Necessary Suffering

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

Chapter nine of St. Luke's Gospel from which we read at Mass today is critical to understanding St. Luke's view of Christ's redemptive suffering and death. Today we read: Jesus said to his disciples: "The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised." (Luke 9:22) As I read these words this morning, I paused as I reached the word "must." In other words, it was necessary that Jesus suffer. His suffering was inescapable, obligatory, essential, required, or any one of a myriad other synonyms for the word "must."

Jesus goes on to tell us that his disciples will also be required to suffer. St. Luke then describes the "transfiguration" of Jesus during which Moses and Elijah come to discuss his "passing over." At the end of chapter nine, Jesus resolutely sets his face toward Jerusalem. In other words, he embraces his vocation, his calling to redemptive suffering.

By coincidence, today's verses from chapter nine were already on my mind today as I woke up with considerable pain in my right arm. I immediately made a mental note that today would probably be marked by that pain. However, one of the disciplines that I have chosen for Lent is to prayerfully read the encyclical letter of Pope John Paul II, "On Human Suffering," (Salvifici Doloris) One point the Holy Father makes in the opening words of the letter is that Christ's suffering and our redemption are inseparable. Though it is just the second day of Lent, I realize that the Holy Spirit has already led me to consider how better to understand my own chronic situation and my own necessity to link it to the sufferings of Jesus.

Through your passion and dying, Lord save your people.