Fr. Chris - Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

" Life and Suffering"
Today we mention Christian Plummer, not just because he was a world-famous Canadian actor born right here in Ontario, living as close to us as his beloved Shakespearean Theatre in Stratford, but because in a certain way he became a small part of our Country’s, if not the World’s, consciousness for many years.  
 
And why? Because as the Captain in the film version of “The Sound of Music”, a ‘true’ story of love and faith standing firm in the face of one of the most horrendous periods of our world’s history, the attempt by one nation to exterminate another, Captain Von Trapp gives up everything for the love and safety of his family, pushes back against the racist tyranny emerging in his beloved Austria, and faces the imminent dangers and accepts the suffering of leading his loved ones to safety.      
 
Countless people never miss watching this film when it’s aired, because its clear expression of our highest, moral, Catholic, Christian values, never ceases to inspire. It reminds us of how true faith and hope always overcome the deepest suffering and most bitter conflicts we might experience in life. It should remind us of how critical each of our lives are in God’s plan for his creation, despite struggle and suffering.
 
Did Christopher think he would have such an impact in the world? Probably not. And yet his life had more impact than he ever dreamed possible. Each of our lives also have more impact than we realize, in a plan only God knows, and suffering is part of that plan. Yes, suffering! Mr. Plummer would say, “All the world is a stage, and all people merely players. They have their exits and entrances, and one person in his time plays many parts.” These lines imply we will experience both the good and the bad in life. Conflict, pain, and suffering in some form or other is part of life’s journey, and Job is probably the most profound example of this.
 
Job has been analyzed and studied by theologians and scholars, philosophers and psychologists for centuries. What does his tale of bitter suffering say about us, about a world which sometimes hurts us, about a God who seems to allow such a faithful follower like Job to suffer so much pain and sorrow? Does it help us to know these same concerns and questions which Job had about his relationship with God are still asked by these same scholars and people of Faith all over the world?         
     
These days some of us might even feel like Job. Locked down in our homes to immobilize a threat to our lives, perhaps like Job we experience the same emptiness, misery, sleepless nights, and tossing ‘til dawn. Maybe we even feel abandoned by God or punished by God or wonder even if God exists. We ask, “God, if you’re there, why must we suffer?”
 
A priest friend of mine has a plaque resting on the front of his desk which reads, “The more you complain, the longer you live!” At first, I laughed out loud at the remark, but then I began to ponder what it really meant, that perhaps until we learn to live life with all its ups and downs, accepting all that happens to us, both the pleasure and pain, the agony and the ecstasy, we are indebted to put in more time on earth until we acquire her gentle wisdom, while learning to trust the will of God who knows better than we do why we are here and why we suffer. God does not give Job an answer why we suffer. It is too great a mystery for Job to grasp. He can never know God’s mind. Better to trust in God who shapes and disciplines us for reasons only he knows, like a parent loving their child. And when we can find no reason why we suffer, ‘redemptive suffering’ tells us we can offer up our pain to lessen the pain of others, a beautiful way to make sense of suffering in our world.
 
Frankly, can we think of anyone who hasn’t suffered? Artists say suffering is often what rejuvenates and inspires them. It teaches us to value life more. We can better help someone else suffering, because we have suffered. “Praised be the God, the Father of Jesus Christ, Father of mercies, and God of all consolation! He comforts us in all our afflictions, and thus enables us to comfort those who are in trouble, with the same consolation we have received from him,” (2 Cor 1.3-4). History says religion itself emerged in part to help us cope with suffering. Even Mother earth suffers. Clearly, suffering is a necessary and critical part of our life journey.
 
What we can be sure of is God loves us. “What is man that you should keep him in mind, that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than a god!” (Ps 8).
Each of us, despite what we may suffer, is a critical part of God’s mystery at work. Like the crowds who reached out to him who lovingly stretched his hand to theirs, let us now reach out to Jesus who is still with us, ready to heal our suffering, and to show us the way of love and truth on our life journey.   
 
– Rev Fr Christopher Tracey, Saint Joseph Parish, Saugeen Shores, Ontario ​