In many ways we are all prisoners in this valley of tears. Only death can free us. How we act while we journey through our imprisonment here will determine whether we will be freed and welcomed into eternal joy or enter into the eternal prison of hell fire. I hate to think of those who will reject the freedom our loving God offers and embrace instead a most terrifying prison with a warden who is hate personified.
The devil offers rewards here, worldly pleasures, as an investment in the future. Every soul he can "recruit" away from God gives him whatever satisfaction a devil can experience. It certainly isn't happiness. Satan uses pleasure as an allurement tempting souls to abandon God: sinful pleasures absolutely, but even harmless pleasures. If those pleasures attach us to the world, they become an obstacle to God.
We are called to detachment. If a pleasure encourages and builds up our relationship with God, we should embrace it and thank Him for it. If it leads us away from God, we must cut the strings and let it go - like a child's balloon. Many of the saints rejoiced in the pleasures God gave them, but they also rejoiced when He took those pleasures away. St. Paul is a great example. "Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say rejoice!"
St. Therese of Lisieux said she preferred vinegar to honey. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was happiest when she experienced the severest treatment and pains of the cross that united her so closely to the Sacred Heart. St. Rose of Lima wore a beautiful crown studded with sharp spokes as a penance. The little shepherd children of Fatima tied coarse cords around their waists so tightly that they sometimes cut into their skin. They gave their lunches to poor children as penance and often went all day in the summer heat without a drop of water.
The saints weren't masochists. They accepted unavoidable suffering willingly and with gratitude. But they did voluntary penance as well, often severe penance, to unite themselves more closely to the cross of Christ. That is what St. Paul was talking about when he told the Colossians:
I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. [Colossians 1:24]
The only thing lacking in Christ's affliction is our willing union of our own afflictions to His. He is a gentleman who never forces us, but waits patiently for our company which He desires and welcomes.
Suffering can be redemptive if we embrace it as God's Providential will. And once we embrace it, the suffering becomes "easy" like the well made yoke that joins two beasts of burden. Our "yoke" unites us to Christ and his passion if we let it. If we can, we join Christ's mission to free the prisoners of the evil one chained by their passions to the devil's uneasy yoke.
"Penance, penance, penance!" was the message of Fatima. In these last days of Advent, what can we do through suffering and sacrifice to increase the joy of Christmas. Check out this discussion of the four types of penance, if you need some suggestions. And may these last few days of Advent bring us all in humility to the manger to kiss the tiny feet of our infant King.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.
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