Unite Your Suffering to the Cross

we're seeing a radical collapse of Christian culture in the world today humanity is losing its bearings its direction because it's walking in the dark a lot of people aren't seeking God sincerely God wants to give a gift to the human race through Jesus in him there is no darkness in God alone his light in God alone his life he wants to live his life in you and through you and extend it to the whole world to be Christian means to live by the shirt to walk by the spirit that's what Christianity is all about is saving people Jesus is inside knocking on the door he wants to come out he's alive he continues to say the kingdom of God is at hand because the king is on the throne [Applause] [Music] hey welcome to another week of the choices we face and we're really happy today to have father John Ricardo who's pastor of Good Counsel Parish and Plymouth Michigan just up the road from Ann Arbor and welcome for the John thanks ruff yeah you know each year we have you're on the program for the last several years and people really really like what you have to say and so do I you know I was I was driving along listening to Catholic radio and and I was I was hearing you on your radio program which will tell people how they can get in a little while and you were talking about suffering you're talking about your mother's suffering and I just found it very misfiring and meaningful and let's face it if you're a human being you're gonna suffer right I mean that's that's just part of the unavoidable yeah yeah yeah it's just part of the consequences of being a fallen race you know I don't want if I'm gonna get ya one way or another now or later a little big you know the kind we can handle the kind we think we can't handle it's just gonna be there and I wonder if you could kind of share some some thoughts about about suffering yeah we can go in so many directions with this you know maybe the way I'd set it up is I've always remembered something that the great late Frank she'd wrote in his book to know Christ Jesus so it's at the end of the life of Christ that he's writing and he's talking about the moment when Jesus mounts the cross and he says this is the most active moment of his priesthood when he's seemingly passive affixed to a piece of wood this is actually the most active this is why he came it's the most active moment of his whole ministry because you can't nail God to a tree you know you just can't do that the only way he can stay in a tree is if he wants to be there so he's willing this and I keep that always in the forefront of my mind with regards to suffering because I think the challenge for us when we're suffering is among the many channel jezus what a waste is there any point to this or gee if I wasn't suffering I could be doing this we could be doing productive yeah yeah I could do something useful exactly yeah you know so I routinely go into nursing homes or hospitals and I I tell folks you know I'll go to annoying or visit whatnot and I'll tell them you know in my mind and I think in God's more importantly though to the rest of the world you look like you're no longer productive the reality is you're the Marines of the church because you are now sharing in a remarkable way in The Passion of Christ and it's his passion which redeemed the world you know Jesus didn't save us by his miracles sir by his teaching he saved me by his passion those were sinister just to get us to pay attention to what he was about to do and what really was going to save us which is which was his suffering yeah yeah so so therefore I when I'm suffering you know even though I don't want it and I don't want it I've got a choice you know so is there a more mysterious passage in all the Bible than Colossians 1 24 where Paul says I fill up in my own flesh what's lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body which is the church and what in the world is lacking in the sufferings of Christ is Paul mean you know if Jesus could only hold out for another three hours everything would have been great yeah of course not you know what's lacking my participation and our participation is like a gift that God is giving us it's not like it's like it's like an opportunity or you know it's like it's not like a punishment it's it's wants to involve us he wants to give us a share in in in the redemption of the world that's right and and that's what I've you know you talk about my mom that's what I've you know it's one thing to read that in Scripture there's nothing to hear made him in a class but I've really learned it from my mom so my mother is someone who's early mid eighties now and who suffered intensely much much of her life much of my life anyway and she went from being very very sick we for I was born and then while I was a young boy - miraculously healed all that had riddled her when she was young or when I was young just gone New Testament miracle I mean just wow incredible God's powerful he can do he makes the lame walk that's what he did with my mom yeah - shortly before I was ordained all the pain that she had been freed from all came back so having gone through a miracle she knew God could just take this away if he wanted to he did mm-hmm he's allowed it to come back yeah he must have something he wants me to do with it mmm and so my mother and my father - but they embody for me and have taught me really what Paul's saying in Colossians and so they understand okay I'm being invited to share in the Lord's passion it's not in vain I may never see in this life the fruit that comes of it but I know by looking at the cross that the cross was not in vain it's tempting to think nothing came from that but what came from God made man hanging on a tree our Redemption mm-hmm unimaginable fruit so I have to trust when I'm suffering that somehow the Lord is using this to bring fruit and it might not be till I get home that I see the fruit but I know now there's fruit coming of this so I give her names lots of people give her names and she just takes names on but we do this with people in the hospitals - and she my mom just has stacks of legal pads and my mom hurts all day every day she goes to bed every night with no prospect of ever waking up the next day feeling better perhaps like many people watching right now and so she just got into the habit somehow of writing names down and throughout the day she just reads the names and prays for people and says Lorna I give you what I'm going through for them that's love she's not wasting her suffering of sin she that's right because that's the choice I can either when suffering win not if when it comes my way I got one or two choices I can either complain kick and scream is what I do or I can unite this to the cross which is what she does turn it's a prayer turn into intercession that's right turn it to love yes right I will fill up in my flesh what's lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body that's what I'm doing this is this is his body so I know people marriages in trouble people struggling with addictions children or grandchildren who are away from the faith whatever it might be I know people in politics I mean church leaders your neighbor whoever yeah Lord I'm not gonna waste this I'm gonna use this for you and I'll tell you when when you when we go many of us have ministries in hospitals you might bring communion to people we might go visit whoever on behalf of the parish we belong to the uh the the constant experience that I have in a hospital or in a nursing home you walk in and somebody you're in pain you feel alone you're you have we haven't been visited for some time you feel desolate perhaps you're discouraged and it shows in your body and I'll walk in I'll say to somebody you know you'll pray with them anoint him then I'll say I have work for you to do I need you I mean I have really a special assignment for you and I will bring them names I say I need you to pray for Sean right now well or for Beth and Steve yeah whatever might do I need you to use this yeah and we used to use the expression offered up the Holy Father still likes that expression so I like unites it so because it reminds me this is passive yeah so when you're lying in that hospital bed or that nursing home and you feel like what's coming to this you say Lord I'm gonna give this to you for them that's wonderful for the church and their body posture is totally different by the time they walk out it's like someone walking into confession who's in deadly sin they walk out elated yeah so this person - they go from slumped over what's the point in my life I wish I could be outside playing - why can't I play tennis anymore - all of a sudden I got worth yeah I got real worth the Lord needs me I have a new mission I have a new you know and this new mission in this new meaning is in reality probably far more significant than all those things I did before which I used to think we're really significant probably weren't as much as this is now yeah well like you said the most significant action of Christ was he's undergoing the suffering out of love for the father or love for the human race and I think making that connection for people is just really really profound you know yeah that they may be accomplishing more through their uniting their suffering then they're actively doing whatever they were doing before yeah which is why we do penance right yeah yeah that's the whole purpose whether it's in the seasons of the year you know whether it's Lent or whether it's just in a weekly basis hopefully we're all living a life penance in some way why am i do than that well it's not just for self discipline that's there's value in that but if it's not out of love for other people that big deal so you lost some weight because you didn't asked it once a week yeah now do whatever you do take on whatever you do I'm gonna you know I'm I'm gonna give up TV for a day you know or I'm gonna give up media for a day I'm not gonna answer emails do it as a penance no your penance is the answer you know I'm not gonna eat I'm gonna skip breakfast and lunch those kinds of things can be a great thing to do cuz that's a small it's a small suffering but it's a suffering yeah I could eat I'm in time to eat right you know not to be a glutton but I can eat I'm gonna do it though out of love you know I might do it for my parish yeah all right fast once a week for the parish yeah you know you might fast for your children yep you know grandparents might fast for their grandchildren of ours st. John Vianney laying down his life for his parish most of which were indifferent we're no longer practicing and weren't coming to church and