Redemptive Suffering

Conversion is the matter of a moment. Sanctification is the work of a lifetime (285).

To reform. Every day a little. This has to be your constant task if you really want to become a saint (290).

—St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way

These words of wisdom from St. Josemaria tell us that our work for holiness is never over. While Lent has come to a close as the Easter Triduum is upon us, we should not just forget or move away from the Lenten practices we participated in as if those disciplines are done and over with. Really, Lent is a time that we engage in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to condition—or recondition—our lives in conformity with Christ. During Lent we prepare ourselves, with acts of suffering, to join in Christ’s suffering on Good Friday so that we can join in his glory at the Resurrection on Easter (Rom 8:17–18, 1 Pt. 4:13). As we move on from Lent, it would be good to reflect on just what we did, or tried to not to do, and why these practices not only were but still are important to our lives.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:3–5).

Our Lenten actions are meant to produce habits and eliminate vices. When trying to refine our hardwired traits, we run into bumps, temptations, and failure. In these struggles we encounter some form of suffering. Our Lents should involve some suffering; however, this suffering does not come from a desire to “man up” or from a masochistic hatred of the body, but from the desire to join in Christ’s suffering and thus to be reborn. As Paul states, suffering, done in and for Christ, is transformative. Our suffering, whether serious or menial, is meant to lead us to deeper union with Christ, not just in the moment but also from that point forward. We are to take our sufferings from Lent and reflect upon them on Easter Sunday; we are to rejoice over our sacrifices and see their redemptive quality. We can only celebrate in Christ’s glory when we have suffered with Him.

To reach the glory of a resurrection which brings a delightful foretaste even in this world of the eternal heaven, the soul must know hunger and want, neglect and misunderstanding, the sorrow and loneliness of a Gethsemani even God seems to have forsaken, and a more or less protracted crucifixion of fleshly desires, ambitions, and vanities. And so the poor soul struggles and grows weary, rises to fall and falls to rise again, plunges on and is driven back from dreadful crisis to more dreadful crisis, at every moment appearing to be in danger of plummeting into the abyss of everlasting failure and death (William Thomas Walsh, St. Teresa of Avila, 66).

This is the call of Lent: our sacrifices, our prayers, our almsgivings were all for Christ, so that we can be one in Him. Even if we fell short, we are called to get back up, struggle more, and attempt again and again. If we keep fighting the good fight, none of our efforts will truly be in vain.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17).

Let’s look at some typical Lenten practices: let’s say you gave up chocolate. Are you closer to Christ because of it? How has your desire for chocolate kept you away from Jesus in the past? Now that you are rejoicing in His Resurrection, how will you celebrate? While you may return to eating chocolate, would you abandon the discipline and habits you were forming? If you added daily Mass, a daily Rosary, or any prayers to your Lenten observance, would returning to your old ways before Lent keep you in closer union with Christ? If you have dedicated forty days to forming this spiritual practice, shouldn’t it now be a more natural habit within your daily life? If not, then what have you really gained from it? Finally, almsgiving: Have you made an effort to transform your heart to be more merciful and compassionate toward those in need? Do you see more opportunities to serve your neighbor, or desire to do more than what you did before you began your Lenten journey? All these questions lead to a basic truth: Lent is meant to change you permanently. This doesn’t mean you will never fall back into the bad habit, or forget or abandon some good you did. We are all sinners, and the natural inclination to sin—concupiscence—affects us all. Lent, however, should be the battleground on which this lifelong spiritual battle begins. Our battle doesn’t end at Lent; it starts there.

While I am not advocating that you continue to abstain from meat on Fridays (though you could choose to continue this), nor permanently give up that good you sacrificed for Lent, I am advocating that we consider the habits that were formed and how we can maintain those habits to grow in even deeper unity with Christ. To restrict prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to Lent would be a massive spiritual mistake. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are daily habits that we must continue in order to shed the old man and become the new. The path to sainthood is not a one-day, one-time occurrence, but rather a lifelong process. As St. Teresa of Avila stated, “Anyone who fails to go forward begins to go back, and love, I believe, can never be content to stay for long where it is” (The Interior Castle, 234). Lent is a springboard to the great glory of the Resurrection. How then do we want to celebrate with our Lord? Hopefully it is by embracing the new creation we have been molded into.