Participation in the Redemption through Suffering

Homily for Saturday of the Fifth Week in Eastertide

The Scriptures teach us that suffering enters the world through Original Sin. In the Book of Genesis, we read that God said to Adam: “Cursed is the ground because of you! In toil you shall eat its yield all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bear for you, and you shall eat the grass of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you shall eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Consequently, our Jewish ancestors thought that pain and suffering was something that sinners experienced. They also thought that those who upheld all of the commandments would experience a life without suffering. We know that this is simply not true because Jesus suffered although he was sinless.

Suffering, a consequence of Original Sin, acquires a new meaning in Christ; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus. By uniting our suffering to Christ and offering it to God in self-sacrificial love, we become active participants in Christ’s redemptive act for ourselves and others.

Each time that we celebrate the Eucharist, we are reminded of the suffering and death of Jesus on Mount Calvary. As he says to us in the Gospel text for today, “if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you… and they will do all these things to you on account of my name.”