Sunday Meditation: Are Catholics Masochists?

Are Catholics masochists who turn every landscape into a dystopian city of suffering? What do you think?

In his homily this morning, Father mentioned reading an article by a psychologist who stated that Catholics worship pain and suffering. His evidence? Our churches have a bloodied crucified man at the center, many of our saints suffered gruesome martyrdoms, we offer a Mass with the unbloody sacrifice of the slain Lamb of God, etc. And, of course, there's the guilt factor. Father didn't mention that, but it's part of the picture painted by disbelieving psychologists. The Church lays a guilt trip on their followers who need to spend significant time (and money) de-compressing with a professional who will relieve them of their guilt. All those poor Catholics who wear a metaphorical hair shirt, if not a real one, are paralyzed by unending guilt that needs to be eliminated by drugs or talk therapy. Hmmm.

I went to a psychologist myself for a short time to process the challenges of our grandson's death. I liked her a lot. The one downside was that she wasn't Catholic, although she treated my faith with total respect. But she just didn't get it. At one point when I mentioned Confession she seemed to think of it as taking a psychological beating. I could almost hear her thinking, "Catholics must be masochists." She offered good perspectives and advice on secular relationship matters so I stuck with those issues and left spiritual matters to the confessional. 

Many psychologists just don't get it when they see a Catholic suffering and struggling with spiritual as well as secular issues. They might see their role as creating a safe and happy space by eliminating guilt. Is that wise? 

There is a distinction between inappropriate guilt and justified guilt. The world wants white people to feel guilty and accuse themselves of all kinds of things: white privilege, hate, racism, discrimination, etc. without one iota of proof. The color of your skin determines your guilt! To accept that is foolish and puts you squarely in psycho-absurdity! On the other hand, if you lost control in an argument and beat up your wife or child or even just punched a hole in the wall guilt is not only appropriate, but necessary.

So, NO!, Catholics are not masochists. We are realists! We recognize that the world can be a tragic place where everyone will suffer: sickness, death, poverty, setbacks of all kinds - no one escapes them. The real world is a place of frequent pain and suffering. Scratch and sniff anyone's story deeper than the surface and you find a smelly, foul pit of suffering. They may cover it up well, and some may still be in a honeymoon period with life, the very young, for example, but no one, not a single person on the planet, escapes suffering.

Yes, we worship a God who suffered and died for love of us. Yes, we walk in His bloody footsteps. The difference between believing Christians and disbelieving suffering souls is that Christians find meaning and even joy in participating and "making up what's lacking in the suffering of Christ." What can be lacking? Our free will cooperation in Christ's saving mission, of course. Little irritations can be a source of developing virtue and making prayer offerings for others: patience, charity, empathy, etc. can all come about and be increased through suffering. Big sufferings, if we let them, can make us saints.

Meanwhile, sad to say, some follow the advice of Job's wife, "Curse God and die." Does it make their suffering less? Not hardly! In fact, it makes them their own biggest persecutors. Instead of following the example of the good thief who, upon his death, received immediate eternal joy, they increase their pain by loading it down with anger, accusations, and bitterness. Those are heavy boulders in the backpack of life.

Who suffers more? Those who still see the true, the good, and the beautiful through the eyes of suffering or those who turn the entire world into an inferno of resentment? 

When I started my substack page, I chose the title "I Choose Gratitude." I tell myself every morning to be grateful for every, single thing: the bear getting into the beeyard, the burnt and dried out pork chops, the horrible traffic jam, the groundhog and deer demolishing the garden, the tick bite that put me in the hospital with Ehrlichiosis, etc. 

There isn't a single thing that can't be a source of grace and God allowed it! Nothing "just happens." All is the will of God. The question is, how do we use it? For our benefit or do we waste it by grumbling and feeling sorry for ourselves? I wish I could say, I always remember to use pain and suffering wisely. Jesus showed us how by His falls on the way to Calvary. They remind us that we can get up and keep moving forward. Every day is a new day with no mistakes in it --- YET! 

May your Sunday be filled with blessings and joy, no matter what the day brings. Rain or shine all comes from God! Let us praise Him!