Death, suffering, and sorrow were not part of God's original plan for humanity; they only showed up after original sin. By cutting off the human family from the source of harmony, peace, and justice – God – original sin opened the door to disharmony, strife, and injustice. And so suffering entered the world.
In the face of this difficult situation, God decided to send us a Savior, Jesus Christ, who took upon himself all of our guilt, all of our suffering and pain. He experienced it in his own body and soul, and this was how he redeemed us.
But if that's true, and it is, then we are left with a question. If sin was the source of suffering, and if Jesus took our suffering upon himself in order to save us from sin, then why do we still suffer? Why is there still disharmony, strife, and injustice if Jesus has already atoned for all of mankind's sins? Why has the world be hit by this terrible Coronavirus pandemic?
This is an important question, and it has an important answer. Jesus doesn't save us from suffering; he saves us through suffering. Jesus teaches us, by his example, how to find meaning and purpose in our sufferings: by using them as a springboard for trusting in God.
In today's Psalm we get a glimpse of what was happening in Jesus' heart as he hung on the cross. He says, "I am like a dish that is broken." This describes how horrible he feels, in body and soul. But then he confides in God: "Into your hands I commend my spirit... Take courage and be stouthearted, all you who hope in the Lord."
When God permits suffering in our lives, it's because he wants to teach us to let him be our savior, to lean more fully on him, just as Jesus leaned on his Father during the darkest day in history.
An old Romanian legend tells of a group of soldiers who were lost one winter's night in a blinding snowstorm. They did not know where to turn, so they decided to camp for the night. But the bitter cold made their tiny fire almost useless. There was no wood, no tress, no fences. They knew they would freeze to death if they didn't find something to burn.
One of them volunteered to forage for fuel. He wandered off and was soon hidden in the swirling snow. He stumbled into a graveyard and finally found a wooden cross. Their extreme need prompted him to take it; reverence told him not to. At last he dragged it into the huddled group.
The leader spoke: "We can't burn a cross, no matter how much we need the heat." One by one the men dropped off to sleep, all except the youth who had found the wooden cross. As in a daze, he sat out the long hours of the night.
Suddenly he saw a light, faint and weak. It was moving – toward him. At last he made out a figure: it was Jesus himself carrying a large cross. He walked right up and laid his cross on the dying embers of the fire. The jumping flames and the burning heat awakened the others.
The leader demanded who had put the wooden cross on the fire, but the youth who had seen Christ do it was kneeling in the snow, staring into the darkness, as if he still saw someone.
When we put our faith in the meaning Christ wants to give to the cross, as those soldiers did by treating it reverently, it becomes a blazing fire of wisdom and love, melting and overcoming all the cold indifference and self-centeredness that deadens our hearts.
One mistake that we all tend to make in our Christian journey is the mistake of going it alone. Jesus has shown us the way not only to endure our sufferings and sorrows, but to find meaning in them, the meaning that comes from exercising trust in God.
But Jesus doesn't intend for us to follow his example all by ourselves. He wants to walk by our side, to carry our crosses with us.
When we try to carry our crosses alone, one of two things happens. Either we become self-righteous, arrogant, and harsh towards others, like the Pharisees. Or else we become sad and joyless, as if the weight of the whole world were on our shoulders.
When, however, we carry our crosses with Christ, we keep the balance, learning how to be realistic about the sinful state of the world without losing our sense of humor.
It is not hard to let Jesus help us carry our crosses; it just takes two things: prayer and obedience. By cultivating a mature and vibrant life of prayer, we give God a chance to remind us every day that we are not alone. And by obeying God's will in our lives, which he makes known to us through Church teaching, the Bible, and the voice of conscience, we make sure that we don't wander off the path that Christ is taking.
Today is a sad day, because we see the real consequences of our sins, but it is also a joyful day, because we see that Jesus is willing to walk with us through life no matter how hard it gets.
As we continue to celebrate this great day of our redemption, let's thank Jesus for wanting to help us carry our crosses, and let's promise him that we will never again try to carry them alone.