The Word God Spells

John 16: 20-23
Acts 18:9-18 / Ps 47

Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you.
(John 16:22)

Have faith the Lord will set things right
There’s meaning in all suffering;
Like rays of sunshine after night
Have hope there’s joy in the morning.

Jesus knew the pain that His apostles would undergo when He was taken away from them, so He consoled them with these words: “You will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.” (Jn.16:20-21)

Reflection

For many months, my wife had been bothered by pains and stiffness in her neck, her shoulders, lower back and legs. She had undergone all kinds of tests, which turned out to be negative (thank God), and consulted a number of doctors and physical therapists who could not find the cause of her pains other than saying that at her age, it could only be arthritic osteoporosis. She was prescribed with medicines and alternative herbal substitutes but her condition had not improved.

Then one day, in one of the healing prayer sessions that we attended, some friends from the Divine Mercy Apostolate told her not to worry, because she was not really afflicted by any ailment, but was merely undergoing something called “redemptive suffering”. They told her to “offer them (pains) up” for some poor souls in purgatory, or for the healing/recovery of a sick person known to us.

What is redemptive suffering? Church mystics have written about this as a special grace that God gives to His children to share in Jesus’ suffering on the cross for the special intentions of the Church (redemption of souls, recovery of the sick). By offering our pains, we imitate our Lord and become Christ-like. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His footsteps” (1Pet.2:21). St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) was a classic model who bore his stigmata wounds till the end of his life. St. Paul, who also bore “a thorn on his side” was so inspired by the redemptive power of suffering that he said, “I find joy in the sufferings I endure for you. In my own flesh I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body, the Church” (Col. 1:24).

I told my wife how fortunate she was to be in such good company. After some time, her physical pains gradually disappeared.

The only cause of my death is my zeal for the Church of God, which devours and consumes me. Accept, O Lord, the sacrifice of my life for the Mystical Body of Thy holy Church. (St. Catherine of Siena) Amen.