Suffering

“Suffering, if it is accepted together, borne together, is joy.”

-Saint Mother Teresa

Reflection:

Every person suffers. I suffer, you suffer, Mother Teresa suffered, Jesus suffered.

What good can come out of suffering, when suffering seems to empty someone of good things? Why does God allow suffering, especially to the most wonderful of people, including Jesus?

The reality that Mother Teresa knew and lived was that suffering required an emptying of self. Suffering is a certain pain that makes an empty space in our souls for God.

It is sort of a paradox, really. God allows us to suffer, allows us to become empty so as to make us ready to receive an abundance of grace. Mother Teresa says, “even Almighty God cannot fill what is already full.” Just so, Mother Teresa teaches me that I need to willingly and readily empty myself out – be ready to embrace suffering – so as to be filled with the love and grace of God.

Mother Teresa spent her life suffering with Jesus through the daily sufferings of the poorest of the poor, and saw this a great gift! It is a gift and grace to have the opportunity to become empty so as to become full of the love of Christ.

Challenge: Let us willingly embrace the sufferings God sends us, knowing they are opportunities for grace