Suffering comes from evil, after the fall of man. The parable of weeds comes to mind immediately for the present state in the world. The wheat and the weeds are allowed to grow side by side on the same soil. But we are not at the harvest time yet and therefore sufferings are inevitable. Nowhere in the Bible does it teach that Christians are to be exempt from personal sufferings, tribulations and natural disasters that come upon the world. On the contrary, Jesus fortold of his own sufferings and the tribulations that his disciples would face.

I am lifting the following 2 passages from the book – An invitation to joy, selections from the writings and speeches of His Holiness, John Paul II.

These are the words of John Paul II.
“People react to suffering in different ways. But in general it can be said that almost always the individual enters suffering with a typically human protest and with the question “why”. He asks the meaning of his suffering and seeks an answer to this question on the human level. Certainly he often puts this question to God, and to Christ. Furthermore, he cannot help noticing that the one to whom he puts the question is himself suffering and wishes to answer him from the cross, from the heart of his own suffering. Nevertheless, it often takes time, even a long time, for this answer to begin to be interiorly perceived……. Man hears Christ’s saving answer as he himself gradually becomes a sharer in the sufferings of Christ.”

“In order to perceive the true answer to the “why” of suffering, we must look to the revelation of divine love, the ultimate source of the meaning of everything that exists. Love is also the richest source of the meaning of suffering, which always remain a mystery: we are conscious of the insufficiency and inadequacy of our explanations. Christ causes us to enter into the mystery and to discover the “why” of suffering, as far as we are capable of grasping the sublimity of divine love. “

From Salvifici ( On the Christian meaning of Human Suffering), Vatican City 1984

It seems the question implies a faith that is conditional on less sufferings.
Are we asking for returns, that are immediate and measurable in exhange for our faiths ?

Let us use the characters from Genesis that we learn in this year’s BSP program to speak to us on the question.

In Genesis 12:1-3, God made 3 blessings on Abraham , then Abram .
Does Abraham get instant reward from the blessings ? No.
In Genesis 15:5, the Convenant with Abram, God brought him outside, and said,” Look now toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall your seed be.”

Then in Genesis 15:13 “Then the Lord said to Abram: “ Know for certain that your descendents shall be alien in a land, not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.” God did not sugar-coat his blessing. He revealed the suffering of Abram’s descendants.

Sarah and Abraham had to wait 25 years after they “went forth” from Haran and 13 years after Ishmael’s birth before they had Issac, the promised seed. It was a long wait , not to mention , between these years, Abram had to endure several crises.

Genesis 25:7-8 Death of Abraham, “ Then he breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, grown old after a full life .“ At every stage in his life’s journey he counted himself as blessed even though he did not live to see all the blessings fulfilled.

The moral of the story is that a close intimate relationship with God ,as Abraham did in his frequent conversing and walking with God, does not exempt one from suffering in the earthly journey. Abraham surely earned his blessing of the Convenant by demonstrating the maturity to look beyond immediate gratification towards a heavenly goal.

If we are only concerned with all the earthly rewards, something that are tangible , instant and visible , then we would be like Esau, who is preoccupied with a moment’s pleasure, the satisfying of his immediate hunger on bread and lentil stew in exchange of his birth-right.

Jacob , through deceitful means, sought / stole a blessing but instead found a curse that plagued him with guilt and loneliness, having to run away as a fugitive from his home, his family and his mother. Is this curse or suffering something he brought on to himself?

In Genesis 28:20, Jacob’s dream at Bethel on his way to Haran to meet his uncle, Laban , Jacob made a conditional vow. “If God remains with me, to protect me on this journey I am making and to give me enough bread to eat and clothing to wear and I come back safe to my father’s house, the Lord shall be my God.”
Does this echo what the question is about ?
At this point in his life, Jacob only places hope on God but he is not ready to fully embrace God’s blessing.

Genesis 29-32 , we see Jacob’s endurance and perserverance pays off. Jacob worked 14 years to earn Rachel as his wife and endured a 20-year exile from his family and homeland. Deep inside his heart, he never felt that he had secured his father’s blessing but finally on the shores of Jabbok River, he was reassured he did when he wrestled with God.
Jacob’s story teaches us the power of endurance over suffering for a delayed gratification, his father’s blessing.

