WHERE IS GOD? WHY SUFFER?

 “Where is God during war? Where is God when we are being killed? God is with us. He is being crucified again by those who are shooting at us. He is being condemned to death again by those religious leaders who are justifying this war. He is being laid in a tomb by those who are burying the inhabitants of Mariupol, Izium and other cities of Ukraine in mass graves,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.

St. John Paul II wrote that Jesus “has taken upon Himself the physical and moral sufferings of the people of all times, so that in love they may find the salvific meaning of their sorrow and valid answers to all of their questions” (Salvifici Doloris, No. 31).

(Icon: Sviatoslav Vladyka)

Jesus has told us that to follow Him we must take up our cross and that it will not be easy. “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Lk 9:23).

 In this life should we expect anything less than a share in Jesus’ s own passion and cross if we claim to love Him? This  means we suffer, and it is more often than not a suffering we would not choose for ourselves.  St. Gemma Galgani said,  “If you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer, because suffering teaches you to love.”

Pope St. John Paul II wrote  a beautiful encyclical on suffering, Salvifici Doloris.in which he states each of us in our suffering, “can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ” (Salvifici Doloris, No. 19).

 In this Lent, which has for so many, a unique window into the suffering of humanity- having come out of 2 years of a pandemic and now watching the destruction of a country, too close for comfort, which could bring us to another world war, we have the opportunity for more prayer and sacrifice which includes acceptance of the cross we are asked to bear.  It means recognizing that the cross we bear is for other members of the Body of Christ. When accepted and given freely, our suffering is never wasted. 

“In the face of evil, suffering and sin, the only response possible for a disciple of Jesus is the gift of self, even of one’s own life, in imitation of Christ; it is the attitude of service,” Pope Francis said during World Youth Day in Poland in 2016. Little did he know then how especially true these words would be for today!