August 6, 2026
I stubbed my toe against an immovable object and tottered. I
winced with pain. But I did not curse. Instead, I thanked God for his “everlasting
love” “with unfailing kindness” (Jer 31,3).
I had stumbled, but I did not fall. “The Lord makes firm
the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not
fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” (Ps 37,23-24).
There was a time when I would have reacted differently.
While not the cussing type, nor was I the praising type. But over time, a
sprinkling of God’s grace helped me proclaim, “It was good for me to be
afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” (Ps 119,71)
The reality we need to come to terms with is, “For all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3,23-24)
Accepting that I am a sinner, and I know that for a fact,
with an honest audit of my thoughts, my words, and my deeds for just a day, a favourite
hymn of mine became a recurrent prayer: “Sanctify Me Oh God, Cleanse My
Body, Mind and Soul, Purify Me and Make Me Whole”. I am sure those familiar
with the hymn were not reading the words but singing along with me as you read
them, as I did while penning them down.
The thought I want to share with you for your reflection,
dear reader, is whether sanctification is possible without suffering.
Our own Lord went to the Cross. Could He have sanctified us
and liberated us from sin without shedding of His blood? In Mt 16:21-22 Jesus
declares that he needs to go to Jerusalem. There He will be killed and rise again
on the third day. Peter would not accept it. “God forbid, Lord! This shall
never happen to you.” Thereafter, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to witness
His transfiguration in the company of Elijah and Moses (Mt 17), with God the
Father testifying, “This is my beloved Son … Listen to Him”.
Jesus had to make it clear even to His closest disciples
that He is the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament. That His victory will
not be achieved by force and the shedding of others' blood but through hideous
suffering and by the shedding of His own blood. The submissive Servant King to
the will of his Father.
It is pertinent to introspect. Can an athlete achieve
excellence without enduring suffering? Is it possible to scale Mt Everest
without enduring great hardships? God Incarnate was human. Jesus resonated
humanity at its lowest ebb – man’s inhumanity to man. He elevated suffering to
Godliness. He became the curse and the shame reflected by the scarred, limp
body on the Cross. When we shun suffering, are we inadvertently also
shunning the opportunity for sanctification/excellence and the grace of God to
be poured into our mind, body, soul, and spirit?
St Paul had the issue of ‘thorn in his flesh’. He prayed
three times to God. God’s response was not what we are trained to expect. “But
he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so
that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Cor 12,9)
That brings me back to the core of my thesis, dear
reader, who have patiently persevered (and a bit about perseverance later) to
read this far: without suffering there is no sanctification; without
sanctification there is no salvation. We need to remember we are a
sinful generation. To be received in Heaven, we must be sanctified. Jesus,
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with
God … rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a
servant… he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a
cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the
name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
The saints we venerate in the Catholic Church did likewise.
“If any man should come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me” (Mt 16,24)
Hence, we too must cherish, yes cherish, the little
suffering - the ‘stubbing of the toe’ or a chronic skin problem that makes our
skin itch incessantly or sporadically, the undeciphered ‘thorn in the flesh’ in
the case of St Paul – therefore universal for everything that bothers us.
I pray for the Lord’s small mercies given more frequently
than one humungous suffering. But I am also aware that God is the dispenser of
this choice, not me. So, I must gird myself for whatever is to come – even the
unimaginable suffering that St Paul encountered and signed off with the sword
separating his head from his body.
The words of St Paul, much as I try, I cannot get the order
right; in fact, true of much of Paul's writings: “We are hard pressed on
every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but
not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around
in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be
revealed in our body.” (2 Cor 4,8-10)
And the one even harder to practice is “Rejoice in the Lord
always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to
all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to
God. And the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil
4,4-8)
Not idle words or rhetoric. Paul did rejoice despite the
suffering he endured. Paul’s first recorded imprisonment occurred in Philippi,
as described in Acts 16:16-40. After casting a spirit of divination out of a
slave girl, Paul and Silas were seized, beaten, and thrown into prison. Despite
their suffering, they prayed and sang hymns to God, leading to a miraculous
earthquake that opened the prison doors. The jailer, witnessing these events,
converted to Christianity along with his household. This incident underscores
the power of faith and the transformative impact of the Gospel.
