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Turn your cross into a crown


Jesus said something ground breaking when he told us to 'take up our crosses and follow him'. Until then suffering was looked upon as a curse from God. Even today we see most people go to God to get rid of their problems, why would someone want to embrace their troubles? I struggled for most of my life with this because I for one hated the thought of pain and death. However, my views on suffering began to change when I found out how others were willing to suffer for me.

 No greater love than this....
I remembered my brush with death as a child when me and my sister suffered from severe food poisoning. I was the worse affected and I lay in hospital for days like a dead body, refusing to eat and having no strength to sit. Then one night I woke up in hospital to the sound of someone crying. It was my mother, kneeling on the floor and praying, she was telling God "Take me instead, don't take my daughter." That impacted me so powerfully, How could someone take on suffering upon themselves for the safe of  an other. Only great love can do that. The next morning, I rose from my bed after 6 days and asked for food. I ate to everyone's amazement and was back on my feet in no time. This wasn't the only time someone else's prayers saved me. Only recently my sister recounted to be how she prayed for me once when I had been admitted in hospital due to a severe illness and was to be operated upon the next morning. She went before the statue of Mother Mary which was in the hospital premises and prayed to God that I may not have to undergo an operation and that she would be ready to take my place instead. All preparations had already been done for my operation but the next morning the doctor decided against the operation and suggested medicine instead. These incidents made me realize that running from problems didn't bring any gain but accepting them with open arms brought with it special graces.
What does the Bible have to say about suffering?
Firstly, we must understand that God didn't intend man to suffer. He created everything good and in perfect harmony with each other as we read in Genesis. It was the sin of man that brought pain and death into the world. Even today we see that most of the problems in the world are a result of man exploiting nature and trying to play god in the world. God could have left us in our misery, but in his mercy he sent his Son to show us how suffering can lead to salvation if it is lovingly accepted.

 Yes, Jesus can heal and he performed many miracles to take the pain of others in the past and he does so even today. I myself have witnessed miracles in my own life but they were mainly signs so that I may come to believe in him. Once we believe, we must not be greedy for more signs and wonders as the crowds that rushed after Jesus to see a performance, we are called to be like his disciples who eventually took up their own crosses so that others might also believe in Christ. Think about it, if the early Christians did not accept the horrendous tortures that were inflicted upon them, the faith would have been completely wiped out by the Romans.

 Saint Paul saw the redemptive power of suffering where he says in Colossians 1:24 "24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church."We know that Christ was the perfect sacrifice and that there was nothing lacking in what he suffered. Saint Paul, however realizes that there is something lacking in the church, for which he feels compelled to preach the gospel. He therefore, willingly accepts the 'thorn in his flesh', if it will profit the church. 

 Suffering willingly is like praying without words
When I started reading the Lives of Saints I realized that the saints also prayed for the sick, dying and specially for those who didn't believe in God. Not only did they pray for these people but they also asked that they might suffer on behalf of those they prayed for. 

Could we not do the same? We face insults, mockery, anxiety, illnesses, failure and much more on a daily basis. What if we accept these small crosses in prayers for the sake of those who we truly care for? Next time we go through something difficult in life, let us try praising and thanking God for it, because only he can turn the cross of suffering into a crown of salvation.
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