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July 19,1979
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Joy And Suffering:
Is There Any Relationship?
BY WILLIAM E. MAY
A masochist is a person who delights in
experiencing suffering; a sadist is a person
who delights in making others suffer and in
witnessing the pain of those whom he
torments. For the masochist and the sadist
there is an inherent link between joy and
suffering. They find suffering a delightful,
exquisite joy.
The masochist and the sadist, however,
are terribly deluded. Indeed there is
something demoniacally perverse in their
mentality. Theirs is a topsy-turvy world, an
absurd, surrealist mockery of truth and
goodness, of reality and of God. They make
evil good and good evil. The god they
worship is a tyrannical Moloch, the idol
before whom the Idi Amins of our world
prostrate themselves when they roar with
laughter at the sight of a human person
being disemboweled and mocked.
The God we worship, the only true God
and the One who has made us in His own
image, is not a being like this. He is the God
of life and truth, not death and lies. He is
the best friend we can ever have. He has not
made us to suffer and delight in suffering
but to have life and possess it fully. He is not
a cruel tyrant who takes pleasure in
tormenting us. He is our
father-mother-brother-sister who wills for us
only the good, and that good is life in union
with Him.
Yet we do suffer, and the sufferings that
torment us are dreadful. Human suffering,
particularly the suffering of the innocent, is
a terrible, agonizing reality. And it is an
awesome mystery. If God is so good, why
must there be this terrible suffering? Why
should a child be bom with crippled limbs or
sightless eyes? Why should parents watch as
their little girl is brought into a hospital with
bones crushed by a drunkard’s car?
There is no reasonable answer. We do
believe that suffering is rooted in sin. It is a
mystery of iniquity, and there is no inherent
link between suffering and joy. And we
believe that the inexpressibly wonderful and
good God is so powerful and so much our
fi-iend that he can draw good out of evil and
oring peace to broken hearts. He sent us his
own Son to share our lives and our suffering.
Biblical theologian Father John L.
McKenzie has said, “Jesus did not give us . . .
a rational explanation of the existence of
suffering and a demonstration how the
terrible waste of human resources which
suffering involves really contributes toward
the fulfillment of man” (“The Power and
the Wisdom”). But Jesus accepted suffering
and by doing so has given us the power to
accept it. By our accepting suffering, we
have the power to transform it and enable it
to play a role in his redemptive, saving act.
St. Paul tells us that “it is rare that
anyone should lay down his life for a just
man, though it is barely possible that for a
good man someone may have the courage to
die. It is precisely in this that God proves his
love for us; that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us” (Romans 5,7-8). God has
come personally in Jesus to bear our burdens
and share our suffering.
Through Jesus’ redeeming act of suffering
he makes it possible for us to live in a way
we could never dream of were it not for his
love. Jesus, the Suffering Servant and Man of
Sorrows, is the cause of our joy. By sharing
our humanity he makes it possible for us to
share his divinity and, in and with him, to
redeem our suffering and experience joy.
Jesus is the mender of broken hearts and
the reason to hope and have courage. If we
can accept him into our hearts we will
realize, as Francis Thompson did in his
“Hound of Heaven,” that “all that I took
from thee I did but take, not for thy harms,
but that thou mightst seek it in my arms.”
In truth, suffering brings us no joy. But God
does, and with him everything is possible.
We can therefore, with Paul, exclaim: “I am
certain that neither death nor life, neither
angels nor principalities, neither the present
nor the future, nor powers, neither height
nor depth nor another creature, will be able
to separate' us from the love of God that
comes to us in Christ Jesus our Lord”
(Romans 8,38-39).
This Week At A Glance
The reason for suffering, particularly
the suffering of the innocent, remains a
mystery. William E. May points out that
“there is no inherent link between
suffering and joy. And we believe that the
inexpressibly wonderful and good God is
so powerful and so much our friend that
he can draw good out of evil and bring
peace to broken hearts.” Jesus’ own
suffering and agonizing death illustrate
this point well. Certainly condemning and
crucifying him was an evil thing, but
through his suffering, death and glorious
resurrection, we can be a part of his
eternal kingdom. We can know peace, joy
and a wholeness beyond our dreams.
Each of us, through our own sufferings,
has the potential to grow toward
wholeness that will make us ultimately
worthy to share eternal life with our
Creator who is Love, Compassion, Joy —
our Father who loves unreservedly.
In the space of a short time, Jesus
experienced the joy of his triumphal
entry into Jerusalem and the suffering
that accompanied the violent rejection of
him by the people. Finally those who
rejected him won and Jesus was put to
death like a common criminal. Even the
Son of God, both human and divine, was
not spared suffering on earth. Jesus did
not seek suffering, but his message getting
through to us depended upon his facing
whatever consequences he might suffer in
bringing God’s Word to the world. When
the going got rough, he did not walk
away from suffering. So, too, must we
face suffering in our own lives when it
cannot be avoided, either because of our
Christian principles or simply because we
are faced with suffering that we have no
control over. But like Jesus’ suffering,
through our suffering we, too, can “draw
good out of evil” and find joy.