he was praying and fasting you know for his he was he was offering voluntary suffering with his fast thing you know for for his parish little by little person by person family by family things began to break and people began to come back and you know and then the Lord began to center all other kind of people to him from all over France you know you know and so it's sort of like yeah yeah I mean there's this a profound meeting to even voluntary you know suffering that comes from fasting or it's hell you know I think it's important for people to to here for us to mention you know suffering is not a good you know that to be Catholic is not to be masochist yeah this is everything good plan for the universe to suffer and it's not gonna be part of heaven right it's not supposed to be here it wasn't the plan it's here because of our own rebellion yeah so when I'm suffering that doesn't necessarily mean I'm suffering because I've rebelled suffering has come because of the rebellion of Adam and Eve it is only participating in the punishment right the human race right the consequences for a rebellion yeah so we're not supposed to go wow this is a great thing this is not a great thing that's a terrible thing yeah I mean this is not part of the plan I'm not supposed to to go seek it yeah but it's gonna come yeah so in is now part of the plan to repair the bridge is it's it's it's kind of Plan B right yeah okay there has to be the punishment now there has to be you know the consequences of sin but now those that very punishment that very consequences of sin can be turned into you know something that has meaning in value it's a little bit like you know like Moses holding up the poisonous serpent you know in the desert people were dying a poisonous snake bites and it's somehow the antidote was to you know look at the cause you know of the poison and and Jesus adopted that for himself he says you know just like Moses held up the servant it doesn't when the Son of Man is lifted up you know healing can come you know absolutely the very the very thing that was the the evil becomes the instrument of salvation that's right the Holy Father talks about how you know the Lord has transformed this horrific act against him into the most remarkable display of love for the specific purpose of bringing healing to the human race which has inflicted the horrific act against it you know I will turn this into love which tells me I can turn now whatever I'm going through into love and trust of the Lord is gonna do something with us further John we're gonna just take a short break now we have a very inspiring little video we're gonna show people where people examine their life you know it's really a really inspiring video so we're gonna take a look at that for a minute or two and we're gonna come back when we're going to talk about folks who are suffering right now what they can do excellent okay over the years we begin to realize how quickly life goes by for some of us our journey will end without notice and when our transition into eternity begins there won't be a chance for any do-overs no time to rewind our life no chance to choose a different ending don't one phone whatever you're mourning for the movie of our life can be used to judge us we will sorrowfully relive the bad times and joyfully revisit the good it is then we will fully realize our unkind thoughts and selfish choices wounded others and led us away from God our loving father you people are lazy and each time we ignored God's voice I think she's pregnant by somebody else my conscience grew more deaf and our heart hearted thankfully you still can ask God to help edit your life story and create the ideal ending no matter what you've done there is good news since Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it Jesus can heal your memories and forgive your past if you accept his mercy you really can be freed from the addiction of sin and find lasting peace imagine hearing God say after your life's movie well done good and faithful servant it all starts by asking Jesus to help him now if you've been waiting for a sign this is your chance to begin an adventure with God that will last forever learn more at catholics come home dad America trust in Jesus and find hope forgiveness and a more abundant and everlasting life visit catholicscomehome.org well father John we're just talking about something that really is close to everybody's heart you know so many people are suffering like we get letters all the time from people who are just an agony because their children are away from the faith or they're on Social Security and they've got illnesses and they don't know what's gonna happen or their spouse just died or I mean just you know just you know mental illness I mean so much pain and suffering in people's lives and say somebody's listening right now and they're just hurting and they hardly can tune into what's being said what would you what would you really say to them is the first step they could take well two things again because I think we have to stress we are not trying to make this sound romantic yes this does not feel good I'm not trying to urge people Detroit is supposed to feel good Jesus hanging on a cross didn't feel good yep when we're in agony yeah emotionally physically spiritually it does not feel good yeah that's not what we're saying but it's productive its efficacious we would say in the church I mean fruit comes of this I I might say this father Francis Martin who you know well and was a good teacher for me and a great mentor and he uses this image that I've always found helpful says you know life his life is like one of those massive wall tapestries they used to hang in these monasteries and castles and palaces and whatnot now we seen in museums I mean they're massive 20 feet long yeah 20 feet high there's great Bell to the tap fost yeah you know it might be a scene from Scripture hunting's or unicorns or yeah yeah and when you look at it from the front you see all the beauty I mean it's incredibly well done they says you walk behind the tapestry you don't see any of that you just see chaos see all these strings hanging down No purposed anything or so it seems doesn't look like there's any meaning to it there's no pattern you can't see anything yeah random threads yeah and he says life is like living on the back of that tapestry especially for those of us who are suffering it just looks totally random mmm what good can come out of this it's just a bunch of strings hanging down mm-hmm and what revelation gives us whether it's that passage in Colossians 1 24 where Paul says I fill up in my own flesh what's lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body which is the church or whether it's you know the Lord boasting of his wounds to the Apostles he reminds him what it is that he's done for us revelation gives us a glimpse of the other side of the tapestry mm-hmm and that's the encouragement that I would give to people right now who are on the backside of the tapestry who feel lost for whom everything is dark it's just meaningless yeah it's critical for us to put our eyes on the cross which is the biggest revelation huh and say okay that was not meaningless and since that wasn't meaningless then what I'm going through if I'm uniting it - that can't be meaningless something must come out of this I trust that Lord even though I don't know what you're doing with this I trust that you're using this to influence somebody to break out of an addiction to help heal a marriage to soften a heart to conversion whatever it might be yeah you are using this Lord I trust that I give you permission to do whatever you want with it yeah use this yeah and if it helps you to do like my mom does and write names down I can't encourage people enough to do that yeah you know if you're one of those people who's you know in chronic pain call your priest say I don't want to waste this have you got names for me to pray for I have a three four or five people in the parish who I go to and who regularly either call or email me and say I'm hurting badly I need names well I don't want to waste I mean talk about inspiring yeah that's the email yeah I need names that's all it'll say well and I got names yeah yeah and together we're all working yeah for the sanctification of souls yeah for God's work to be done yeah and and they're gonna have far more impact because they they're the heavy artillery yeah that's what they are yeah they're softening up I'm gonna mace grip on people's lives yeah that's right so grace can come through so we need men and women who are and there are many listening right now I know but we need men and women who are living in constant pain or who are dealing with anguish of whatever kind to dig deep though and to say okay lord I don't want this yeah you can take this away if you want to but you apparently don't mm-hmm so I'm gonna unite it I'm gonna use it what do you want me to do with it yeah you know reminds me a scripture passage about if you had faith the size of a mustard grant a seed you would you would move mountains and this is a way of exercising faith that's right you know it's it's faith in the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice its faith in the meaning of our participation as sacrifice in our joining our suffering to him and doing that in faith is gonna move mountains that's what Jesus told us that's right yeah so I I think that's just so so helpful for the job God does not lie yeah you know so if he's speaking through Paul yeah that Paul is sharing in the passion yeah for the sake of others yeah if Paul's doing it then you and I can do it yeah all those who are going through pain you can do this God God is asking you to do it I have to will it yeah I got to cooperate yeah but I don't have to feel joyful or giddy I should say yeah about all that and usually there's like at least a double meaning to suffering there's suffering for the sake of others you know intercessory prayer but sometimes the Lord I mean always the Lord always uses a suffering for our own good at was as well like helping us to release ourselves and our more profound way to the Lord take off any limitations we place on our surrender to Him just a fuller abandonment a fuller humbling you know breaking hard parts of our heart you know just like he's there's a good he wants to bring in our own soul from suffering as well as the meaningfulness of it's referring you know it's Christ it certainly humbles me to realize okay maybe when I was younger when I was in good shape when I was healthy you know I really didn't think I needed the Lord well the illusions oh there was a