[stephenkhoo]

THE CROSS AS DIVINE MERCY PAR EXCELLENCE

03 April 2015, Friday of the Passion of the Lord

SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 52:13 – 53:12; HEB 4:14-16; 5:7-9; JOHN 18:1 – 19:42
We all suffer from the womb to the tomb. No one is exempted from suffering, not even our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Why do we have to suffer? Suffering is one of the mysteries of life. We have no real answer to suffering although rationally, we can find reasons for our suffering.

The most obvious reason why we suffer is because of our folly, mistakes and our sins. Our ignorance often leads us to make wrong or unenlightened choices. Of course, more often than not, it is due to our sins of pride, envy, anger, greed, lust and gluttony that cause us to suffer as well.

Perhaps, the most difficult form of suffering is when we suffer not because of our own sins. Quite often, our suffering is not due to our faults but the sins of others. We suffer sometimes innocently because the sins of others have consequences for us. This was the case of Jesus who suffered innocently for our sins. This too happens quite often when someone does something wrong and we all carry the penalty or share the punishments as well. We also suffer because of the laws of nature, like illnesses and natural disasters.

Regardless, we suffer primarily because we love. We suffer when our loved ones suffer because we care for them. Such suffering of course is more tolerable than the rest because of love.

In the face of suffering, we often feel the absence of God, and question whether He cares for us or not, or even whether He exists. If God exists and we believe that He is omnipotent and all love, why does He not alleviate our sufferings or help us? Truly, innocent, meaningless and unbearable suffering is the primary cause of Atheism and secularism. Due to their pain and anger, when there are no scapegoats to be found for their misery, they take their anger and frustration on God, because of His apparent silence and indifference to their pains.

So what is the antidote to atheism and the loss of hope and despair? It is the Divine Mercy. This divine mercy is expressed in a most perfect way in the death of our Lord on the cross. Hence, we are called to contemplate on the divine mercy of God as manifested on the cross. Contemplating on the cross will reveal to us His divine mercy, love and compassion for us. For on the cross, we see the suffering of the Holy Trinity.

Firstly, we contemplate on the suffering of the Son. Jesus suffered innocently and carried our sins and infirmities in His body. He suffered for us, not just with us. He was tempted and unjustly treated. He did not suffer for Himself or for His sins but His was pure innocent unjust suffering. “And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried. But we, we thought of him as someone punished, struck by God, and brought low. Yet he was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins.” So we cannot say that Christ does not know pain, rejection, sin or unjust suffering. He suffered not just in our place but was condemned for us.

Not only did Christ suffer, but the Father suffered too. Christ was His only begotten Son. We suffer when our loved ones suffer. So the suffering of the Father is no less than Christ’s, even if it was not physical but moral suffering. Often, moral suffering is even more painful as it is beyond description and relief. The more we love someone, the more we suffer when we see them suffering and are helpless to save them. So the Father suffered the loss of His only Son. He had to bear the pain of seeing His Son suffering as a man and be separated from Him so that He could truly identify with the suffering of humanity.

Not only did the Father suffer, but the Holy Spirit as well, since He is the bond of love between the Father and the Son. One of the greatest sacrifices is to share the pain of loving. Like the mother who gives up her only son to the priesthood, or the girlfriend for her boyfriend to further his career or the parents for a son to go abroad to help those who are suffering. So Christ suffered and the Father joined Him in the act of self-surrender. This is a separation in union! Christ was separated from the Father because He carried our sins in His body. They were united in separation for the love of humanity. The Holy Spirit grieves as well, since He is that bond of love between the Father and the Son.

The person who suffered most on earth is our Blessed Mother. She had to suffer the pain of seeing her only Son humiliated, tortured, whipped and crucified. No one knows her pain. As mother, she grieved deeply for her Son. But with Him, she surrendered Him to the Father and together with Him, forgives the sins of those who committed against her Son.

Why did God show His Divine Mercy in this way? Christ suffered so that He could be the leader of salvation and perfection.

Firstly, He suffered so that we will know God is not exempted from suffering. To love means to suffer. The suffering of God is the answer to the mystery of suffering. He is identified with us in our suffering and hence the basis for believing in God’s compassion and mercy for us. In fact, no one has suffered more than Him! As Isaiah says, “Like a root in arid ground. Without majesty (we saw him), no looks to attract our eyes; a thing despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow and familiar with suffering, a man to make people screen their faces; he was despised and we took no account of him.”

Secondly, He suffered to teach us not only that we must always do the will of God but that we can do it humanly with His grace. He showed that doing the will of God is humanly possible since He did it. Only by doing His holy will, can we find peace and freedom! He trusted in His father’s wisdom and providence. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” If we want to find peace, we must align our will with the will of the Father, for His will is the expression of His wisdom and love for us.

Thirdly, He suffered so that we can be assured that He feels with us in our struggles and in our sins. “Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme High Priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, we must never let go of the faith that we have professed. For it is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin.” For this reason, no sinner should ever be afraid that the Lord will reject him or her because He knows what it is to be tempted and to suffer the misery of our sins.

In the light of Christ’s suffering on the cross, how do we respond to suffering?

Like Jesus, we learn obedience through suffering. Unfortunately, this is not the path that most of us take. We want to choose our own ways but end up hurting ourselves. “Although he was son, he learnt to obey through suffering; but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey the source of eternal salvation and was acclaimed by God with the title of high priest of the order of Melchizedeck.” We too must suffer so that we will align with the will of God and find peace and happiness. Eventually, we will triumph in the end. “The Lord has been pleased to crush him with suffering. If he offers his life in atonement, he shall see his heirs, he shall have a long life and through him what the Lord wishes will be done. “

Secondly, let us realize that innocent suffering can change lives. Innocent suffering is redemptive. It is not suffering itself that counts, but innocent suffering can give hope and cause people to repent as Jesus did in the case of Peter. When they see our love for them, they will change because of love. Only love can change lives. “On him lies a punishment that brings us peace, and through his wounds we are healed.”

Finally, we must suffer with prayers, asking for His grace and not on our own strength alone. “During his life on earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard.” Without His grace and His love, we cannot suffer. Thus, it is so important that we contemplate on His face, on His suffering so that we can draw strength from Him in our own suffering. But we must also contemplate on His resurrection. Suffering is not the last word, but life. We read that He will be lifted up and exalted. “See, my servant will prosper, he shall be lifted up, exalted, rise to great heights.”

In the final analysis, it is not that suffering can heal, but how we suffer, with love and with patience. If we suffer with resentment, we will destroy ourselves. But if we suffer for a purpose, most of all for a person whom we love, then that suffering, even if painful, is worthwhile and meaningful. This is redemptive suffering. So let us suffer with joy like the saints. Let us suffer for Christ and His Church. Let us go to Him, then, outside the camp, and share His degradation. Let us suffer for our sins as well. If we are crucified like the good thief, acknowledge our sins and repent. With Christ, we must fight against sin until the point of death. Let us suffer like Simon of Cyrene for others. Let us carry our crosses and embrace them so that we can do His holy will and find peace and rest. Let us surrender our body like Christ for the expiation of sins of the world. Let us, like Arimathea and Nicodemus, heal Christ’s wounds by tending after His body, the Church. Be the first like the women to see the stone of doubts and rebellion rolled back in the face of Christ’s love for us in the passion and in His resurrection. This is what the celebration is all about. This is the epitome of Divine Mercy.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh