We are on the third Sunday of Lent and during this Lenten season the Church is inviting us to reflect on the Passion and death of Jesus. It is good to reflect on the meaning and significance of pain our lives.

 

Whether we like it or not, whether we want to face it or not, all of us go through trials and crosses in life. Why does God allow us to undergo such dark nights and pain? Why do all of us have to be wounded in life?

An American psychologist, James Hillman, noted that it it is not our victories and triumphs that bring depth into our lives but failures, disappointments and defeats. The times that we flunked or were betrayed, hurt and wounded are precisely the times and situations that have led to a deepening of our spirits. We know we can relate to his words. When things are going well in our lives, we are not that reflective and introspective. But when we are visited by the Cross, it is then that we begin to seek and ponder those things that really matter in life. Moreover, if we just spent our lives in endless enjoyments and recreations, running away from our problems, we are in grave danger of ending up living very shallow and superficial lives.

Crosses, trials and dark nights can deepen our faith, our hope and love. This is exemplified in the lives of those who survived the Nazi holocaust. There is a scrawl on the wall in one Nazi concentration camp which reads: I believe in the sun even though it isn't shining; I believe in love even though I feel it not; I believe in God even though he is silent. This scrawl is but a clear proof of how the dark night can bring out the best in the human spirit. 

When things are not going on in my life, in the family or in my community or congregation, one can verywell utter those inspiring words - "I believe in the sun even if isn't shining. I believe in love even though I feel it not."

Another figure whose spirit was deepened by seeming endless trials is Job of the Old Testament. He saw with his own eyes how God gradually took away, first, his livestock, then some of his children in death and, at the end, suffered boils and sores in his own body. Under the strain of these afflictions. he could only say to his friends, "The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the Lord. We accept good things from God, why can we not accept evil?" From the same Job we hear those lines of heroism, "Even if He should kill me, I will hope against hope."

What if we put into the mouth of God those words scrawled by the Holocaust survivor. What would it mean if the Lord says, "I believe in the sun even if it isn't shining. I believe in love even though I feel it not. "? Those words He would very well address to each of us because what He would be saying to each of us are these:  "I believe in you even though you do not believe in yourself anymore. I believe you can redeem yourself even though you've fallen. I believe in you even though you think you are dirty. I believe you can turn your life around if only you will it. I believe in you because I love you. I love you no matter what." And this is the whole point of this Lenten season. Jesus had to die for us all because he believes we are worth His Passion, Death and Resurrection! He had to die for all of us because He loves us!

God allows sufferings in our lives because we deserve them anyway. And we deserve more. One sin alone requires an eternal atonement because an offense against the infinite Divinity requires an infinite reparation. The conviction that we deserve the trials and crosses that come our way is verified in the words of the good thief on Mount Calvary. He rebuked the bad thief saying, "Do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong?"

Why does God allow us to be tried? That we may realize that left to ourselves we can do nothing. That if we relied on ourselves alone we cannot move forward in life. Trials are meant to humble us and to teach us to rely only on God if we are to move on in life.

It is good for God to send us 'dark nights' if that is the only way He can bring us back to Himself. How many times have we heard of people who finally turned their lives around for the better or who were spiritually converted because they survived terrible car accidents, near death experiences or were diagnosed with terminal illnesses. How wise of God to use any means possible to bring us back to Him!

The story is told of a great hermit in the Egyptian desert who was sorely tried by a young brother who lived near his hut. The old hermit often saw the brother stealing things from his cell and yet he never reprimanded the brother. When he saw the brother in the act of stealing, the old man would excuse the thievery by telling himself that the brother must be in need. When the old man lay dying, a good number of monks surrounded him, one of whom was the young brother. The old man called to the brother, grasped his hands, kissed them and said, "I thank these hands of yours, my brother; it is because of them that I go to the Kingdom of Heaven." The brother was stricken with remorse, did penance for his sins and became a true monk thereafter.

When trials come into our lives, I hope we face them, accept them and see them as the means for us to reach the Kingdom of Heaven!