Spiritual Gift of the Week
We ask for the grace to serve God.
Mary, servant of God,
Help us attain the grace to give of ourselves unselfishly and without calculation.
Spiritual Instruction of the Week
Pray and prepare to serve for the sake of our friend, the suffering servant, Jesus Christ.
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Dear Beautiful Daughters of Mary,
If you think about it, the readings for this Sunday seem more fit for Lent than Ordinary time. They deal with suffering. In the first reading, Isaiah prophesies Christ, the suffering servant, who “pleases the Lord.” And then in the Gospel, Christ Jesus himself promises suffering servanthood to the disciples of Mark. The Church in her wisdom understands that suffering is not only a part of ordinary life—suffering is an ordinary part of a life in service to God.
Jesus’ disciples are ordinary people—they do not understand that they are living in an extraordinary time. It is the time before the suffering death of Jesus. In Mark’s story, Jesus speaks to his disciples as a “friend speaks to a friend,” (if I may borrow the words of Ignatius of Loyola). James and John, want what they want, and they are not shy about asking Jesus for it. “We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you,” they say. And Jesus’ response: “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.” As a friend, Jesus prepares his disciples to serve him and promises that they will suffer with him. Friends of Jesus suffer with him.
In prayer, Jesus may ask us to suffer with him. In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius introduces this notion. He directs us to be with Jesus during his passion and to speak to him, as a “friend speaks to a friend.” As Kevin O’Brien, S.J. wrote, “speak words of sorrow, confusion, compassion, regret, fear, anticipation—whatever moves us. Or perhaps we are present to Jesus without words. Jesus endures suffering for me. This focus is not meant to induce guilt and to inflict needless pain on us. Rather, Jesus’ offering is a sign of friendship with each of us, friendship that sacrifices for the other.”
None of us want to suffer. This is healthy. And yet many of us desire to suffer with Christ. This proves our spiritual health. And this is a starting point for true service. Prayer prepares us for service—and for suffering. And through the power of prayer and grace, we offer our personal perturbations and problems, our ordinary and extraordinary struggles, for the sake of Christ’s suffering. A statement written by Caryll Houselander makes this point beautifully: “I have a headache: Christ’s head was crowned with thorns for the love of me. I dread the loss of my money or my job: Christ was stripped naked for the love of me. I am afraid of becoming helpless: for love of me Christ became a helpless infant. I am afraid of confined spaces: for love of me Christ was in the tomb. I am afraid to die: Christ died for love of me.”
Jesus gave his life “as a ransom for many,” Mark’s gospel tells us. So why would we not give our suffering to him. And why would we not offer our suffering for him. No, we do not “look” for suffering. The opposite is true. We hope and pray to alleviate it, whenever possible. But suffering is inevitable, and so we prepare in prayer—especially for our own extraordinary time of suffering. We seek the grace to accept and endure it for Christ’s sake. No, even more—in time—we hope to unite our suffering with the Cross of Christ. And then—we serve him.
Yes, we know that prayer prepare us for times of suffering and times of service.
But we also know that times of suffering come to an end—
“Enough, the Resurrection!” wrote Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Our friend Jesus has promised it! (John 15)
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One more thought on prayer and suffering:
October 15 (yesterday) was the feast of Saint Teresa of Avila, Carmelite mystic, teacher of prayer and Doctor of the Church. She suffered many struggles for the sake of her relationship with Christ. She once wrote: “I realize better every day what grace our Lord has shown me in enabling me to understand the blessings of suffering so that I can peacefully endure the want of happiness in earthly things since they pass so quickly.”
Preghiamo—Let us pray,
Deb
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