Dealing with Loss (3 of 5)

Dealing with Loss:  Suffering and Spirituality                        
Five-part Series (3 of 5)
By Rev. John Adams

We as Christians believe that there is one living God, the creator of all, who is a personal God. God is seen as good, loving, compassionate, and sovereign over all that happens. The idea of offering compassion to the stranger, sojourner, and guest is found throughout the Old   Testament as loving one neighbor is critical to ancient Israeli culture providing the foundation to the New Commandment stated by Jesus in the New Testament of loving neighbor as oneself. Sarna, a researcher on biblical history and the Hebrew people reported that hospitality and demonstrations of these acts of social good will are critical in Jewish tradition and these actions in themselves are an act of worship and praising God (Sarna, 128).  In the Christian faith tradition, the Divine presence Himself came down to earth to demonstrate the meaning of love, mercy, and compassion. O’Rourke (112) described compassion as being fully immersed in the condition of being human. Ultimately, compassion requires one to understand the needs and condition of another, to feel what the other is feeling and out of love to suffer with and understand the other’s difficult steps in another’s journey. According to Callahan (53), love always includes empathy and mutual union along with the desire to alleviate the other’s suffering and pain felt as one’s own. If Christians truly believe this, the Lord’s coming into this earth, His incarnation, culminating in His own passion and death, will bring a deeper understanding when we enter into a world of suffering, spirituality and salvation.

     The Incarnation is the action of a loving God who touched down to earth in order to demonstrate the ultimate example of relationship and  intimacy, the ultimate giving, and the ultimate compassion for His creatures in need of healing and love. Humanity is affirmed not only from above but also from below, by a vulnerable God who shares in the suffering of His creatures (Reynolds, 204). The Incarnation which brings about the life ministry of Jesus, and His suffering, death and resurrection is highlighted as we celebrate and enter into the Paschal Mystery this Easter Season and always in our journey Catholic Faith. Our mission in Christ requires that how Jesus and His Dear Mother entered into His passion and His death is a foundation for us all to experience His resurrection as we experience suffering on the way to and through death or healing.  First we learn that power becomes weakness, victory is found in defeat, life comes from death. Second, in the human/divine reality, the mystery of God lies in and with Christ (Simmons, 255). As a Christian meditates on the Cross, in the midst of grief, sorrow or horror, one awaits the coming of the Lord (Groeschel, 69). One awaits Life itself.

     According to Rego (324), the theologian Schillebeeckx saw suffering as meaningful when it is undergone for the sake of others. According to many, Jesus sets the example for all human persons by becoming fully human. Jesus’ life is full of love, mercy, and compassion as he partakes in human suffering which is exposed in such a raw manner and described in Mark 14: 33-36 within His agony in the garden (Magnante, 134). In this scenario, Jesus accepted God’s Will but did not escape the pain and suffering of the world (Magnante, 139). All are reminded that if one wants to be a follower of Christ, His example and words teach that to be human is to suffer and to be a disciple is to answer a call to suffer in the knowledge of Christ’s accompaniment with us. His accompaniment and His healing embrace is a reality   during our suffering and the suffering of our loved ones or even that of a stranger in our midst and the trust that the Lord will bring all to  goodness through resurrection, making all things new. As followers of Jesus, Christians are to understand that suffering and our time of  bereavement following physical death is to be endured but that it must be seen for ourselves and others through His compassion and should enable us to respond in hope.

     God is seen as sharing in human life, eventually in human suffering to bestow blessing. Not that suffering and loss are triumphantly eradicated, but rather that they are transformed into a promise of  fullness yet to come (Reynolds, 206).  Suffering and pain within the human condition is therefore transformed by believers into hope, into a hope in that, through God, through His Son, all things will be made new and a better tomorrow will come. Resurrection, salvation, and hope are what awaits.

According to Henri Nouwen, “the resurrection does not solve our   problems about dying and death; it is not the happy ending to our life’s struggle, nor is it the big surprise that God has kept for us. [Easter joy, the knowledge of] Resurrection is the expression of God’s faithfulness to Jesus and to His children” (O’Rourke, 134). Within His faithfulness, God is actively involved in human suffering. One way to experience this renewal is to become part of it as we develop this connection to our emotional reaction to suffering. We do this more fully  as we become a source of Easter joy and comfort to others. 
 
As we just celebrated and remembered our dear mothers, grand-mothers and Godmothers here on earth and those that have gone before us, we also  embrace our Lord’s love and that of our Heavenly Mother, Mary. They are our example of how to be with others and how like the Blessed Mother, to walk the difficult journey with such as with  her Son in His passion as He carried His Cross and how she stood at the foot of the Cross as He left this physical world. 
 
St. Therese, the saint of love, reminds us in keeping with her understanding of  her Lord and our dear Blessed Mother:  Oh, how beautiful is our religion! Instead of shrinking hearts (as the world believes) it lifts them up. It makes us capable of loving with an almost infinite love, since it must continue beyond this mortal life … [as we move along to], reach our heavenly home we will once again find those we loved on earth.

As Our Dear Blessed Mother knew and lived, as St. Therese knew in her heart and has confirmed from heaven, through the power of our love, we can live through all events that occur. We were each born to love through the Lord for all time, and You will bring us through being our strength, for You are life itself!  

For those that have lost their Mother or a special person who brought motherly care to them or sustained them through their love  while on this journey, let us be comforted by knowing that they embrace us from beyond this earthly existence as we know with the promise of our faithful God through His incarnation and His life, death and resurrection, that we shall see them again as we pray and say from our hearts the words below:

Mama
When the evening shadows fall and the lovely day is through
Then with longing I recall the years I spent with you
Mama, I miss the days when you were near to guide me
Mama, those happy days when you were here beside me
Safe in the glow of your love sent from the heavens above
Nothing can ever replace the warmth of your tender embrace

Oh, Mama, I long to hear your voice
as you helped me with love in my choice
Oh, Mama, I recall those memories of years before,
Until the day that we can share them once more. Amen!