the meaning of suffering

St Ephrem tells us something profound today in A Year with the Church Fathers. So profound, in fact, that it helps us make sense of suffering.

The meaning of suffering is one of the biggest issues in the history of mankind. Many people honestly CANNOT believe in God because suffering exists. It's called the theodicy. How can there possibly be an all knowing, all good, all powerful God, when people and animals suffer, seemingly without any meaning or reason? If God is good, powerful, and knowing, then He should put a stop to all of this suffering. Since the suffering exists, there must be no God.

What St Ephrem tells us answers that question, at least in part. The full answer is found the the entirety of our lives, as we look back and see all of the good that He has made from every time we've suffered. But what Ephrem says is... "His face endured spitting, so that you might not shrink from scorn... His body was whipped, so that you might not fear suffering."

Notice what he says here. His face endured spitting, not so that you might AVOID scorn, but that you might not shrink from it. He body was whipped, not so you can AVOID suffering, but that you might not fear it.

And with those few words, He tells us what suffering means. He tells us THAT it means something. That's the point. When Jesus tells us that a sparrow doesn't fall to the ground without God knowing about it, He is telling us the same thing. Yes, there is suffering, it's true. Suffering exists. But there is NO meaningless suffering. All suffering has a meaning, a value, a purpose. We do suffer in this life, and He suffers right along with us, like parents do when their children are hurting. Who hurts more when a child has a stomach ache, the child, or his loving parent? How many parents would gladly, in a heartbeat, take the cancer into their own body that is ravaging the body of their beloved child, if it meant the child could be free?

All of our suffering has meaning. And when we consciously lift our suffering up to Him in prayer, and ask Him to unite it with His, we consciously experience that meaning. We sense the redemptive work that all suffering has in this world. God works everything for good. There isn't an exception. So the next time you're hurting, in whatever way, offer it up to Him, and unite your suffering with His. Then you'll experience the good that He works with all suffering, of all creatures, throughout time.

God, thank You for being so masterful that you work every ounce of suffering in the universe for the good of us all.