Adversity, which looks and feels like such a determined enemy, can become a valuable ally: only you can decide which it will be
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 20, 2024
“The Lord has been pleased to crush his servant with suffering. If he offers his life in atonement, he shall see his heirs, he shall have a long life.” Wow! This is not an appealing start to our reflection on God’s love for us. If God loves us, how do we understand this?
The Responsorial Psalm tries to help us: “Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.” But moving from the head to the heart is not easy to do. “As we place our trust in you” is the secret of building a happy life: and this is measured by whether we are helping and serving others (making small or big sacrifices), especially to those in need.
There are people in our lives, and Communities, who have truly suffered for us, and did so willingly. The first one to do so was our mother as she gave birth to us! But, many of us, we are a bit like water, always seeking the easiest path: we try to avoid all pain (pain killers). This was James and John in the Gospel: looking for an easy path to status and glory.
When we reflect on “…as we place our trust in you”, it is helpful to think in three dimensions:
1) the discipline required to improve our health and care for the environment;
2) the pain and struggle to develop our lives to make a living for ourselves and our families; &
3) the hard, thankless, work we do for others to keep our community functioning well.
The first dimension is a self-motivational one, giving up time and experiencing the pain of exercise: we feel better, live longer and get sick less often. But how many of us try to avoid it? As the Doctor said to his patient (an executive): “What fits your busy schedule better, being dead 24 hours a day or exercising one hour a day?” Exercising shows appreciation to God.
Do we get upset when challenged about our lifestyle, work ethic or relationship behaviour? The environment is a good point to reflect on, because it draws out a second meaning for the First Reading: how much of our suffering is caused by our past actions, or lack thereof?
The second dimension is also about helping ourselves but is less certain to bring us a reward than the first dimension: we work hard and never go far; we invest a lot and lose it. But...
First generation immigrants usually do just that; and they don’t feel sad as they work hard: they usually feel grateful for the opportunity to start over again in a new country, free from fear and living in peace: they appreciate everything, and this motivates them to ‘drink the cup that I must drink’ as Jesus asks each of us. Their hard work for their children/ others says, “We can.”
The second dimension also includes the efforts we make to build good relationships: in the beginning we make mistakes which cause us pain and sometimes we don’t even know what was my mistake!? This is particularly painful for young people falling in love and getting their hearts broken. Sometimes it might be the “other person” but, often, it is our lack of experience.
This is part of our life’s journey from child to adult: from self-preoccupation to being other-centred. Don’t give up, or lose confidence, in your goodness. We only need to adjust our motivations and think more about how the other person might feel. And, men, know that sometimes the lady is testing you: how will you react? Will you try again? Will you change?
A young boy watched a butterfly cocoon for some hours as the butterfly struggled to break free. Wanting to help the butterfly, the boy used a pair of scissors to open up the cocoon, expecting the it to fly away, but it could only drag its undeveloped body along the ground: too small, weak, and its wings crumpled. By making it easy, the boy stopped its development: butterflies need to struggle to break free so as to build up their strength and force blood into their wings.
Dale Carnegie says: “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” What about you?
For the third dimension, we often feel there is not much reward. This is what Jesus meant when he asked: “Can you drink the cup” of blood, sweat and tears to make a difference in our community and for ourselves? As engineer in charge, I never thought I was a Gospel servant, but, in my concern for the safety of our workers and the good of the company, I was.
I’m sure many of you listening to this are also doing good work as servants. And, perhaps, you are tired of it and wonder “why bother? Nobody appreciates.” But people do, they just don’t say so. In the meantime, know that you are also building the Kingdom of God for everybody.
There are big rewards if we open our eyes: bit by bit we receive love and appreciation from others; we feel greater purpose in life (belonging); and we create a good environment for ourselves and our children to live in (safer, peaceful, cleaner, etc.).
Joni Tada says: “Adversity, which looks and feels like such a determined enemy, can become a valuable ally. Only you can decide which it will be.” This expression is a similar challenge to what we hear from Jesus today: being a servant to others is the way to a rich life, but it requires us to drink the cup that Jesus Christ drank. What will you choose?
By Gerard Conlan, OMI
