, Lord, you have given me time to repent; this is why, in bitterness
of soul, I wish to call to m i n d all the years of m y life.
First, I recognize that m y mother conceived me in iniquity a n d sin (Ps 5 o,
7), that like the rest of mankind, I came into the world a child of wrath, of
calamity a n d wretchedness (Zeph I, I5) , destined for death a n d hell,
carrying from m y birth the intolerable weight of original sin, which condem-
ned me, without hope of reprieve, to an infernal chaos of horror, the dreadful
abode of demons. F r o m m y birth I was doomed to this inescapable fate,
since, in A d a m , I h a d eaten the forbidden fruit, which justly condemned me
in God's sight to this terrible punishment. F r o m the m o m e n t of m y birth, I
was under the cruel spell of the devil, robbed of those special gifts of grace,
with even m y natural powers injured, bound fast with the chains of sin, of
rebellion agains t God, which drag one down f r o m b a d to worse, and prevent
one from achieving the good. F r o m m y very birth I was under the spell of
concupiscence, of the lewdness of m y own flesh, which is a kind of procuress
of the devil a n d the enemy of m y true self, constantly driving me to excesses,
to unlawful pleasures, to gluttony, to sexual vice; insinuating a weariness
a n d a distaste for all that is good, and persuading me that there will be a
lasting j o y a n d delight in the pleasures of the senses. I n such a state I came
into the world - a lot which I share with every man, kings a n d princes alike.
A n d yet, m y L o r d a n d m y God, I know that you did not fashion me like
this in the beginning; rather I was de-formed in m y first parents, through the
deceit a n d fraud of the devil. I a m also fully aware, Lord, that you are the
substantial and everlasting truth a n d that nothing deceitful can exist in your
kingdom. A n d so it was that you found a remedy which would release me
from m y deformity a n d achieve a re-fashioning. This I know, and it is echoed
in the apostle's question a n d answer: ' U n h a p p y m a n tl~at I am, who will
release m e from the body of this death? T h e grace of God, through our L o r d
]s'a~ Ghfist'. (P,,~m 7, ~ , - 5 ) . Ate,~ fo~ tlxis frizktful 4e[o~mtt7, for tlai~ vcret-
ched weakness of mind. I a m w o u n d e d to the death, all m y gifts of nature
reduced to impotence; a n d there is no one to cure me, neither m a n nor angel
TEXT 73
on the alert to lead me away, even against m y will, from evil living, b y
instruction or by good example, by alternate blandishments a n d threaten-
ings. So it was that he called me to a task a n d function that outstripped
nature, where I, wretched little m a n that I was, received the power of admi-
nistering the sacrament of his most precious body a n d blood; a privilege
witheld from angels a n d archangels and, if I m a y mention it in all reverence,
from his blessed mother herself. For this ineffable gift, I owe m y God, like
the apostle, a very special gratitude (2 Cor 9, I5).
It was thus that m y God preserved me from these innumerable sinful deeds
into which m y enemies, the world, the flesh a n d the devil, laboured continu-
ally to drag me. H e preserved me from so m a n y bodily dangers - from drown-
ings a n d burnings, from the perils of the traveller, from robbers, from the
numerous daily hazards which life brings with it. I n waking a n d in sleeping
alike, he shielded me from the onslaughts of the devil, from the inevitable
weariness of fighting against evil.
A n d the gifts that m y G o d h a d given me: gifts of perception a n d under-
standing, of intelligence a n d reasoning - those special powers of the m i n d ;
a n d bodily gifts as well - physical strength a n d coordination a n d comeliness,
a sufficiency of food a n d clothing such as is proper to h u m a n dignity. He has
given m e also leisure for fruitful growth: no question o f setting the sort of
time limit of three or four years as for the barren fig tree (Lk I3, 6-9) ; rather
he has given me all the time in the world, helping me every d a y with fresh
gifts, by means of which I might be a credit to him, growing up towards m y
own fulfilment a n d earning the rewards of eternal happiness. All this m a y be
summed up as the special grace of God's providence towards me. A n d to
how m a n y h u m a n beings it has never been given to enjoy it, whether in
childhood or adolescence, m a t u r i t y or old a g e : not to lords, kings a n d empe-
rors, nor to men endowed with wordly wisdom a n d philosophical learning,
with beauty and exquisite manners, with extraordinary physical strength; all
these have perished through the lack of your special providence. W h y is it,
m y God, that all these have been left unchosen, rejected, while you so
tenderly cared for me, wretch that I am, brought me up as one of your own
family, giving me so m a n y extraordinary privileges? I t is not as though
there were any special merits in m e which might have earned such blessings:
it is as clear as daylight that I a m what I a m through the grace of G o d (I Cot
I5, io) ; a n d yet I must confess in sorrow that his grace has been without fruit
in me. W h a t have I given to my Lord in return for all these blessings, a n d
others I have not mentioned, which he showered on me? W h a t excuses can I
find in m y shame? H o w can I rid myself of fear ? H o w shrug off this weight of
anguish? W h a t have I given him in return? W o u l d that I might find some
place to hide myself from m y own searing conscience which cries out against
me. W h a t horrors fill me at the thought of all this; w h a t torture of s e l f -
accusation as I face the depths of m y wickedness. W h a t shame is mine, what
confusion under the weight of" m y ingratitude, self-condemning.
