by Fr. John Martin Shimkus, O.S.B.

     If you watch any television at all you likely have experienced one of those quirky commercials for prescription drugs.  After the announcer has spoken in glowing terms about the benefits of the medicine - your blood pressure will be lower, you’ll be able to sleep or whatever - another voice, or even the same one, matter-of-factly states that “side effects from this drug may include headaches, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, etc. . .”  It’s as if to say, “This medicine is not really going to cure you.  And hopefully, its healthful qualities will outweigh its other uncomfortable effects”.  Perhaps the lesson of these commercials is that there is no cure for human nature; there is no way to completely avoid sickness or suffering, aging or even death itself.

     This realization seems to be reflected in the insistence of scripture that suffering would play a part in the work of the Redeemer.  Jesus himself was absolutely convinced that he had to suffer.  He told his disciples after he rose from the dead, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day”.  For Christ, suffering was the only way he could show the depth of his love for us, the only way he could take upon himself the totality of our human existence - even its sadness and pain - and transform it into something glorious and life giving.

     It may not be any consolation to realize that suffering is part of every human life, but it is a tremendous grace to know that God has made suffering a part of his life and his plan of redemption.  In the midst of life’s challenges we recall that our pain is shared by a God who loves us; our sufferings have been lived out, and are being lived out, by a God who became human so that he could be our redeemer and our friend.  Jesus saved us not by sidestepping the suffering part of our nature, but by making it the great passageway back to the Father.

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