Tuesday of Fifth Week of Easter
In the first reading today, St. Paul’s adversaries stone him and, thinking he is dead, drag him out of the city. St. Paul eventually recovers and returns to the city and preaches the Gospel. As the reading tells us, he made a considerable number of disciples. Yet his success doesn’t undo the fact that his adversaries attempted to kill him; his success doesn’t nullify his suffering. That said, I think we can say that his suffering takes on new meaning in light of the success of his mission.
Consider a baseball team that is struggling in a game. The other team has a commanding lead and they just can’t seem to get anything started. Yet after the 7th inning stretch, they manage to rally. They begin chipping away at the opponent’s lead. The fight continues for the next two innings until they are eventually tied up. Then, to cap it off, they win the game in a walk-off. How do you think that team felt at the end of the game? Did they feel like failures? Did they say, “I can’t believe we let the other team be ahead for so long. Our performance was unacceptable.”? That would be an almost inhuman, unnatural response. Rather, that team surely rejoiced and recognized that the key to their victory was perseverance. In other words, they see their previous struggles through the lens of their eventual victory. Their struggles make their victory more dramatic, more meaningful, more glorious
Imagine, then, how St. Paul must have viewed his suffering in the city where he was nearly killed. In light of the success of his mission, he could probably rejoice in his suffering. The extent of his suffering shows the extent of all that he had to overcome with the grace of God. There is glory in his victory because of the suffering that he endured. It was no less so with Jesus. Without the Resurrection, the Crucifixion would have been nothing but pure tragedy - the torturous execution of an innocent man. But with the Resurrection, the Crucifixion takes on a redemptive meaning: not even the power of sin and death could thwart God’s plan for our salvation. The cross becomes glorious because of the glory of the Resurrection.
Our own suffering can be likewise. Sometimes we suffer at the hands of others. Sometimes our suffering is self-inflicted, especially as a consequence of our own sin. Yet perseverance in God’s grace will be glorious. St. Ignatius of Loyola encourages us to make a Daily Examen, where we review the day as it is, the bad along with the good - our own sins along with all the ways that God has blessed us. In that Examen we also resolve to continue forward under the banner of Christ, not allowing our sins or suffering to get the final word against us. We persevere. If we persevere until the end, then we will persevere until the final victory. How glorious will that victory be, how tremendous will our gratitude to God be, when we look at all the suffering of our lives and see the depths that God went to save us. Then our suffering will be truly meaningful.