Overcoming the fear of suffering
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Chaplain
Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)
Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
THAT Christ already talked about his coming passion, death and resurrection should reassure us that there is no need for us to be overly worried about any suffering we can encounter in this life. (cfr. Mk 9,30-37) As long as we refer our suffering to the saving passion, death and resurrection of Christ, we are sure of salvation not only for us but also for others.
What we should work on in this regard is for us to learn how to refer as quickly as possible whatever suffering we have to Christ’s passion and death. That’s when we can have a more global picture of the saving role of suffering in our life.
If we believe in Christ and follow what he has taught and shown us, we will realize that there is nothing to be afraid of suffering and death, and all the other negative things that can mark our life.
He bore them himself and converted them into our way for our own salvation. Yes, even death which is the ultimate evil that can befall us, an evil that is humanly insoluble. With Christ’s death, the curse of death has been removed. “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15,54-55)
So, we just have to be sport and cool about the whole reality of suffering and death. What we need to do is to follow Christ in his attitude toward them. For Christ, embracing suffering and ultimately death, is the expression of his greatest love for us. We have to enter into the dynamic of this divine logic and wisdom so we can lose that fear of suffering and death.
We should not be afraid of suffering because if we have to be realistic about our life, I believe we need to consider that we actually need suffering and get to the bottom of this need. There’s actually a lot of meaning to it. It’s not just one whole negative part of our life.
In fact, the ideal attitude toward suffering is to welcome it, since in the first place, it cannot be avoided no matter how much we try. We have to cultivate a more positive outlook toward it and relish its inherent benefits for us.
For this, we need to discover and appreciate the link between suffering and loving. The two need not go against each other. In fact, they have to go together if we want our suffering to be meaningful and fruitful. And we have a way to do that.
By uniting our suffering with the passion and death of Christ on the cross, the vital link between suffering and loving is established. The sting of suffering and death is removed, and the guarantee of our resurrection and our victory over death, sin and all forms of evil that cause us suffering is made.
We just have to learn to be sport about our unavoidable condition of suffering in this life and adapt the proper attitude and reactions that should be inspired by our Christian faith. We have to educate our senses, feelings and emotions according to the indications of our faith and the recourse to the sacraments. By developing a life of authentic piety, we can hack it.
Indeed, there can be joy in suffering only if we identify ourselves with Christ. With Christ, suffering becomes an act of selfless love that can take on anything. Only in him can we find joy and meaning in suffering. With him, suffering loses its purely negative and painful character, and assumes the happy salvific character.