By Fr. Adolf Washington –
You can’t wear the crown if you aren’t willing to take carry your cross. The season of ‘Lent’ is a time when Christians pray more fervently for strength to face the battles of life.
These battles come in various forms. May be a bitter marital relationship, lack of love within the family, children misunderstood by their parents, parents worried about children going the wrong way, rejection and coldness by our own family members, a friendship threatening to break, a shaky financial situation, painful health problems, killing loneliness, anxiety and constant fear and guilt, a bitter struggle with a habit that is bothering you, confusion about your career, you academics, your job prospects…the battles could be different for different people.
It is in suffering we discover more deeply, our need for God. The messianic prophecy of prophet Isaiah about Christ tells us “He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by His wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
Jesus’ unwavering dependence upon the Heavenly Father gave Him strength to shoulder the heavy cross to Calvary.
God does not want you to wallow in discouragement and despair. He wants you to rise from failure and to break new ground with His help. He wants you to see your failures and falls as an opportunity to get closer in dependence upon Him. We are called to believe in a God who can lead you from tears to triumphs, sorrow to joy, hopelessness to hope.
Victor Emil Frankl, psychiatrist and Nazi holocaust survivor who endured the worst of suffering in a Jewish concentration camp, in his book’Man’s search for Meaning’ writes “In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice. If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering. Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”
So don’t let your brokenness weigh you down. Look to God who sees and heals your brokenness for “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalms 34:18). You can also make your time of brokenness a blessing to someone by becoming a wounded-healer yourself, by your Faith-example.