Joseph never felt victim to different adverse situations, as when he was sold into slavery by his brothers or unjustly thrown into jail. Joseph interpreted his own suffering as part of God’s plan. He told his brothers, “God has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. So it was not you who sent me here, but God.”

I came across a poem, which goes like this.

“I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.

I am, among all men, most richly blessed.”

On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us The Beatitudes — the best means to deal with sufferings, knowing that sufferings are as sure as clouds and shadows.

“Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are they hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

There is no difference between believers and non-believers, when it comes to suffering, except that the believer looks beyond the present transient predicament to the eternal reward in heaven.

How many times do we find an Esau within us ? Let us look to Abraham, Jacob and Joseph as examples to guide us through trying times in our lives..

Danny Tse
May 30,2009

* Singing praises to the Lord is indeed 2x the prayer - it’s so beautiful. It’s like a lover who cannot help himself but to express his love through the songs which intensify the relationship and in this case, bring us closer to our God.
* Each time I hear or sing “As the Deer”, my heart and soul is touched by this beautiful song ( which is by the way a psalm too) - how we long for the Love of God like the deer panteth for the water. How true is the line “You alone are my heart’s desire” - makes me put aside all my worldly worries and desires nothing but to worship the Lord. It almost cleanses my soul whenever I am troubled ( afterall we are human) and this song never fails to bring me back to what matters.
* Talking about pilgrim song - this is one of my favorite songs that I sang every morning while getting ready for school. I haven’t heard it ever since I graduated from my high school and each time I flip the “Chun Yan” at CMCC, I can’t help lamenting at this forgotten song that was never sung here in Canada …. until last week’s Singathon, we had the pleasant surprise of having this song sung by the RCIA group and now by Danny’s sharing. Thx for bringing back the memories.

We are indeed very blessed at CMCC as we have the RCIA group, the Bible Study Program, the on-line Family Spiritual Window and the Chrismatic prayer group …. all of them encircled us wth a group of holy friends to accompany us on our journey of faith, through sharing of the Word and lots of glory and praises. Praise the Lord indeed.

In Christ,

Agnes Au

As Christians and believers in this world, we are companions of the cross traversing in a pagan land. While most of the time, the people we meet on this earthly journey are pagans, we always recognize our fellow companions when we see one. For the seal of the Holy Spirit is recognizable and unmistakable.

The seal of the Holy Spirit is unquestionably in you, Danny, and I praise the Lord for His marvelous work. I can’t wait for the Holy Spirit to solidify His “work-in-progress” in you through the sacrament of confirmation, so that it’s “fully completed, sealed, and “delivered”! (The good thing is, He will quickly move on to begin a new project in you as soon as the first one is over!)

Yes, the work of the Holy Spirit is unmistakable. Some years ago, when the same work of the Holy Spirit was “completed, sealed, and delivered” in me, I couldn’t wait to visit Sister Ancilla Huang, who “kick-started” my conversion by calling me a “Cafeteria Catholic”. I couldn’t wait to pour out my conversion experiences that had my heart filled up so bad it was about to burst! Sister Huang immediately recognized her fellow companion of the cross and exclaimed, “Edmond, the Holy Spirit has touched your heart!”

Thank you, Danny, for laying bare your thoughts. The RCIA ministry, while meaningful and religious, is like another inroad into the pagan land. As catechists, we go down this path and, sadly, many of the people we encounter are pagans and remain pagans even after baptism. For those who turn into a companion of the cross because of the work of the Holy Spirit, we welcome them into our midst with open arms. For not only has our goal of evangelization been accomplished in them, we have also received a shot in our arms through them. They allow us to continue to make inroads into the pagan land in spite of near exhaustion sometimes.

Patrick, your kind of RCIA is the kind of RCIA that Pope Paul VI had in mind when he promulgated the “new RCIA model” for the universal Church. RCIA is not about “good attendance”; it’s about helping people to encounter Christ. My compliment to you and your fellow catechists for a job well-done!

Since Danny doesn’t mind sharing his conversion experience, I also take the liberty of sharing this email with some of my fellow companions of the cross on FSW, the BSP, and my RCIA group.

In the Lord,
Edmond

Thank you for your well-articulated argument against
the Jerusalem assumption.