In the littlest possible way, when we have any sufferings,
the sources of sanctification open up. Instead of decrying the suffering, why
not thank God for his small mercies, words that are normally uttered when we
receive relief from suffering. Turn it on its head. In the time of suffering,
rejoice and offer up the insufferable itch as a means of partaking in the
Lord’s suffering for our sanctification. “Not only so, but we also glory in
our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character, hope.” (Rom 5,3-5)
Start small. When you feel an itch – don’t rub it or scratch
it or do anything – but in faith offer it up to the Lord – and you will be
amazed. It will stop being a bother from ‘lack of attention or attendance’. In
the process, you have saved yourself the ignominy of making it worse by
attending to it. Now, experiment with not just physical suffering but also
emotional stress of being misunderstood, humiliated by your own loved one –
spouse, parents, siblings, and ostracised socially by your community because of
a stammer or a mannerism or disorder. Is
humiliation suffering? I vote it is one of the worst. There is no medicine for
it. Just your forbearance not to be affected by it, and the temptation to do likewise
and fall into sin. The devil's ‘click’ bait to entice you to sin.
When you are being humiliated, offer it up, and you will buy
peace (that passes all understanding) for yourself and the other person. The
Word teaches us: Therefore: “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirsts,
give him drink. For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” (Rom
12,20). “Coals of fire” is symbolic of the Holy Spirit you pour upon your enemy
as one of my other favourite hymns extols: Spirit of the living God, Fall
afresh on me. Melt me, mould me, fill me, use me. In this instance, use my
enemy and me that you may be glorified.
Despite our efforts to be good, we are prone to error and
sin. To err is human; to forgive is divine. While we expect God to forgive us
our transgressions, we tend not to forgive others their transgressions, despite
avowing in the Lord’s Prayer that we will do so. Let the Lord’s Prayer or any
prayer or retreats we attend, and the Word of God we read, not be mere
activities like brushing our teeth in the morning, but let it become a source
of conviction of the errors of our ways that we may receive timely sanctification
to prepare us for our hour of death.
In the Anima Christi we pray: Suffer me not to be
separated from Thee. From the malignant enemy defend me. In the hour of my
death call me. And bid me come unto Thee, that with Thy saints I may praise
Thee for ever and ever. How prepared are we for the final hour?
We need relentless
sanctification. Use the opportunities of little sufferings to terminal ones.
Start with practising with the small ones to take on sizable ones that are
crushing - to the spirit, body, mind, and soul. In that our suffering, often
inevitable as part of life’s journey, is not wasted. And we are better prepared
for the final hour. For eternal salvation. Amen.
A Companion Reflection
Saint
Augustine (354-430) Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ What
the Lord has commanded us: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny
himself” seems hard and difficult. Yet it isn't either hard or difficult
because the one who commands it is the one who helps us to fulfil what he
commands. For if that saying of the psalm is true, that: “according to
the words of your lips I have pursued difficult paths” (Ps 17[16],4), so
also is true the saying spoken by Jesus: “my yoke is easy and my burden
light” (Mt 11,30). For anything hard in the command, love turns to sweetness.
We know well of what marvels love is capable. There are times when love
is of doubtful worth and is depraved. Yet how many difficulties will not
men endure, what humiliating and unendurable treatment will they not
suffer if only they might attain to what they love!... Since life's great
enterprise must be to choose well what one should love, is it surprising
that anyone who loves Jesus Christ and desires to follow him denies
himself to love him?... What
is the meaning of what follows: “Let him take up his cross”? Let him
endure what is painful and so let him follow me. For when a man begins to
follow me by acting according to my precepts, there will be plenty of
people to disagree with him, oppose him, discourage him. And that on the
part of people who claim to be Christ's friends. Those who stopped the
blind men from crying out (Mt 20,31) were walking in Christ's company. So,
whether it is a matter of threats, flattery, prohibitions, if you want to
follow Christ, turn it all into the cross; endure it, bear it, don't let
yourself be overcome... You
love the world, but you should rather love him who made the world... We
live in a holy world, that is good, reconciled, saved or, rather, that is
to be saved but which is saved now in hope. “For in hope we were saved”
(Rom 8,24). In this world, therefore, that is to say in the Church, which
wholly follows Christ, he said to all: “Whoever wishes to come after me
must deny himself.”
Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 96 §1-4.9
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