Why do the good and the innocent suffer? Why does tragedy, earthquakes, floods, fires, storms, pandemic, or any global suffering have such a bad aim? Why doesn't it select its victims better to hit those who truly "deserve it" or brought it on themselves?
What a strange coexistence between justice and injustice, between prey and predators, between powerful forces and fragile victims! But also, what a strange presence of the inert, inappetent, indifferent, apathetic and silent people who see the parades of pain in front of them and hide or excuse themselves instead of helping to transform these sad realities.
We do not like to talk about human pain, but we cannot avoid it. We fear it, we flee from it, we supposedly fight to avoid or attenuate it. Only in United States We spend almost 18 billion dollars a year on painkillers and pain medication, and another 18 billion on antidepressants worldwide. It causes us desolation, existential crisis, sense of injustice, bitterness, rebellion, resentment, and we even fight with God and with life for making us the target of the "undeserved". That is why we engage in a cold war against him.
We find it hard to accept that suffering is part of the fabric of life, and that no human being is exempt, not even the most noble and good. All nature experiences it, and it is part of the daily struggles for survival. The first language of a newborn is crying, and it is also the most recognized expression in farewells. As Ecclesiastes 3 says, "there is a day to weep and a day to laugh". In other words, for every day of joy, expect a day of pain.
How different it would be to learn to live soberly and wisely with suffering, without necessarily abandoning legitimate efforts to eventually eradicate it! As James 1:2-4 says: "Consider yourselves fortunate, brethren, when it is your lot to endure all kinds of trials. These trials develop the ability to endure, and the ability to endure must become perfect, if we are to be perfect, complete, lacking nothing.".
Suffering has its program, its purpose and finality. In reality we must understand that although we have all suffered for different reasons, there are only two types of suffering: that which destroys and that which edifies. At 2 Corinthians 7, 10 St. Paul, the great theologian of suffering, tells us: "The sorrow that comes from God leads to repentance and accomplishes a work of salvation that will not be lost. On the contrary, the sadness that inspires the world causes death".
In St. Paul's teachings, he consistently exhorts us to live suffering that edifies by finding mysterious benefits. Among them, his gift of spiritualizing life and experiencing God's consolation. Trials force us to go beyond superficialities to go deeper introspectively. Human suffering is the great purifier of consciences and intentions, and it is the realm where love is tested. Although it seems that suffering stops and paralyzes us, in reality its main purpose is to move us from an unfinished or imperfect reality to a more meaningful one. It is up to us whether we take up the challenge with courage and faith until we find its supernatural purposes.
Worse than suffering would be to suffer in vain
The suffering experienced by tests or wounds leaves marks or gives rewards, because that test can serve as a springboard to a life full of misfortunes, bad decisions, or emotional imbalance, or to a new reorganized, better prioritized and transformed life.
Every trial is a halt in life. We can no longer continue to live on autopilot because now the safe road has been intercepted, and suddenly splits into two uncertain paths. There are no specific road signs and no clear signposts: it is up to us to discern or guess. If we choose wrongly, there will be more pain, loss, wear and tear, illness, bondage, or, in extreme cases, a death wish.
But if we choose well, we take stock of reserves of assets, health, emotional and spiritual resources. Being aware of these resources within reach, we reposition ourselves, we opt for positive changes that will bring us closer to victorious conclusions and hidden blessings. It is this path that leads to the necessary changes, revitalization and reintroduction to normalcy, in an active endeavor to minimize losses and maximize gains.
Difficult times are times to face the unpredictable.
We can no longer remain inattentive, apathetic or indifferent. Now we must dedicate ourselves to polishing old virtues and manifesting new acquired gifts, because the effort is double when tenacity, courage, discernment, resilience, patience and perseverance must be added to every activity. The task is to save ourselves from physical and psychological damage, and still have the strength and will to rescue others in our personal orbit.
You can accept a lot without having to understand everything
Human beings can demonstrate an extraordinary capacity for resilience in the face of the cruelest adversity. Many of life's experiences do not make logical sense or have a reasonable explanation at the time of their occurrence. That's why we can't always be in such a hurry: with calm, we can break down, analyze, measure and weigh more accurately.
We have to ally ourselves with time to allow it to assemble its conclusions without our sudden or hasty interruptions. At the end of this process we will realize that everything was directed towards a greater purpose that claimed its time in our calendars and schemes, and that perhaps it will not take into account individual preferences or wills that impose themselves.
After each tragedy, iconic images will be immortalized and will remain in our memories for years to come. It will be difficult to forget them. The question is whether we will remember with the same ease the great and valuable lessons that we must imprint with each image or event we experience. Let us list some of those that should remain tattooed in our souls.
We can learn
- That there are still many good people in the world. The good are not only the saints, the healthy and virtuous, but also those who intend to take the lead in the coming calamity and invest their best efforts in helping themselves and others even without expecting just reward.
- That human beings do not change easily with speeches, exhortations, resolutions, but with new virtues that transform their internal paradigms and their essences. It is from the wellspring of virtues that great ideas, noble projects, and the best behaviors supported by the most sublime intentions flow.
- That trials awaken nostalgia to begin to love more what we had abandoned, wasted or squandered because we were ungrateful or bad custodians of what we took for granted.
- That physical confinement silences the hubbub of the world so that the voices from within speak, voices that so many times tried to warn us in time, but we were so distracted and obfuscated that we did not listen to them.
- That the heart is oxygenated with love and there is no substitute.
- That we could live with less money, less fun, less hatred, less division, less wars, crimes, selfishness, violence; with less sense of hoarding or deserving.
- But we cannot live without more emotional connections, without more faith, without more hope, without more resilience, common purpose, collaboration and community effort.
- We may find that the best antidotes to suffering are forgiveness, reconciliation, refocusing and redefining ourselves in order to be moved from anguish and bitterness to peace. And peace is the bridge to emotional health and happiness.
- And above all, we can come to the unanimous conclusion that we cannot live without God, without prayer, without our spiritual searches and encounters.
We understand that our life before the trial was half sane and half madness. We wasted a lot of time trying to feed an insatiable heart that by chasing after the superfluous and temporary forgot to seek the sovereignty of truth. Now we will be able to appreciate that the most pressing thing in life is to liveabove all, with quality of life, even if only for a few days more.
This is the great anthropological and psychological struggle that we undertake every day, consciously or unconsciously. And just as we fight for the right to the last breath, why not fight more for the right of every creature to the first heartbeat?
Trials are not God's punishments, but God's trusts.
With suffering, God is entrusting us with sharp moments because he knows our reserves, strengths and gifts that we can activate in the rush of life. It is an invitation to know a new definition of miracles: it is as miraculous to love life even in the midst of pain, as it is to be freed from suffering.
So let us keep stillness; it is the insignia and identity card of the healthy and the saints. Stillness can be an anonymous or invisible movement, because while we are physically still, everything that always wanted to manifest itself is mobilized. How often we try to avoid pain, but what a unique gift it has to transform old identities and carve new essences! Do we forget that nature is a mother, that she conceives and corrects, sometimes with patience and gentleness, and other times with harshness when we respond with defiant rebellion?
We must acquire the gift of assigning purpose to all of life's experiences, to turn them into valuable lessons or hidden blessings.
Let us not waste any more tears or sacrifices. Let us begin to consecrate everything to God's supernatural purposes, for purpose is the most effective soothing and mitigating agent for all pain and suffering. So let silence speak to us and let human hearts begin to breathe without masks. The invitation is for all of us to finally learn to suffer in order to learn to live! And let us remember that after all, there is a greater hope.
