How deep does our courage for suffering go?

 In my 23 years as an ordained Catholic priest, I have had many opportunities to minister to Catholic parishioners who had been ill, and many of them were hospitalized for their illness. 

 

The ordained priest tends to the sick in several ways.  In the sacramental way, the priest can anoint the sick, and if the infirmed are conscious and are able and willing, their confession can be heard, giving them the inner peace that all of us sinners need throughout our lives.  Together with the sacrament of the sick, we can also bring Holy Communion to them so that they receive Jesus, who is truly present in the Eucharistic Host. 

 

But at the heart of illness and all forms of afflictions that the body can experience, is the awareness of the virtue of offering up our sufferings for the souls in purgatory.  This awareness isn’t something that happens overnight, but is like every virtue that we want to attain in life.  No virtue is instilled in an instant.  The virtue for chastity, obedience, humility and generosity is a journey that is slow and somehow meandering path. 

 

I just came to know of someone who was a godfather to a few young children, and he had a tragic accident when he climbed a ladder to fix a ceiling fan and fell from it, fracturing his skull and spine, and went into a coma.  In my conversation with the mother of one of his godchildren, I said that in cases like these, I hope the afflicted one knows that he has the ability to offer up his sufferings for souls in purgatory.  The mother of the godchild replied that a patient who is comatose would not know or be conscious of offering up anything.  This is when I tried to explain to her that in truth, it is only when one has striven in his lifetime to offer up pains and afflictions for souls in purgatory, would he in this comatose state, be desiring to offer up what he cannot overcome.  If he has never heard of such a virtue, there is little chance that he would now do it when he is comatose. 

 

I give a personal testimony to this.  When I was suffering from the many fevers while I was studying in Washington DC for a license in Dogmatic Theology, I consciously offered up my pains and physical torments for the souls in purgatory.  They didn’t make the suffering less, but a lot more meaningful.  I wouldn’t have done that if I had not beforehand read the many spiritual books on suffering as a virtue.  It was already hitherto a part of my spirituality, instilled into my system.  By then, it was already a flowering and fruiting plant that was started as a tiny insipid seed that was planted into the soil of my heart.  If no seed had been planted, I would not have suddenly known that I want to offer my sufferings for the benefit of souls in purgatory. 

 

And this went on to serve me well when I came back from DC to get my fevers diagnosed, and after seeing three doctors, it was confirmed that I was afflicted by Leukemia, and of a very serious and rare type.  When I was told by the hematologist that I was suffering from biphenotypic acute leukemia, was smiled broadly, and this was very alarming to the doctor.  He said that never in his experience of informing patients that they were afflicted with leukemia, there was joy on their faces.  Why I smiled was because I knew from that point on, that my suffering and affliction would be beneficial to the souls in purgatory.  I my heart, there and then, I was thanking God for this gift of suffering in my life.

 

If I hadn’t nurtured in my heart and soul that there is a meaning in suffering in life, I would not have taken the news so well.  I could see God’s magnificent hand in this, and he also paved the way for me to be saved by a stem cell transplant from a generous and kind donor who was half the world away in Chicago, Illinois.  My deep gratitude to Peter Mui for his generosity and kindness grows more and more each day, because due to his generosity, I have an underserved gift of each day of life.

 

I do realize that among the majority of Catholics, only a small number take their sufferings and afflictions in life so positively.  And they know this is true only when their sufferings in life take them by surprise.  I hope that by writing about this truth, I am encouraging my readers, especially the Catholic ones, to truly start to sow that seed of positivity and begin to take the afflictions in life seriously.  Just don’t start too late, because like all things that are difficult, doing well in it is a long journey.  There are no quick fixes in wanting to handle suffering well in life.

 

We are courageous in many things in life, but the one thing that is outstanding is when one has the courage to go through afflictions and suffering well. 

 

And do remember that crosses in life are not meant to be something that we carry alone.  Jesus helps us to carry them well, and let’s start familiarizing ourselves with Jesus, the savior of humankind.