The theology of suffering is mysterious. In reading St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, one gets the sense that suffering is a dance between the Soul and her Lord. It’s a beautiful image.
But like many deep mysteries, the actual experience of suffering can seem more devastating and confusing than beautiful and spiritually efficacious.
Have you ever prayed for a conversion? During a previous Lent, I committed to praying for one particular conversion. God did not answer my prayers in the way I expected. In the last twelve months, the one I prayed for has battled two kinds of cancer, which attacked two different parts of his body – very much like a country that is invaded along two borders simultaneously.
It is hard to imagine that this man could suffer any more. But if the Carmelite saints are correct, then it is likely that God has a purpose even in the midst of this dark night.
Nothing draws us closer to the side of Christ than suffering. C.S. Lewis once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures . . . but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
I don’t like that answer very much. I would have preferred a storybook conversion. I would have given this suffering soul a vision or whispered some great revelation into his ear.
But God does whisper to us. In fact, He never stops whispering the words come back to me. The voices of this world are so loud that we cannot hear over the din.
Sometimes, God has to shout. Sometimes, He uses His megaphone to rouse us. Sometimes, that megaphone is suffering.
Imagine for a moment that the world is one big dance floor. The DJ plays the music of a fallen world. And sometimes, the music he plays is the music of suffering.
That’s not what God had in mind. Divine Will did not want that. But his Permissive Will permits the music to play for a little while. Why? Maybe it is because Our Lord knows that there is one song that will cause us to put down our champagne glasses and walk away from the crowded tables of this world. There is one song that calls us to turn toward God, walk across the dance floor, and give our soul to its Beloved.
That song is the Song of Suffering.
Why was this man born blind? Was it because of some sin his parents committed? Our Lord tells the crowd, no, he did nothing wrong. The Heavenly Father has permitted this. And now, God will be glorified.
St. John of the Cross says, “Let God take your hand and guide you through the darkness as though you were blind.” Why? Because your own story of redemption may begin at a cross of personal suffering. Jesus tells us that this is no reason for despair – the song that plays next is glorious.
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