There are three things especially that fill m y heart with fear, a n d a tburth
TEXT 75
that would fetch any p r i c e - anything which would indicate that I a m a useful
servant? All I see is that I have committed a multiplicity of detestable faults,
that I have gone on doing so all my life; a n d the result is that I deserve to
suffer eternal punishment.
From this consideration there comes a third, to make my heart tremble
with fear: how shall I answer, on the dread day of judgement, for such base
ingratitude, for all m y broken promises, for all my crimes? How shall I
stand before God a n d his angels in m y shame and my crookedness, with little
or nothing good to show, straitened on every side by terror (GfJer 49, 24) ? So
many, so grave m y sins; and others will suddenly show themselves as from a n
ambush, sins which are now hidden, a n d perhaps more terrible than those I
see now. M a n y things which I do not see now as evil - perhaps I even think
them good - then, when all lies open, will show themselves as the blackest sins
of all; a n d all these will be my accusers. All the powers, graces a n d other gifts
I have received Will join in accusing me for the worst of wretches. And, out-
side myself, the devil a n d the world will be standing there: they, a n d indeed
every creature, will d e m a n d that j u d g m e n t be passed on my iniquities.
From within, my own flesh, always at war with my spirit (Gal 5, 17), a n d
that worm which gnaws at my conscience, will be there to give evidence of
m y wickedness. The most high judge himself, with all his impartiality, must
show his anger then; for it is he whom I have so often provoked by the enorm-
ity of my crimes. Death itself a n d hell in all its foulness will be there, ready
to swallow me up, to expose me to eternal torment. Even mercy itself, which
now is waiting for that change of heart, will be m y accuser then, and judge
me strictly according to m y works. Will there by any one to speak for me,
to offer evidence on the other side, when mercy itself begins to accuse me?
T h e n will I be ordered to give an account of m y whole life l o n g - how I have
spent every least moment. Every least sensation of mine will be matter for
condemnation: sight, hearing, taste, smell a n d touch, whether in deed or in
word, in gesture or in motion, in leisure or silence, down to the least thought -
everything in my living that was not directed to the fulfilment of the Lord's
will.
Above a n d beyond all these there is a fourth consideration which fills m y
soul with fear. If I a m found guilty, it is not merely that I shall be condemned
to perpetual imprisonment with demons; it is that I shall be deprived of the
blessed sight of my God, the vision face-to-face, the sight which is happiness.
Such a pain incomparably exceeds all the others. Just as this sight satisfies
every possible desire of the blessed, so its absence is a torment beyond every
sort of torment which can be imagined. W h a t a fool, not to have thought of
the slings a n d arrows of sin, when I turned away from m y God to d a m n a t i o n
in order to commit them. Stupid wretch a n d dupe that I was : I realize it well
enough now; for the sake of a moment's delight which blinded me then, I a m
tormented now within a n d without; I am driven to constant lamentation, to
labour all day in m y groaning, to drench my bed each night with m y tears
(Ps 6, 7). No wonder that sobbing a n d sighing burst forth, that tears are m y
TEXT 77
food night a n d day (Ps 4 I, 4), when I realize what a sorrowful change has
taken place.
