Because We Love

 

I remember when my dad first taught me to use a hammer.  He held the nail, and showed me how to hit it directly down, not on the side, and to swing hard.  I tried, ---- and I only hit his thumb once.  And I also recall the times when my mom asked me to help with her baking bread, stirring the ingredients and later, kneading the dough --- although my little hands didn’t accomplish much there.  Still, my dad thanked me for helping him with his repair work, and my mom later said “This is the bread Tommy and I made.”  My part in either of those works was miniscule, yet they wanted me to have a part.  They wanted to teach me something.

I heard a radio discussion about offering up our sufferings to Christ, to be united with His for the forgiveness of sins.  I’ve heard it said before how Christ’s suffering was enough; we don’t really need to add to it.  His suffering alone atoned for our sins.  Yes, but my dad’s repair job and my mom’s baking efforts didn’t need (knead? 😊 ) my help either.  But they wanted me to participate in their work for a reason.  I think Jesus wishes us to participate in His suffering also, for the same reason.  They want to teach us something that can’t really be learned just by words; we need to be part of it, to practice doing it, to get it right.  Regarding suffering, it’s like those household chores; it’s part of life.  But with the household chores we can see the good physical results.  We can’t see the good results of suffering, especially our own.

A saint once said “Without suffering, there can be no love.”  What that saint was saying is that if our life were perfect, if everything were given to us --- no pain and everyone always agreed with us --- we’d be living like a king, like having heaven on earth.  But never having hungered or hurt or having been in need, how could we develop a love for the poor, the suffering, or the needy?  Having a heaven on earth, how could we develop a yearning for an eternal heaven?  How could we love our Christian family?  That’s what Jesus came to show us how to do.  He taught us even as my dad and mom taught me.  But He taught us one thing no common earthly person could have done; He died for us and opened the way to eternal life, to eternal happiness.  Do we have to in any way participate in His death to make it better somehow?  No, but our suffering and offering of that suffering to join with His creates a greater awareness of just what He willingly did, and its importance for us.  And just as my dad and mom thanked me for my little part, I think Jesus will thank us for our willing suffering, as He did.  He’ll feel as if we’ve done our part --- because we love Him