self-sufficiency in autonomy I am in desperate need of God I can't even walk anymore yeah you know I can't breathe on my own anymore right do any of the things I used to do anymore right and you're right that's that's a great thing because the the person who's most in danger is the person who doesn't know that they need God yeah yeah when I'm suffering the game is up yeah I need God yeah and people can respond in two different ways to surrender and hope and faith and abandonment to the Lord or in anger and rebellion and you know so suffering is an opportunity but it's also a dangerous time that's right where you can yield to the Lord and hope and trust in faith or you can rebel against the Lord that's why I think the crucifix is so key yeah because I have to see that I mean I have my eyes nice because when we're suffering is when we're most inclined to to feel nothing like I don't feel God's love yeah but I can see it there I know he loves me therefore I can trust him and I can trust him that he's not wasting this he still loving me even if I don't feel it yeah well we're drawing to the close of our program but we're gonna let people know how they can get a booklet by our friend Peter Herbeck called welcome the spiritual gifts and we'd like to offer it to people for for free just for the asking and when we come back after the booklet information we'll have a couple minutes left father John wonder if you could just get some parting words of encouragement to folks who are suffering and maybe say a prayer indeed yeah thank you I'm Peter Herbeck do you know that Jesus has empowered every believer with spiritual gifts yet the recent Popes have urgently stated that these gifts like doorman and undiscovered in the lives of many catholics i've written this booklet to help you welcome the spiritual gifts it answers basic questions like what are the spiritual gifts and how do I know what gifts I have and how can I use them I'd like to make this new booklet available to you free of charge call 1-800 to a two four seven eight nine or go to our website at renewal ministries dotnet father John you know I love to hear what you have to say about the truth about life the truth about God and I'd like to let people know how they can get a hold of your website and I know you've got a tremendous radio program that's on the website your homilies are on the website so it's it's our Lady of Good Counsel parish but the website addresses olg see parish right not net net right olg see parish net and uh great stuff they're really really good stuff and the human cure for insomnia listen to all these talks and you can fall asleep good stuff really good stuff so could you just kind of maybe speak directly to the folks who are with us today and give them some encouragement or whatever you feel like led to and maybe say a prayer yeah I think that's the key word actually is encouragement so the devil's game for almost all of us is to try to discourage us and he tries different tactics you know so undoubtably many of us right now perhaps especially who are suffering I'm are finding ourselves in a pit that's his game I wants to get us into a pit he doesn't really care how he gets us there he just wants us into a whole or you can taunt us or a little sir tell us that our life isn't meaningful or that whatever we're going through is just a waste and we've been cast aside by God he doesn't care um he's a liar that's what Jesus tells us he's a liar don't listen to him tell me go to hell the only appropriate time to say that I'm not listening to you yeah that's good and and the Lord just wants to give heart that's that's the encouragement huh so discouragement the devil just wants to SAP all of the heart and the strength out of us with the Lord right now he just wants to pump up the heart you know wants to fill our hearts as we look upon the cross as we count them plate what it is that Jesus has done for us that he has redeemed me by his pain and his glorious resurrection huh but the pain was first and so those of you right now who are who are feeling low who are feeling in the pit the Lord's got his hand he just wants to pull you out and say I have not forgotten you you are not cast aside it's not that I'm too busy with whatever's going on in Africa right now you are on my mind I am at work within you you and I are cooperating right now I've invited you to work with me to help redeem the world just like Paul did just like all these the Saints down through the ages have right now it's your time on the Bhutan's in your hand be encouraged by that the Lord's with you he's within you he wants to help you longears to he'll listen to the Lord keep your eyes on him Bojan that is that's a great word that's really a great word I really like to encourage everybody who's been with us today to to take that word to heart and just really say yes to God's plan for you right now in the midst of suffering and don't waste your suffering really let it count for the salvation of the world brother John thanks for being with us my pleasure okay next week same time same place the choices we face [Music]

Channel: Renewal Ministries

Views: 28,096

Rating: 4.951417 out of 5

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

Id: Oi9-Q22o_es

Length: 28min 32sec (1712 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 26 2018