This is great. I really think it’s God’s guiding hand
at work in CMCC BSP that you were moved to write me.
Instead of answering your question immediately, I
would like to use your counter-argument as a means to
stimulate the thinking process of the whole BSP
audience and to give them the opportunity to study
Revelation from both perspectives.

I am sending your well-formulated argument to all BSP
facilitators and through them to all BSP participants
so that they will keep coming back to the points you
made as this year’s program progresses and arguments
are made in favor of the Jerusalem assumption. This
way, the BSP participants will get to see pros and
cons of both perspectives. I will make sure all your
points are addressed in the process.

So, bear with me and have patience. Before the
commencement of this year’s program, I was thankful
that God finally gave me the opportunity to share with
the BSP participants the Book of Revelation. After two
sessions, my excitement becomes even more evident. So,
it’s great that you provided us with further
stimulation. With most contemporary biblical scholars
siding with the Rome assumption, I would have included
it in my “BSP navigation” even if you hadn’t asked.
But now that you have, the necessity becomes even more
compelling.

God bless!

Edmond

I agree that the refutation may be more effective if it comes from the faithful as opposed to the clergy. All the best with the work you do in trying to convince your group. We have lots of work to do. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty! After the Theology of the Body, it’s time we embraced JPII’s ardent call for “a springtime for new evangelization” !

God bless!

Edmond

Good work. I believe that as competant as they are, (many of our bishops and priests), our testimony weighs more for the fact we are the faithful that they called as not believing what the bishops teaching. In the attachment is part of my work for a Chinese group who are following the same tune as the news paper article, only in a milder tone. I searched for some data. it is in the attached file. This is not the whole article I wrote, for it is to be published by them. Perhaps you can find better data to support our faith.

Best regards in Christ,

Theresa

….

當時各方反應很激烈，反對的聲音也很大。教宗預先已知道這情形。因為真正的爭鬥不是權威與平信徒間的，而是：「有限的人」，要以自己有限的科技成就，向「造物主」爭權，可以與「造物主」平起平坐。但這是違反「人本性」的事。是教會絕不能苟同的。因為其後果是不堪設想的。

的確，從那時開始，世界就開始變了。各地日漸增高的離婚率與人工避孕的普及幾乎成正比。願意度婚姻生活並生養孩子的人也在減少。

以每十萬人口為基數，1995年的離婚人數是1965年的四倍多。以後的增加大約是每年1%左右。

在台灣，1996年的離婚率是30%, 2002的統計，結婚率：7.69/1,000人。離婚率：2.73/1,000 ，約是35.5%。而2007 登記結婚的有110,455對，而登記離婚：47,891對，約是 43.3%。

當然，離婚後，受害最深的莫過他們的兒女。 跟隨人工控制生育而來的「性解放」，更使道德觀與西墜之日俱落。在加拿大，用官方保守的統計，已見墮胎率高達30/100。即每10 個胎兒中，有3個是永不能見天日的。美國各州的墮胎率不同。美國的統計由1973年開始收集數字。多數的州在1973年的墮胎數字最低，1980-5年最高。(大約是六至七倍於1973年的數字) 。2003年稍微下降至1973年的三倍左右。1996年在美國每天有3700個胎兒被墮胎死亡。即每分鐘至少有六次以上的墮胎事件。而發展中國家的墮胎率是「工業」國家的四倍多。如此的兇殘行為却被譽為「女人自由選擇的權利」﹗

這一連串的反家庭洶潮，使日漸多的孩子被迫在破碎的家庭中生長，接着1990年代出現了同性戀者爭權的狂風，與安樂死的洶湧暗潮。傳媒用了大幅廣告與報導去渲染同性戀活動，歌頌安樂死的美好，而只字不提維護生命在國會山莊大聚會的事。看來，「人」因自我意識高漲而引起的驕傲，開始有尋求絕對自主的願望，之後又努力的去追求，以為可以得到更快樂的人生。結果「人」反而變得更漠視生命的價值。固然有很多人可以「為”我”而犧牲他人的身家性命」，也有人因為見不到生命的意義而自殺﹗中學生共同自殺或校園槍殺案的新聞，令人愁腸萬結，百思不解。事實上他們是病態社會的症狀。

….