When Jesus informed His disciples that He will be condemned to die on a cross in Jerusalem, the apostle Saint Peter responded by saying that this will not happen. This response which gives us the weakness to think that the other apostles shared the same point of view as Saint Peter, is palpable proof of a world where some think that suffering is only the business of others. Indeed, how can a child of God experience such an atrocious end? How could the One we know as the Messiah can He die like this?
How can a Men through whom men experience the love of God in their lives experience such a fate? But far from denoting a lack of faith, this questioning is in fact palpable proof of a journey of faith allowing us to better know the One in whom we have placed our trust, or in whom we want to place our trust.
Suffering or daily effort?
Just like Christ toiled to bring salvation to humanity, Men is also called to toil on a daily basis in order to contribute to the extension of God's reign of love on earth. But first it is important to clearly circumscribe and differentiate respectively the context and the meaning of the concepts of suffering and pain for a child of God.
The familiarity of the two concepts can lead us to ask ourselves the question of whether pain and suffering refer to the same reality or whether one, namely pain, is the tangible proof of the experience of the other. In fact, toil is to make efforts on a daily basis. To suffer is to accept toil to achieve a useful goal for ourselves and others.
To achieve an objective or goal, every Men is called to work. Even if He has come into possession of what He wants without difficulty, another person will have struggled to allow him to have it, thus inviting him to do the same and out of love despite the difficulties because, for a child of God, suffering is not a succession of trying moments without hope of a bright future but a daily reality which requires that we sometimes demonstrate resilience by always having our eyes fixed on our ultimate goal which is total satisfaction which passes through ups and downs, moments of revolts, sacrifices, strike movements or protests which are despite all necessary and useful in the realization of better well-being.
The meaning of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection
The death and resurrection of Christ is not a human invention. A Men actually died and was resurrected three days later. But He didn’t just die and rise again. He also suffered. Everything He endured was in order to bring salvation to all humanity. But this joy that comes from salvation in the name of Jesus does not mean that we will be exempt from carrying our daily crosses. He Himself said: “If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget self, carry his cross, and follow me”; in other words, becoming a child of God in the general sense of the term and a Christian in particular, is not just a question of words but of concrete actions on a daily basis. To be a child of God is to prove it through concrete actions.
Also read : The real sacrifice : giving your life for those you love
What gives credibility to a Men’s words is the sincerity of His actions. To believe is to be convinced that God cannot make mistakes and deceive people. A child of God acts because he knows in whom he has placed his trust regardless of what others may think. He does not claim to know everything, but the certainty of being in the shadow of the One who knows everything and can do everything. And since He gave him the grace to become a new creature in Him, Men also has the duty and not the obligation to also act with knowledge of the facts. For what? Because the wonders of God's love in His life also push Him to show love to those around Him despite daily difficulties.
When a child of God is convinced of the rightness of what He is doing, it does not matter what others think. Where others will only see suffering, He will see suffering in hope because in fact He is a child of hope who, however, should not take anything lightly under the pretext of this same hope.
Suffering, human dignity and mutual responsibilities
Everyone is called to carry their cross on a daily basis because it is ongoing efforts through various activities that make it possible to correct the errors of the past and better prepare for the future. This is why parents work hard to ensure quality education for their children who themselves get up every day to go to school or study their lessons. This is also the reason why teachers give them homework to do at home and their parents, household chores, in addition to checking whether their learning is going well. This is also the reason why some people refuse to compromise themselves to obtain certain favours.
If we must suffer, we must suffer with dignity. If Christ cared only about himself, no Men would be saved except Him. If a woman in general and a mother in particular were only concerned about herself, her children would have nothing to eat. Men must bear His share of suffering because He has duties to fulfil towards those He loves or whom He is called to love despite the fact that there are some who take pleasure in seeing others suffer or to be humiliated because they want to create and perpetuate a feeling of dependence.
To exist is to toil on a daily basis with a view to individual and collective good. For Christians in particular and children of God in general, the painful episodes of daily life are experienced with Christ; reason why, whatever happens, their hope will never disappoint them.
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