To give a practical example, I'll share my story after I injured my rotator cuff and had surgery to repair it. Following that I went to physical therapy for about six months. It was hell. Every session involved stretching my arm beyond the beginning of pain. I thought of it as my weekly session on the rack. But I was determined to get full motion back so I accepted the pain as a necessary evil. My therapist told me about a woman who would not. She ended up with a frozen shoulder and seriously limited mobility, That was not for me. The pain was necessary to my complete recovery. Therapy was a war with my own body.
Just think how it would be for us if we recognized that all suffering is for our good. We tend to see suffering as an evil, and it is. But it's an evil that God has turned to good for our salvation. Does that make any sense to you? I can see the point easily when I'm not in the middle of suffering, but some suffering seems so black and filled with despair that it's hard to see. And that's when we need to remember the passion, suffering, and death of our Lord.
When we accept our suffering we make up what's lacking in the suffering of Christ as St. Paul says. What can possibly be lacking? Our free will union of our own suffering to the Sacred Heart of Jesus pierced for our sins. Our acceptance and offering of our suffering filled the cup of comfort the angel brought to Jesus in the Garden of Olives. Can we not eagerly fill that cup by accepting all our sorrows with joy? We are fighting a war and the sign of our victory is our peace of soul.
Here's what Dom Scupoli writes in his Treatise on Peace of Soul:
The life of man is nothing but a continual warfare and temptation; and because it is a warfare, you must watch over your heart with sedulous care that it may be ever at peace. If any movements signal sensual disturbances, take heed to calm the storms within your heart instantly, never permitting the pursuit of vain and illusory pleasures. Exercise this caution not only in time of prayer, but anytime disquieting thoughts assail you, for prayers will be indifferently said until the soul knows peace.
But how to achieve peace of soul when the turmoil and chaos of life's storms buffet us? Dom Scupoli recommends immediately turning to prayer recognizing that success grows by degree. Inner peace only comes by turning to God alone and relinquishing human consolation. Not that the support of others is bad, but a disordered attachment to it separates us from the true consoler Who is God alone:
God demands that our souls be alone and unattached that He may manifest His manifold wonders in them, glorifying them even in this life by His divine power.
It's a big subject. I've been thinking about disordered attachments in my own life. I remember Stonewall Jackson believing he was too attached to his first wife who died in childbirth along with their little infant. As he recognized, a person can be too attached to his own family. One can see that easily in those who bless their children's mortally sinful behavior to keep the peace. They affirm sodomy, abortion, shacking up, etc. in order to maintain the good opinion of their children. That can never lead to peace of soul for either them or their children who are in danger of eternal death.
May we all use the remaining days of Lent to work on desiring the will of God in all things, suffering as well as joy:
Let us not stop by the wayside; let us not tarry on the way for frivolous conversation; let us leave the dead to bury their dead, forsaking the land of the lifeless for the land of the living.
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment