Ralph Martin - Don't Waste Your Suffering (and Don't Be Too Afraid of It)

[Music] every now and then we need reminders we need reminders about how much god loves us we need reminders about how jesus really is the lord we need reminders that nothing happens without the providence of god permitting it with a plan to bring good out of it we also need reminders from time to time about how to understand suffering and most particularly how not to waste our suffering i think i've mentioned several times in these videos a very experience i had reading teresa of avila and i'm going to repeat it because it's just been a very important lesson for me and i know that everybody doesn't watch every video every week and i want to make sure that if you haven't heard this that you hear it the the text that really made a difference in my life was teresa of avila talking about the nuns in her convict complaining about how because they were having headaches they were staying away from community prayer so teresa writes hardly does our head begin to ate then we stop going to prayer which won't kill us we stay away one day because our headaches we stay away another because it was just now aching and we stay away three more because who knows it might ache again and then she says oh god help me this complaining among nuns for if the devil begins to frighten us about losing our health we'll never do anything now i wasn't expecting this but the holy spirit used this text like he uses many of the texts from our spiritual tradition tremendous wisdom that has the anointing of the holy spirit on it i wasn't expecting this but the holy spirit convicted me of the same problem that these nuns and teresa's convent were having i was over concerned about how i was feeling if i had a headache for example i'd kind of cut short prayer or wait till the next day or if i had an upset stomach or i didn't get enough sleep i'd kind of pamper myself a little bit i'm embarrassed to admit it but hey that was the truth that's what was happening and uh when i read this i just felt like whoa the holy spirit's kind of convicted me of being over concerned about how i'm feeling i have to tell you that when the holy spirit convicts you he also gives you the grace to be delivered from the attachment or the bondage that you're in and i got delivered that day from being over concerned about my health and quite honestly things have never been the same it's normal to fear suffering it's normal not to want to suffer jesus himself was concerned about what was what was facing him and the agony in the garden the day before his crucifixion he he uh he really didn't want to do it and he asked god the father is there some other way that this chalice that this cup of suffering could pass me by is there some other way of saving the world and the father knew that this was the most perfect expression of love that could ever be given by he or his son and and he he sent angels to strengthen jesus so that he'd be able to endure what he was having to endure so it's normal to fear suffering but we also have to then be open to the fact that uh that the lord is going to send angels and grace and help to enable us to get through it in fact just in magnificat today one of the advantages of doing this in my home office is i can grab things that are relevant that i forgot to put right here in front of me so right here in the reading today we have a reading that what's the exact reference reading from luke chapter 12 you see the same thing you read in matthew's gospel too i tell you my friends this is jesus speaking do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more i shall show you whom to fear be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into gehenna yes i tell you be afraid of that one be afraid of the devil who can bring you drag you down to hell after you die and have a healthy fear of the lord who can save you from death by the resurrection of jesus why not five sparrows sold for two small coins yet not one of them has escaped the notice of god even the hairs of your head have all been counted do not be afraid you are worth more than many sparrows so the lord himself tells us not to be afraid of of physical suffering of death that passes what doesn't pass is the eternal life of heaven or the eternal agony of hell now i i've experienced worse things than headaches and upset stomachs and lack of sleep over the years in fact the last couple years i've been dealing with uh kidney stones first kidney stone i've ever had in my life actually happened in france a couple years ago and uh i was visiting a shrine to st mary magdalene in southern france i had climbed up a big mountain to a cave where tradition says she lived after she left the holy land and that night i i just really experienced excruciating pain like people talk about when they have kidney stones and i went to the uh village medical facility which was about 10 or 15 miles away and it was the dirtiest medical facility i've ever seen i think the people there were competent but it just was a different standards of cleanliness and it wasn't very sanitary and uh they thought i had a kidney stone but the x-ray people had gone home for the night so i needed to stay for the night and i had a roommate who couldn't speak english or french i think he was arabic and uh but he was a very kind person and when i needed to get up in the middle of the night one's attached to my iv he used his cell phone to light the way and i was praying for him and he was certainly kind to me so the next morning they they did the x-rays and sure enough i had her kidney stone blocking and my kidney was was blowing up was kind of swelling up and it wasn't good so they put me in what they called an ambulance which is more like a van so i was bouncing around in the back of a van heading down to the coast of france where they had a a urologist who was willing to wait to go on his weekend holiday to extract the kidney stone under anesthesia and so on and so forth so that was that was quite an adventure uh and then uh just before i left for australia this past year uh i had another kidney stone that had to be removed under anesthesia and they put in they put in something called a stent and uh they sent me off to australia with five days of anti-spasmodic medication which uh soon ran out and uh i had to go to the emergency room in australia so uh my two kidney stones have been in france and australia and uh the kidney stone was taken out in america but the after effects happened in australia and it was tough it was very tough i had to give 10 talks and i had to really carefully time well going to the bathroom quite honestly uh because i was having strong spasms and uh but i'll tell you the lord really really worked through those talks and he gave me the grace i needed to uh get home again safely and uh and then in a couple weeks i'm gonna be going for another kidney stone litho what do you call it lithostripsy where they do sound waves trying to break up a kidney stone the reason why i'm telling you this is just because i don't like going through these things but you know what i'm not nearly as concerned and i'm not nearly as afraid in fact i'm i'm not really very afraid because the lord has delivered me from over concern about my health and i know that the lord's only going to permit the suffering in my life that he has a plan to bring good at him and he's going to give me the help i need to get through it i know that that's that's a truth of the faith we've read that in luke's gospel here jesus says don't be afraid of those who can kill the body and and remember you know your father has counted the hairs of your head you're not alone when you go into these emergency rooms you're not alone when you go into surgery you're not alone when you're suffering and you can just really have a tremendous confidence in god's providence for you at the same time it doesn't mean that suffering isn't suffering and uh i'd like to read here something from saint francis de sales it's from the same chapter chapter 10 saint francis desales when you are sick offer up all your grief pain and weakness as a service to our lord and beseech him to join them to the torments he suffered for you obey your physician take your medicine food and other remedies out of love of god remembering the gall he drank out of love for you desire to get well so you may serve him do not refuse to lie ill so that thus too you may obey him and prepare for death if that is his will so you may praise him and be happy with him forever again life on earth passes very very quickly and sooner or later all of us are going to die from something or other and uh in the meantime say francis the sale says don't waste your suffering join it to the suffering of jesus turn it into a prayer turn into intercession turn into a cry to god for the salvation of the world and for reparation for sins including our own sins and this reminds me of something that the angel said to the children at fatima and that mary repeated during the second visit of the angel to the children at fatima you can also find on youtube a much more extensive presentation about fatima just put in a youtube or ralph martin fatima and you probably it will come up uh i've been deeply struck by mary's words to the children of fatima i've been deeply struck by jacinta and francisco lucia's response to uh to mary and to the angel but anyway what does this have to do with suffering it has to do with this the angel appeared to them in the summer of 1916 preparing for mary's appearance and he he asked them what are you doing pray pray very much the hearts of jesus and mary have designs of mary mercy on you offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the most high and then lucia asked what sacrifices this is what the angel said make of everything you can as sacrifice and offer it to god as an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and in supplication for the conversion of sinners you will thus draw down peace upon your country so our are participating in the sufferings of christ are accepting the sufferings that come to us and and voluntarily offering them for reparation for senate conversion centers can actually have an impact on our countries we certainly need to have an impact on our country these days don't we in all our countries i am the guardian angel of portugal above all accept and bear with submission the suffering which the lord will send you and then lucy writes she says these words were indelibly impressed upon our minds they were a light which made us understand who god is how he loves us and desires to be loved and