The closer we come to spiritual
maturity, the more we come to realize
that the joys of life come from God — the
pleasant warmth of the sun, the joy of
discovery, the growth of our knowledge,
the approval and acceptance of those we
love. God is the center of it all. The pages
of history reveal that man has constantly
sought to understand God. The greater
our understanding grows, the greater our
desire becomes to develop our own
spirituality. Throughout the world today,
many consciously strive to deepen their
own spiriutal lives and help others to
travel the same road. Such a man is
Father Adrian van Kaam who heads the
Institute of Formative Spirituality at
Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
Spiritual growth does not come easily.
Within this process are periods of a
dryness that might be likened to the
sands of the desert, discoveries that
demand more than we would like to give.
But each time we take one more step, the
meaning of true joy roots itself more
deeply within us. And we become a little
more like God in whose image we are
created.
Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem
BY FATHER JOHN J. CASTELOT
The story of the cure of Bartimaeus in
the tenth chapter of Mark ends with the
significant observation that, having received
his sight, he began to follow Jesus along the
way. For Mark, the “way” was the way of
the cross, and the next chapter opens with
Jesus starting out on the last phase of the
journey to Calvary. It tells of his triumphal
entry into Jerusalem.
Jesus and his disciples had arrived at the
villages of Bethany and Bethphage on the
Mount of Olives, close to Jerusalem (Mark
11,1). He sent two disciples to fetch an
unbroken donkey colt. Apparently he was
well known and liked in the village, and so,
when some people questioned their taking
the animal, they just told them the master
needed it and would return it later. Why
didn’t he walk into the city as he had walked
everywhere else? His careful preparations
and choice of means for making his entrance
seem deliberate and purposeful. And so it
was understood by the evangelists, who saw
in it a clear proclamation of his messianic
character.
This is strange, in view of Jesus’
THE PEOPLE GREETED JESUS
enthusiastically upon his entry into
Jerusalem, Father John J. Castelot
writes. The crowd waved reeds and
branches and shouted. “Hosanna to
the Son of David! blessed is he who
consistent avoidance of popular acclaim as
the messiah up to this point. However, in a
few days he will illustrate by his passion and
death precisely what kind of messiah he is:
not the type expected by his
contemporaries. Then there would be no
danger of misunderstanding and false
enthusiasm. Even though he made a
“messianic” entrance, it was in line with a
type of messianic expectation which he
could accept up to a certain point. It was
typified by his choice of transportation — a
simple little burro.
Matthew was so eager to stress the
connection of this incident with the hopes
expressed by Zechariah that he ended up
presenting a picture which is just this side of
ludicrous. The prophet’s words, which he
and John cite explicitly, though with
variations, are: “Rejoice heartily, Oh
daughter Zion, shout for joy, Oh daughter
Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an
ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass” (Zechariah
9, 9. See Matthew 21,4; John 12,14). There
is only one animal indicated; the idea is
simply repeated in parallel phrases.
comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!” This
depiction of Jesus' triumphal entry
into Jerusalem is from a 19th century
woodcut bv Paul Gustave Dore.
(NO
Matthew, however, ignores the parallelism
and tells us “they brought the ass and the
colt and laid their cloaks on them and seated
him on them” (Matthew 21, 7)! He
obviously does not want us to miss the
messianic meaning of the event, although the
editors of John take care to point out that
“at first, the disciples did not understand all
this, but after Jesus was glorified they
recalled that the people had done to him
precisely what had been written about him”
(John 12,16).
The people greeted him enthusiastically.
John furnishes them with royal palm
branches, with obviously symbolic intent,
for they were not readily available in
Jerusalem. Mark and Matthew speak more
realistically of “reeds” and “branches,” but
in any case it is a royal welcome. Yet, it is
not easy to be precise about what they were
proclaiming. Their sentiments are expressed
in the words of Psalm 118: “Hosanna to the
Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in
the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the
highest!” according to Matthew 21,9; Mark’s
version is less explicit (11,10), and Luke and
John have their own variants. When, after
the entry, the general populace was inquiring
about his identity, “the crowd kept
answering, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from
Nazareth in Galilee’” (Matthew 21,11).
John alone supplies motivation for the
enthusiastic reception. He connects it with
Jesus’ recent raising of Lazarus, which has
caused quite a stir and has moved his
adversaries to take final action against him
(John 12,9-10, 17-19; 11,45-54).
But however one understands the details,
the same general picture emerges. It is a sort
of flashback summarizing his whole career:
initial enthusiasm coupled with confusion
and lack of real understanding which, under
pressure from the vested interests, quickly
cools and changes to violent rejection. It is
also, and unfortunately, a sort of preview of
how thousands of people will react to him in
the following centuries.
