As Christians we all share a common gift that comes to us from God and is meant to console us, unite us and reassure us that this world of suffering and pain will not triumph. That gift is the love of Christ in the Holy Spirit.
When Christ ascended into heaven He did not say good bye, He said, 鈥淚 will be with you, even to the end of the world鈥� (Matthew 28:20).
When a loved ones leave this earth we feel the pain.
But we also know the consolation that their love and memory remain with us. Dr. Rog茅rio Brand茫o relates the story of a faith-filled 11-year-old girl who died of cancer.
She recalls how her 鈥渓ittle angel鈥� was exhausted by two years of injections, chemical treatment programs and radiation. 鈥淚 saw her cry many times. I also saw the fear in her eyes, but that is only human!鈥�
One day her little angel was alone in her room.
鈥淪ometimes my mother leaves the room to cry in the hallway in secret. When I鈥檓 dead, I think my mother will miss me, but I鈥檓 not afraid to die. I wasn鈥檛 born for this life,鈥� the child said.
Asked what death meant to her, she replied, 鈥淥ne day I will go to sleep and my Father will come for me. Missing someone is the love that remains
I will wake up in His house, in my true life鈥� And my mama will miss me,鈥� she added.
鈥淎nd what does missing someone mean to you, my dear?鈥� 鈥淢issing someone is the love that remains.鈥�
鈥淭hank you, little angel, for the life you had, for the lessons you taught me, for the help you gave me. How beautiful longing is,鈥� Dr. Rog茅rio Brand茫o says today. How do we face this pain, sickness and death? Let me share an adult鈥檚 experience of all of these. Father Jes煤s Mu帽oz, who died of cancer in 1998, shared this letter:
鈥淪uffering is a mystery that is only illuminated from the perspective of faith,鈥� Munoz wrote. 鈥淚n postoperative care, although I was sedated with morphine, I remember that on one occasion I woke up and I looked at the crucifix that was in front of me; I looked at Jesus Christ and I told Him that we were in the same situation: with our bodies full of wounds, with pain in our bones, alone in the face of suffering, abandoned, on the cross...
鈥淚 looked at myself and I rebelled. I couldn鈥檛 understand. God had abandoned me. He didn鈥檛 love me. And suddenly I remembered the words that God the Father spoke from heaven referring to Jesus on the day of His baptism and later on Tabor: 鈥楾his is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased.鈥�
鈥淎nd the beloved Son of God was hanging before me on a cross 鈥� the love of God, crucifi ed 鈥� the Son in the midst of inhuman suffering.
鈥淎nd then I refl ected: if I am in the same situation as He is, then I too am the beloved and pleasing son of God. And I stopped rebelling. And I began to rest. And I saw the love of God.鈥�
The experiences of the saints before us teach us much of the mystery of suffering in our salvation. 鈥淭here is no cross, big or small, in our lives which the
Lord does not share with us,鈥� Pope Francis says.