the value of sacrifice how pleasing it is to him and how on account of it he grants the grace of conversion to sinners the meaningfulness of suffering it's a mystery suffering has its roots in rebellion against god suffering has its roots in the fall suffering has its roots in sin but god has made it possible for suffering to have an incredibly positive meaning and actually change things in the world and make a difference in our own life in the life of other people the next year in 1917 mary appeared to the children and in the second apparition mary appears to the children and it's just a beautiful description and then she asks them a question are you willing to offer yourselves to god and bear all the sufferings he wills to send you as an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners with great enthusiasm they responded yes we are willing now lucia wrote many years later we had no idea what we were saying yes to but the lord gave us the grace to experience things and endure things and go through things that we never could imagine and then she particularly talks about the heroic suffering of her cousins jacinta and francisco who died from the spanish flu suffering greatly but being willing to accept these sufferings and offer them for reparation for sin and conversion of sinners so what i want to emphasize here today is that there's so much suffering in the world probably most of you that i'm talking to are suffering in one way or another in in relationships or physical health or mental health or adverse circumstances or whatever and now i've been having to go to the doctors a little bit more with this kidney stone thing uh i'll tell you the doctors and the hospitals are just flooding with patients i mean i mean so many people have knee problems or hip problems or blood sugar problems or heart problems or lung problems or breathing problems or cancer or i mean i mean there's so much suffering in the world that so many people are suffering alone are suffering without family or friends or suffering in hospital rooms with no visitors that's why it's really important to visit the sick uh it's really important to to reach out with compassion to people who are suffering that's one of the fruits that comes from suffering as we gain compassion for those who are suffering we many of us maybe even have friends and relatives who are dying right now so that's why it's really important that we not waste our suffering but we offer as reparation for sin you know like it says in colossians you know paul says i make up in my own body what's lacking the sufferings of christ and of course we know that nothing's been lacking the sufferings of christ but the most amazing generosity the most amazing kindness of the lord to let us participate in the only thing that eternally has value the salvation of souls reparation for sin the conversion of sinners what a privilege to take something that's negative suffering and turn into a positive by our voluntary acceptance of it and our offering of it and union with jesus as a cry of prayer for reparation for sins our own sins the sins of others for the conversion of others another thing that the children of fatima did is besides accepting the suffering that came to them which was very great they offered voluntary sacrifices regularly they gave up their lunches sometimes they gave up drinking water sometimes they uh did little penises of various kinds and uh one of the penises that's most shocking that i read about in lucia's memoirs is they found a rope on the side of the road one day and they divided it into three parts and turned it around turned tight around their waist and uh and they they kept it around their waist even when they slept at night it was like a continual kind of annoyance that uh they were doing as penance as reparation and the next time mary appeared to them she said something really interesting she said the lord is pleased with your sacrifice but he doesn't want you to wear the rope at night when you sleep and that's why mary said the lord is pleased with your sacrifices the angel said the lord is pleased with your sacrifices it's uh this is meaningful this is really meaningful this can really turn a negative into a huge positive and we have to we shouldn't have an inordinate fear of suffering but we should see it as an opportunity and we should also have complete confidence that the lord will never let us to be tested beyond our strength first corinthians chapter 10 but he'll give us the grace we need that's what mary told the children you'll get the grace you need for the suffering that you said yes to so uh i don't know exactly why i wanted to speak about this today but when i opened up magnificat i saw it talked about suffering i just felt as a confirmation and uh i just wanted to hopefully encourage you who are suffering uh to to not waste your suffering but but turn into that amazing participation in the suffering of christ that can bring salvation to people and take away our own sins [Music] amen you

Channel: Renewal Ministries

Views: 17,506

Rating: 4.9540229 out of 5

Keywords: Christianity, Jesus, Christ, Evangelism, Mission, Spirituality, Evangelization, Religion, Catholic, Church, God, Trinity

Id: kcSvwI_d3Zw

Length: 19min 3sec (1143 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 11 2021