I was a son of God, with heaven for m y inheritance, a co-heir of Jesus
Christ. Now I a m become a slave of sin, with hell for m y inheritance, a
co-heir of the devil. A son I was indeed, but like that reprobate who promised
to go and work in his father's vineyard, a n d never did (Mt 2 i, 28-3o ). A son
indeed, b u t one m u c h worse than that prodigal who left his father and went
to a far-off country, to squander all his patrimony in wretched excess (Lk 15,
I3) ; he at least was repentant and, once returned to his father, never left him
again. Whereas I so often make a pretence of coming back to my Father, b u t
never stay with him: straightway I return again to my former wretchedness.
I n truth I a m unworthy to be called son, or even servant - except one who
knows his master's will a n d never fulfils it, one who deserves only to be beaten
severely (Lk 12, 47). A servant indeed, but one m u c h worse than that wicked
servant who was given a talent to trade with by his master, a n d made nothing
of it, but simply hid it away (Mt 35, 24-5). Whereas I, after receiving
talents from m y Lord with which to trade, have done worse than hide them
a n d make nothing of them; I have actually used them as far as I could in a
way that was injurious a n d a reproach to m y Lord. I have squandered them
on myself, spent them wickedly; so that I must not only be deprived of them,
like that wicked a n d unprofitable servant. I must be handed over to the tor-
turers, until I have repaid all that I squandered (Mt 18, 34).
So I see all m y wickedness piled up on me, a n immense b u r d e n crushing
me (Ps 37, 5), which will drag me down to eternal destruction, unless I
quickly rise a n d hasten with all speed to find a remedy. Nor is there any
remedy to be found which will cancel out all this wickedness, except God's
mercy alone, which outstrips all his works (Is 144 , 9). Yet m y own fearful
conscience prevents me; it says that I have committed so m a n y detestable
sins, I have gone on living this wicked life for so long, I have fallen back into
the same faults so often, that I a m not to be believed when I say that I will
a m e n d my life; that mercy is not for the likes of me. But I have an answer to
this : no matter how wickedly I have lived, or could live, my wickedness could
never overthrow God's mercy. His mercy has no limits; his goodness towards
sinners is such that he never shuts them out of his heart (I J n 3, 17). His
mercy is equal to a n d powerful enough for forgiving innumerable sins as
though they were one single sin; he can accept the m a n who has fallen into the
same sin over a n d over again as though he had sinned only once; he is much
more ready to receive the sinner than the sinner is to come to him. It is not
only that he receives with loving kindness the sinner who comes to him; he
anticipates the sinner, draws him to himself. Like that father who went out to
meet the lost prodigal on his return, the divine mercy goes out to the penitent
sinner a n d makes repentance attractive to him, sometimes by giving him new
gifts a n d gentleness, at other times by treating him with severity.
This mercy has always tempered the divine anger and his judgements and
justice, lest they prove too much for m a n to bear. It was this mercy that re-
78 TEXT
stored the first m a n and all his posterity - after a just condemnation - from the
state of exile a n d damnation. I t was this mercy, this fatherly love, that
reconciled the penitent David - an adulterer a n d a murderer (2 K g I2,
I 3 - I 4 ; 24, I o - I 7). I t was this mercy that overcame the divine anger against
Achab, in his wicked idolatry, once the m a n h a d humbled himself before his
L o r d (I Sam 2I, 27-9). A n d Manassses, an evil king, who angered the L o r d
more than all his predecessors by his idolatry a n d other crimes, who k i l l e d
the prophets sent him by the Lord and drenched Jerusalem with the
blood of the innocent: when at last, taken prisoner a n d subjected to various
tortures, he cried to the Lord for mercy, he was restored to his kingdom, a n d
m a d e amends for his wickedness (2 Chr 33, i o - i 3)- I t was mercy which saved
Nineveh a n d its king from the destruction the prophet foretold because of its
sins, once it h a d done penance in sackcloth and ashes, fasting a n d tears (Jon
3, i - I o ) . H o w often in the O l d Testament, did mercy turn aside j u d g e m e n t
a n d vengeance !
