It just occurred to me, if you’ve picked up this series somewhere in the middle you may wonder why I’m in the 43rd day of Lent when Lent is supposed to be 40 days. It’s because Sundays aren’t counted among the 40. Just a few days left.
Today’s prayers from the Divine Hours have had some readings with them that focused me on this part of Holy Week. The first reading was of the anointing at Bethany as recorded in Mark 14. At the end of that scene, Judas goes to the chief priests and agrees to turn over Jesus. That kind of hit me today as I prayed and read. Good Friday isn’t here yet, but the seeds of that tragedy are already sown. Many times the fruits of our sin, in all their spectacular grotesqueness, are just that: fruits. Where is the root? Where are the seeds planted. One part of the journey to the cross started a few days before the crucifixion when Judas decided to hand Jesus over. What sorts of things are taking root in your heart?
The Midday Office had a reading from Isaiah 50, but it also had a great prayer for folks who are suffering. It reads:
Lord God, whose blessed Son, our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give me the grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son my Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Here you see a glimpse of the depth of a theologically Christ centered way to approach suffering. There is great depth to this within the Christian tradition and it can be a very helpful thing. Notice how our sufferings are first connected to Christ’s suffering for us. We pray to God, whose Son suffered. Our sufferings find meaning within Christ. Our sufferings are part of “In this world you will find trouble” (John 16:33). Second, we accept and endure sufferings in the faith that God will use them to produce something within us (see James 1) and in the faith that God has something better in store for us (Romans 8:18). This prayer reveals the necessity for Christians to see the world through both the cross and the empty tomb.
Thank you for sharing the prayer. When I first read through it I struggled with the word “joyfully” accepting sufferings. How could I ever reach a joyful acceptance? I found myself searching for a word to replace “joyfully” while keeping the intent in tact. I prayed it again, I reread your explanation. Amen, I get it and I can do it. You may or may not have heard about all the sufferings in my life for the last year. I would be happy to share my journey with you sometime. I finally had the courage with God’s guidance to jump out of my boat in a leap of faith. You see I had been living a life with many secrets and I was to afraid and ashamed to talk to God about it. I appreciate that he absolutely knew what was going on and he was obviously waiting for me to repent. What an uplifting experience I am traveling now that I have asked for forgiveness and been able to turn my sufferings over to God. To have such a strong belief that God has forgiven me and is allowing me to make things right. I have even been able to let go of all my fear of the consequences that will be dealt to me here on Earth. I know that God is my answer. I know that everything I need is now found in the Bible. I wish I could put my feelings of peace in words for others to feel it through me. So reading this prayer I realize I am joyful for my sufferings, I am not afraid of future sufferings because I know the greatest feeling of love from my heavenly Father. Thank you for your part in my life. I look forward to continued communications. I know God put you in my for a wonderful reason.