Despite recently praying and loving more intentionally, it seems a lot is going wrong in my life. Why does God do this?
There is a classic story from the life of St. Teresa of Avila. She was running all over Spain founding Carmelite convents contributing to a real spiritual revival in her country. On one particularly rainy day, she was traveling to the newest convent when her cart lurched, and she fell into a large mud puddle. She turned to the Lord: “If this is how you treat your friends, it is no wonder you have so few!”
When we suffer humiliations — either physically, or in relationships or loss of reputation — it is easy to wonder why the Lord allows this to happen. St. Bernard offers a helpful insight: “It is only when humility warrants it that great graces can be obtained, hence the one to be enriched is first humiliated… And so when you perceive that you are being humiliated, look on it as the sign of a sure guarantee that grace is one the way” (Collected Works, Vol. II Sermon 34). Humility is the lightning rod of grace. When we encounter humiliations and accept them with gratitude and love, we can be confident that God is preparing to lift us up in grace. Our Blessed Mother’s song of praise reflects this truth: “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly!” (Luke 1:52). So our first response when encountering trials — thank God that He wishes to humble us that we might receive an abundance of grace!
But how is it that we grow and are transformed? By our inner embrace of the mystery of the cross our psychological bitterness dissipates, even if our bodies continue to feel the pain. This heartfelt embrace of the cross enabled St. Paul to exclaim: “Death, where is your victory? O death! Where is your sting? The sting of death is sin…but God gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). In his book, “The Fulfillment of All Desire,” Ralph Martin comments: “Though nobody can avoid physical pain in this life because of the fragility of our bodies, the deeper pain [of our human condition] is rooted in the opposition of our will to God’s will. As our will comes into greater conformity with God’s will… the psychological anguish of being in opposition to God’s will subsides and the physical pain can be more easily endured.”
This is not to say that pain does not hurt or trials are not real, but rather an invitation to see everything in the light of our Lord’s cross and resurrection. When we live from the heart of the Paschal Mystery, even our trials may be embraced as avenues of grace.
Father Charlie Archer is associate pastor of St. Peter Parish in Kirkwood.
