Peter Kreeft writes about the pangs of suffering and turns to the artists to guide him through a widely asked question, that is "Why do we Suffer?" Topics range from Fairy Tales and Children's stories and grow to more complex topics presented in Myths and even Birth Pangs. In all of this subject matter, suffering becomes the central theme.When I read this I sometimes feel that it is all over the place but it really was a great reminder to myself that no matter what is going on, my sufferings and pain are one with Christ's. That this suffering is forming me into a "real" person and feeding my soul and I pray, hope that it is enough to let me be with the one who has been along for my ride this whole time. It's a crazy journey and I think that Christ is the only one strong enough to take it on with me.
The classic story of the Velveteen Rabbit explains that the more something is loved and put through sufferings; in the rabbit's case, falling out eyes and rubbed off fur, the more real it becomes. One also becomes "real" the more one is tamed. We do this by becoming more of a part of God's life by letting Him be a part of ours. [Today I read this and think that the more we love God or Jesus, the more "real" He becomes to us. It's not that I'm saying He's not real, but He is easier to forget. He becomes so important to us that we have to take Him everywhere and the more we do this the more we see that Christ is worn out. He has suffered. How many times have we dropped a stuffed toy, left it behind, forgotten about it? All of these little things have given the toy wear and tare. Like Christ, the more we see Him in His brokenness the more we see that He became like that for us. At the end of the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, we see that the Rabbit has become "real" he has no more wear and tare. He is made new. Like Christ at the Resurrection, He bore the pain and He was made new. Now He is real to us. We've put Him through all that suffering, then we see that He said it was all worth it to what He became in the end] When we share in the sufferings of God, we become more real to the pain that He went through. This includes more importantly a death to self.
In Fairy Tales it seems that no matter how much turmoil one goes through, in the end one will live "Happily Ever After". God doesn't want us to think that we have to go through all of this turmoil to get to a "Happily Ever After". The Fairy Tales say that the more one suffers the more meaningful the story will become. God has given us a free will and we are not for His enjoyment like a puppet on a string. These sufferings are a result of the fall and everyone endures and embraces them because we have chosen them. God did not inflict these sufferings on us but we brought them on ourselves.
This suffering that is the fault of our human race did indeed arise after the fall of man. Through this suffering comes a great wisdom and knowledge for man. The wisdom that is gained becomes the valuable food for our souls. We need this food to sustain our lives. If we were given the choice of a Utopian Society or a perfect happiness, we would be consumed in boredom. Our souls would not be fed and therefore we would still suffer. With this suffering we are artists of ourselves with each choice being a stroke of a brush and each act a cut of the chisel. Saints suffer the most and become the greatest artists of all. [Many of them give up comforts and purposely embrace sufferings and hardships. Some may call them foolish, still others call them wise. If suffering leads to wisdom and knowledge, their souls are fed all the more and they do not go hungry in the spiritual sense. God satisfies them continually, especially with the knowledge that it's all for eternal happiness]. [If saints are great artists because of their sufferings,] All mothers are artists because they have pains and sufferings in child birth when they are assisting in the procreation of new life. [The fall occurred because some of the angels chose to not bow down to a human [Christ] and they knew they could not be like God in the sense where they could create. Mothers are creators like God and even though they are going through a horrific pain, once again the suffering turns into wisdom and knowledge and their souls have been satisfied in a way many can not fathom.]
Finally death is a lover and it is also a birth. In the very darkest of sufferings, which is death, a light is found which is the most glorious of all the lights. This [light] in turn is like a passageway or a canal of birth just as when we were born into life, we are born into death. [It is wonderful to think that our souls are being fed through the sufferings of death. What greater reward then to have the most greatest of things, Eternal Life with our Creator, after the very darkest of sufferings.]
Our suffering is so important to our lives. One thing I hear a lot of from someone I love [I call her Mother] is "Offer It Up!" After reading through this chapter, I really have felt a deeper connection to Christ and His sufferings. I do not compare my own to His and say they are the same because they are not even close to what He endured. I look to His sufferings as a place to lay down my own into. As someone who is not a crier by any means, I really couldn't help but to notice the passage on Christ's tears. [Kreeft says]: "Every tear we shed, becomes Christ's own tears." I cry more or less quiet, dry tears. Even if they are physically there [or not] I know that if I put into Christ my trust that He will take them and make them His own. This was something that I really needed to hear.
Christ sits by our sides and no matter what our sufferings are, He takes them and makes them His own, if we allow Him to. Sometimes it is our own foolish pride, yes we all are fools Kreeft says, that gets in the way of us reaching out to Christ and saying, "Here, have my pain and my sorrow and my sufferings and help me to get through them because I can't deal with them anymore. It's too much." We won't always feel that Jesus has taken our sufferings away, but when we are forced to suffer through them we are made stronger and our souls are fed. The strength comes from Christs as well as from the suffering. He will not let us go through it alone.
The other part that just tugged at my heart and causes it pain, was that Jesus is such a part of us that He was in every gas chamber in Auschwitz. [After going to Auschwitz and paying my respects to those who suffered there, this hits harder then it did when I first read it.] He is also in every legal factory that participates in the killing of the innocent everyday. For a Savior who loves us so much He is with everyone of us, no matter if we are strong or weak. No matter if we want Him to be with us or not.
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta said it best:
"I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much."
