Father Ken’s Message:
Good afternoon and welcome to the Catholic Cathedral of Sapporo. Today we are going to be very Catholic and talk about something very Catholic, human suffering. I think our approach to suffering is rather unique. All the Bible readings this Sunday are about the theme of Suffering.
In the First Reading we have a passage from the Book of Job, which is actually a kind of drama the Jews would act out to support one another during the dark days of the Babylonian Exile. I think most of us are familiar with his sad story of multiple misfortunes in life and finally he himself getting very sick to the point of death. However, it is Job who does not equate suffering with punishment from God. All of his friends say his problems are a punishment from God but he defends God. God appears before Job and rewards him for his loyalty and restores all of his lost fortunes and health. For us the story of Job is a great reminder to pray to God for help in all our suffering.
In the Second Reading from St. Paul, we find him in Corinth, Greece attending the Corinthian Games, which 2000 years ago were second to the Olympic Games. Paul as a Jew had no interest in sports, it was one of the religions of the Greeks. Also, during sports, the Greeks would take their clothes off and compete in the nude, which was scandalous to Jewish sensitivities. Nevertheless St. Paul’s goal was to make converts among the Greeks so he talked to the athletes’ using images and language they could understand. For instance, he challenged them to be more reflective persons and to use their love of training for sports not to win a wreath of leaves but to suffer in self-discipline to make their goal to become persons and win a crown of glory from God that would never wilt away.
Finally, Jesus in the Gospel appears in the home of his disciple Peter like a good doctor who suffers personally using his talents, his time, his love to caring for the sick people around him to relieve them of their suffering. This is Jesus’ most characteristic point of character to be empathetic with others and suffer with them and for them. Ultimately this value of Jesus to suffer with and for others will bring him to Calvary to die for all of us on the Cross.
There are so many things to learn from the three Bible readings this afternoon. So many people stop coming to Church and believing in God because of the suffering in the world and in their lives; like, “how can there be a God if people in Gaza are dying from the Israelis?” Jesus also does not give an answer as to why suffering happens but he shows how to stop it by looking it and doing something about it. Suffering and pain indicate that something is wrong and needs correction; something needs to be addressed and changed. So rather than complain about our suffering or other persons suffering, we should look toward suffering for the lesson it is trying to teach us. Depending on our outlook suffering can paralyze us or catalyze us into action to stop it as best we can.
When I was in the Seminary when one of our classmates had a birthday, we would make him a spiritual present and put it into a card and slip it under his door in the morning. It was a beautiful act of love for brother seminarians and a self-gift because none of us had much money. On the card were written different categories: Rosaries; Mass Intentions; and Personal Sacrifices (suffering for others intentions) and we would write a number under each category. The category of “Personal Sacrifices” might include: no smoking for a week; studying harder; cleaning my room; being nice to somebody, etc. By virtue of our Baptism, we Catholics die unto our old self and become “little Christs” aka “Christians.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that all pain, toil, and sorrow united to Jesus’ passion “can have a positive affect and redemptive meaning for the lives of others and their sins “(CCC1502, 1505). When we help people who are suffering either by direct works of mercy or by prayers, we make their miseries our own and suffer with them. And we can do the same with our own personal sufferings. I mean we can offer them up for another person to help them. In this way we mingle our blood, sweat, and tears with the blood of Jesus Christ to help others.
So, my friends let us learn from Job how to endure suffering, from St. Paul who to empower people to use their suffering for a good purpose, and from Jesus how to suffer for and with others for the greater glory of God.
Thank you very much.