~KNOW '
YOUR
FAITH
(All Articles On This Page
Copyrighted 1979 By N. c. News Service)
— -/
“THE FACT IS THAT WE DO
SUFFER, and the sufferings that
torment us are dreadful,” William E.
May writes. Human suffering, and in
particular the suffering of the
innocent, is a terrible, agonizing
reality, and it is an awesome mystery
as well. If God is so good, why must
there be this terrible suffering?” High
School students Barry Sharpe and
Yvonne Cavanaugh of Ft. Meade, Md.,
comfort each other at a memorial
service for eight fellow students who
were killed in an auto accident. (NC)
Fr. Adrian van Kaam CSSp
BY SUSAN ANNETTE MUTO
“What do you recall about your early
upbringing that most influenced your
faith?” I asked Father Adrian van Kaam.
“My parents,” he replied. “Both were
deep believers, fine examplars of faith. My
earliest memories are linked with their
attachment to the church.
“In our neighborhood in Den Haag we
were members of a new parish with dynamic
leadership. I was drawn to participate in the
choir. I suppose this would represent an
early liturgical influence that has stayed with
me. The choir master was an outstanding
organist and composer who demanded our
best performance while introducing us to the
greatest treasures of church music. I was
subcantor for three of the seven years I sang
with the group, often on the altar in cassock
and surplice my mother helped sew for the
choir members. I still feel a tug in my throat
whenever I hear Gregorian chant. So much
that was formative of my faith happened
there.”
Father van Kaam singled out two
memorable guides in his early formation. —
his elementary school teacher, van Rooijen,
and de Hertog, the headmaster. He also
recalled one devoted assistant pastor, de
Jong, a devotee of the Blessed Virgin from
whom he received instructions for First
Communion and Confirmation. The latter
gave him a picture of the Lord when he was
in first grade. This little memento was like a
seed planted by the priest at the right time,
for it stirred in the young devotee those
longings for discipleship that eventually led
him to the priesthood.
He left home at age 12 to attend the
Spiritan’s school in Weert. The Holy Spirit
Fathers — later to become his own
congregation — cared for about "200 boys.
The stress was on a blending of spiritual
exercises, study and recreation. Here Father
van Kaam met a young man, two years his
senior, who became his best friend, also
during seminary days. He describes Rinus
Scholtes as a lad of great depth and sanctity.
He and Scholtes conversed for hours about
religion, history and literature. They shared
the same ideals about prayer and the
mystical life. Scholtes died as a young
Spiritan seminarian two-and-a-half years
after his novitiate, leaving behind with his
confessor a remarkable diary of mystical
graces and experiences.
Upon completion of this phase of his
studies, he entered the novitiate in Gemert,
Holland. There he met another priest, whose
presence made an indelible impression.
“Father Strick was the most humane,
devout, wise novice master a young man
could hope for.
“Many points come to mind. For
example, the infinite respect he had for each
unique person. The common sense approach
he fostered in regard to asceticism. His
appreciation for the spirituality of everyday
life. His stress on such foundational elements
of Catholic spirituality as liturgy, spiritual
reading of Scripture and the masters,
examination of conscience.”
He spent the next several years studying
Thomistic philosophy, theology, educational
psychology, and related topics. A lew years
after his ordination, his provincial asked him
to go to their house in Paris and study in
depth the life of the founder of the
Spiritans, Venerable Francis Libermann.
Father van Kaam produced a biography of
Father Libermann, “A Light to the
Gentiles.”
Father van Kaam said that the founder’s
“portrait of the new apostle ... is one of a
man who develops that great gift of God, his
own personality, as broadly and richly as he
can — not by repressing his nature and
throttling his aptitudes, but by unfolding his
individuality with the help of grace. He is
receptive and attentive to the ever changing
situation around him, always keeping his
mental and emotional balance lest mere
impressions and feelings dominate him. He is
realistic, precise and practical. He plans his
projects carefully and with full psychological
understanding of men and situations. Always
a gentleman, he cultivates courtesy,
politeness, personal neatness. He is full of
good will and tolerance toward others, yet
courageous in facing the hardest tasks. The
ideal that Father Libermann holds up is a
timeless one, valid for all ages and climes. It
grows out of the pages of the New
Testament...”
Fr. Adrian van Kaam. C.S.Sp.
The spiritual guidance Father van Kaam
gives in his conferences and writings
evidences his life-long interest in spirituality
and the spiritual masters, especially St.
Thomas Aquinas, Libermann, St. John of
the Cross, and St. Teresa of Avila. This first
love is complemented by his ongoing study
of psychology — to which study he applies
the Aquinan principle: grace builds on
nature. These two subjects meld in most of
his books.
'today friends, supporters, students and
feilovv faculty members gratefully
acknowledge how he has helped them by his
wit and wisdom, by his warmth and lively
originality to become what they most deeply
are: men and women made in the image and
likeness of God, the work of his own hands,
whose “highest aspirations should be to
glorify the Father through the Son in the
Holy Spirit forever and ever.” (“Spirituality
and the Gentle Life’’)