JESUS SANCTIFIED SUFFERING
Sunday, April 2, 2023
PASSION SUNDAY (PALM SUNDAY)
Gospel outside the church.
Matthew 21: 1-11
Psalm. 22: 8-9, 17-20, 23-24 (R. 2a)
Second Reading. Philippians 2: 6-11
Passion Reading. Matthew 26: 14-27: 66
TOPIC FOR REFLECTION
MY GOD! MY GOD!! WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?
The passion of Christ brought significant meaning to suffering.
His Passion has put a meaningful definition to suffering.
He brought hope to the suffering and made it sanctified.
In sanctifying suffering, He showed us an example of how we are to see suffering and the joyful hope it offers at the end.
The road to Calvary was with pains and tribulation, just as the road to heaven is with pain, sacrifice, and tribulations, which are all embedded in suffering.
This has automatically made suffering which has been part of life to become meaningful.
No human being can avoid suffering in life, except no human beings are existing on earth.
Please, I plead with you not to inflict or generate suffering for yourself, because such self-imposed suffering may be meaningless if it has no tone of sacrifice in it. If however, your self-imposed sacrifice is for the benefit of another, then it is meaningful suffering.
On the contrary, if the suffering is caused by another person, and you could endure it for the sake of Christ, rejoice and be glad because the reward is great in Heaven.
Try all you can to avoid sufferings that have no undertone of sacrifice in it, such has no merit but a waste of time and energy.
Do you know that Jesus who is also God does not need to suffer, but His perfect humility as explained by St. Paul in today's second reading shows that despite, He being God in human form, He still did not form equality with the God the Father.
So, in other to show us examples of how to carry our cross, He underwent with great endurance the sacrificial sufferings innocently for the sake of humanity.
He acted in every human form like we do today.
When He was in the garden, He said my heart is sorrowful unto death, because He was to face the reality of death.
This is what any of us would say too.
My dear, the passionate narratives of Jesus' death is a pre-figure of what will happen to us as an individual in this life.
At a point, Jesus exclaimed in a loud voice...
MY GOD! MY GOD!! WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?
Similarly, when we face life challenges, we also say, GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?
Then I ask,
---Has God actually forsaken you?
---Has He turned away His face from you?
---Remember that God never spares His only Son from suffering.
My suggestion is that you should know that God never forsakes you.
Trials are the test of faith that summarises the full meaning of defined suffering.
When faced with the challenges of life, try all within your capacity to see how to solve them, if after all efforts are made, then submit yourself and the situation to God.
Finally, do not betray yourself or the people around you for any material good. If you do, your suffering will be multiple with great regret.
Examine the end of Judas, he suffered until death with regret.
So, let not life challenges lead you to suffer in vain and die miserably with regret.
Peace ✌️ be with you.
Rev. Fr. Segun Oladeji, CRS.
Comments