Finding Hope in Suffering
April 6, 2025
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread . . .and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them.’” -Matthew 4:23-24
As we continue this Jubilee Year of Hope, this weekend we celebrate the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers. Just as Jesus became perturbed and deeply troubled in the midst of his friend Lazarus’ death and the grief of his friends Martha and Mary, the experiences of illness, suffering, death, and grief often shake us to our core. The question of human pain and suffering is perhaps the hardest to come to terms with in this life. I don’t think that there is an “answer” to suffering in this life. I begin to be suspicious of anyone who attempts to answer this ultimate question in a too facile or pious way, such as Job’s friends in the Book of Job in the Bible. I had a class led by a Polish philosopher in theology school who said that Job was acceptable to the Lord because he took his own life and suffering in his hands and threw it at God. While his friends were talking about God, Job cried out in anguish to God. He prayed.
So where does the hope that we are asked to cultivate this Jubilee year come from, how can we experience it in this “valley of tears” marked by suffering and death?
“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world . . . I was ill and you cared for me.’” -Matthew 25:34, 36
When Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood fame was a child, he would sometimes become perturbed by “scary things” in the news (his childhood was in the Depression and World War II). His mother gave him this wise advice, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” When we consider the meaning of illness and suffering, we can also look to the helpers with hope. Doctors, nurses, EMTs, technicians, hospital ministers, hospice caregivers, hospital support staff work long and inconvenient hours (often on holidays when the rest of us are enjoying celebrations with family and friends) and give so much of themselves to care for those who are sick and suffering. We owe all our health care workers a great deal of thanks!
These caregivers are especially close to my heart. My grandmother, Elizabeth, was a long-time nurse at Midland hospital. She was so proud of her profession. She would always go to work in her immaculately clean, white uniform and carried herself with the dignity of her calling. She would have turned 100 on March 25, and I am sure that she is enjoying the reward of her service. As our family was blessed by the example of our grandmother, so also our Assumption family of faith is blessed by our parishioners who are doctors, nurses, caregivers, and health care support personnel. They are truly doing the Lord’s work.
“We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” -Romans 5:3-5
Few willingly choose illness or suffering, but when they come into our lives, we can make a choice. Sometimes, deep suffering and illness can make us bitter, slowly closing off our hearts to God and others. Sometimes, we pray for answers, healing, and comfort, with seemingly no results. Sometimes, the sick are abandoned or forgotten by family or friends and feel crushing loneliness. Sometimes, illness and pain are chronic and there seems to be no end in sight. The mental and spiritual suffering can become just as bad, if not worse, than the physical malady. However, when we look at the crucifix with the eyes of faith, we know that we have a compassionate God who suffers with us and who never abandons us in our sufferings and promises us that “every tear will be wiped away.” We can choose in our sufferings to unite them to the Passion and Cross of Jesus. When we do this, our sufferings can open up our hearts to a deeper compassion for others who are suffering, increasing our love, planting our faith firmly in the new creation of Christ’s Resurrection to Eternal Life. This is not easy. In fact, Jesus himself prayed for the cup of his suffering to pass from him in the Garden of Gethsemane; but if we suffer and die with Jesus, we know that he will raise us up to glory in union
with his glory.
This week, we remember and pray for our fellow parishioners who are sick and suffering. Let us continue to reach out to them with the compassion of Jesus. May they know that they are loved and cared for. May the Lord guide their health care professionals to bring them healing and alleviate their suffering. May all our sufferings draw us more deeply into the compassionate heart of Jesus, who in his mercy can bring good out of any disorder or disease.