Loving our Lord and our land on September 11
09/11/2017
Colossians 1:24–2:3 Brothers and sisters: I rejoice in my
sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the
afflictions of Christ on behalf of his Body, which is the Church, of which I am
a minister in accordance with God's stewardship given to me to bring to
completion for you the word of God, the mystery hidden from ages and from
generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones, to whom God
chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;
it is Christ in you, the hope for glory. It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing
everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone
perfect in Christ. For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise
of his power working within me.
Can human suffering be a good thing? Is there any value in
pain and woe? Our first reaction is to say “Obviously not!” After all, our
entire health care system is designed to alleviate pain and mitigate suffering,
and we Christians even pray for God to heal and make whole those who are
hurting. To say there might be something “good” in pain seems counter-intuitive
and maybe even a little cruel. But what about suffering that cannot be stopped
or shortened or stemmed, that is, suffering that is out of our control? Well, I
would suggest to you that hidden in these seeds of suffering are the grains of
greatness; suffering can sometimes bring out the best in us.
Today is the 16th anniversary of September 11, when the
United States suffered the worst terrorist attack on American soil. That
evening, President George W. Bush said: “Today, our nation saw evil – the very
worst of human nature – and we responded with the best of America.” He went on:
“With the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers, and
neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could.” I would say
we’ve seen this same reaction to uncontrolled suffering in the wake of the
recent hurricanes in Texas and Florida. In other words, when we see the seeks
of suffering in others, the grains of greatness burst into blossom in us in our
heroic acts of love of neighbor.
In the first reading today, St. Paul senses this same value
of human suffering. He says somewhat mysteriously to the Colossians: “Brothers
and sisters, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am
filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body,
which is the Church.” Again, this is very counter-intuitive, almost cruel, but
St. Paul sees some real good in suffering – his own aches and pains – because
when they are united to Jesus’ suffering on the cross, they attain eternal value.
Like President Bush saw on 9/11, so St. Paul hopes his sufferings will inspire
Christians at Colossae (the Colossians) to love their neighbor at a heroic
level, even to loving the gentiles, “with caring for strangers, and neighbors
who came to give blood and help in any way they could.” St. Paul saw suffering
for the good of the Body of Christ, just like President Bush saw suffering for
the good of the body politic. The seeds of greatness sometimes contain the
grains of greatness.
My friends, what do you do when you cannot shorten, or stem,
or stop human suffering? We may cry to the heavens that God is unjust or
uncaring. Or, we can allow these seeds of suffering to become the grains of
greatness is us. I remember how much my parents sacrificed to send me and my
brother and sisters to Catholic schools, and that made me want to study twice
as hard. Their suffering inspired me to want to be great in school. Yesterday
after Mass, I met a family from Marco Island, Florida, who sought refuge here
with a family in Fort Smith. Their suffering made our parishioners great in
hospitality. It’s amazing to see our whole parish respond to appeals to help
the poor and suffering again and again and again. But do you see what’s
happening? The seeds of their suffering make the grains of greatness grow in
us.
On December 8, 1971, the day after the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt gave another speech about suffering. He said:
“Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our
territory, and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed
forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the
inevitable triumph – so help us God.” But FDR wasn’t the only one who saw what
results this suffering would produce: so did the Japanese General Yamamoto, who
said prophetically: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant, and
fill him with a terrible resolve.” And that, I believe, is the only good that
can come from human suffering: to awaken us to be giants, not of war, but of
love.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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