I t was m e r c y that brought M a g d a l e n the sinner to repentance, freed h e r
from seven devils, a n d m a d e her the first witness of the Lord's resurrection
(Lk 8, 2; J n 20, 14-i8 ). Mercy summoned M a t t h e w the tax-collector from
his counting-house, a n d m a d e him a n apostle and evangelist. I t turned Peter
from an apostate into a shepherd, the Church's pastor (Lk 22, 6i ; J n 2I,
I 5 - I 7). It cast down Paul the persecutor, a n d raised him up to be the greatest
apostle a n d teacher of the gentiles (Acts 9, I-9). To sum it all up, there was
never anyone in this world who cried out for mercy a n d was left unheard. As
the blessed Augustine puts it, if the devil himself would even now renounce
his pride a n d call for mercy, he would be pardoned. :
I see then, m y God, that you are the consoler a n d father: far from desiring
m y destruction, you offer m e a time for repentance. Fill me then with true
penitence for m y crimes. Not the remorse of J u d a s which led him to h a n g
himself, because the heinousness of his crime brought him to despair, b u t
look at me, as you once looked at Peter so that he went out a n d wept his
bitter tears, that I too m a y go a w a y from m y sinfulness never to return to it.
None can console as you can, none is your equal in merciful love. A n d even
if I a m persuaded to go back to m y old sins or enticed to fresh sinfulness,
then, m y Lord, enlighten m y understanding with the ir~spiration of your
truth, so that I m a y ponder in m y heart what I see now: how ephemeral a n d
deceiving are sins' delights, how vile in your sight, how lasting and bitter
their torment; how wicked a n d detestable it is so to offend m y God, w h a t
shame, w h a t stupidity to fall again into the same vices d a y after day. You
know best how to teach me; breathe into m e your knowledge so that I m a y
understand that the allurements of sin are not to be compared with the j o y of
keeping clear of it; that I m a y realize how wonderful it is to conquer tempta-
tion; that no matter how difficult this m a y be at first, it becomes an easy task
through practice; attd that every good veork is re, yarded a hundredfold.
Fill me, Lord, with thoughts such as these, to make me afraid to yield to
sin, to arouse in m e the power to fulfil your commandments. Help me go out
TEXT 79
with the apostle Peter, so that I no longer yield to the allurements of the flesh
to which I have so often succumbed; help me reject the deceitful blandish-
ments of the world a n d the devil's lying persuasiveness; help me to weep
bitterly, as d i d Peter, for m y past sins. Let me recall, from day to day, in
bitterness of soul, the story of m y life; rid me of the fear of h u m a n suffering,
so that I m a y willingly accept the p a i n which purifies me for m y past sins a n d
wins me merit; teach m e to be w a r y of the world's blandishments a n d pros-
perity, lest for a single moment I be drawn away from your service. O wonder-
ful father a n d Lord, for the rest of m y life d r a w m e a w a y entirely from m y
miserable past; m a y I be ihll of sorrow for it all, and devote all m y strength
to glorifying you; let me praise you with all m y heart for your immense good-
ness; for the great gift of being fashioned in your image; for the gift of your
most precious redemption which has brought me out of suffering into glory;
for the gift of your special providence, which conferred on m e the blessing
o f baptism; for the gift of being one of your family, educated as your son a n d
heir; for the gift of m y blessed vocation through which you i m p a r t e d to m e
the learning of your faithful ones - their doctrine a n d practice; for the merci-
ful gift of keeping me safe from so m a n y dangers; for those special a n d most
generous gifts of b o d y a n d soul; for the gift of your own patience with me,
during the long period when you p u t up with m y protracted sinfulness; for
that most intimate gift secretly impressed on m y heart, which has helped me
to know myself, so that, at the last, I can rejoice in you, praise you and glorify
you: a n d for the soverign blessing of eternal predestination by which from
the first - as I believe - you have chosen me for eternal glory. M a y the blessed
Trinity, one God, Father, Son a n d holy Spirit, through the intercession of the
glorious Virgin, of St Cuthbert a n d all the saints, grant me this. Amen.
RECOMMENDED READING
the whole Nazi movement was utterly unchristian a n d died for his belief in
the spirit of a christian martyr. W h a t makes the story so extraordinary is the
very simplicity of J~iggerst~itter's own background. Where did this farmer
from a tiny, off-the-map, village find the insight a n d the courage to give his
life when all around him were finding reasonable excuses for themselves ? The
book states a problem. M a n y readers will disagree with J~ggerst~itter,
others will find him a n inspiration; but all will find this a fascinating story.
Louis Francois Marin Fosse by Fr William Lawson, S.J., is a n account of the
founder of the Congregation of Christian Education. It gives a valuable
insight into the state of the Church in France over the revolutionary a n d
empire periods a n d casts light on the development of education. The book
is written with perception a n d h u m o u r a n d is very readable.
OLD TESTAMENT
NEW TESTAMENT
FATHERS
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