Arise From Darkness

About a month ago, I was listening to Catholic radio on my drive to work and I heard them talking about a book that I had heard them speak about many times before. The book was called, “Arise from Darkness,” by the late Psychologist and Franciscan Priest, Fr. Benedict Groeschel. This book reminded me of the most important thing, something we tend to lose sight of in the midst of deep suffering: everything we go through in this life is about our journey towards Heaven.

Shifting our Eyes towards Eternity

What often causes our souls so much despair, is when we feel like there is no context for our present sufferings. Without even recognizing it, we can sometimes take our eyes off of eternity and forget that there can be a redemptive nature to our trials. The temptation with any kind of pain-physical, spiritual, mental or emotional, can be that we turn inward and start allowing the cross to crush us.  Without an eternal perspective, it can be easy to feel the sting of despair when life hits us hard.

Suffering, darkness, the way of the cross, none of these things are desirable if we are looking through a worldly lens. When I lose the eternal perspective and I start thinking about what I want for my life my list easily grows out of control. I want comfort. I want pleasure. I want an easy life. I want as little pain, heartbreak and suffering as possible. I want to be loved, well-liked, successful. I want to be admired and holy and inspirational. I want security, a nice home, good health, a beautiful family. I want everything the world tells me I need to be happy. Nowhere on my wordly list would you see the word suffering.

But what I am constantly being reminded of through my own sufferings, is that we cannot have both a worldly mindset and an eternal mindset and at the same time expect to make peace with our suffering. It’s impossible. If we look at things through the lens of temporary happiness and a false sense of security, we will despise the cross. If we can recognize the fruit it bears and trust that all suffering is a tiny stepping stone leading us to heaven, then it not only can become bearable over time, but it can be the very thing that transforms us more and more into Jesus.

Trusting Jesus in the darkness

I’m slowly starting to understand that trusting Jesus doesn’t mean that there is a time limit on when our suffering is going to come to an end. We don’t always know when Jesus will relieve us from some of the crosses we are carrying, or if we will carry them up to the gates of Heaven; but our peace doesn’t have to depend on whether our circumstances change or not. True peace and interior freedom can be two of the greatest fruits of letting Jesus have access to our suffering.

“Trust in God does not mean that everything is going to work out just the way we want it to, that everything is going to be peaches and cream. Trust in God doesn’t mean that he is going to restore the false sense of security that we had before. It means that, whatever happens, we believe that God is there with us and that, if we cling to him, he will bring good out of evil, even out of the evil that he has only permitted to happen. I must make up my mind now that in the darkest hour of life, I will believe that God is with me.” –Fr Benedict, P. 47

Letting Go of Our Desire for an Easy Life

In the midst of challenges, it is very human to just wish that our suffering would go away and that life would become easier. We do not have to be gluttons for suffering, or go looking for it, but Jesus does ask us to embrace the cross when it comes to us. There is a mystery to understanding the role of suffering in our lives and we may have to reconcile that we may not see the full picture of why we had to go through certain things in this life. There are certain crosses in my life that I have carried for years and years (and am still carrying). And as much as I would love for Jesus to take them away, I have started to accept that these crosses might be necessary for my salvation and holiness. I have had to grieve some of the vision I had for how I thought my life would unfold so that I can make room for the life God has planned for me.

“Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger people.”-Blessed Fr. Solanus Casey

What we do know is that Jesus isn’t calling us to an easy, comfortable life- He calls us to imitate his life, and nothing about his life was easy or comfortable. This is why it takes tremenous trust to engage in the counseling process, which while fruitful and healing, can also be a thorny path filled with confronting pain and sorrow. It is not an easy thing to say "yes" to, but most things that bring about greater freedom and healing are often borne from sacrifice and pain.

I leave you with this beautiful prayer that Fr. Benedict wrote in his book:

O God, Our Father, you give us each day our daily bread. You give us what we need and often much more than what we need. You tell us in the words of your Divine Son to trust in you and to rely on you for all things. Often we are filled with fear. We are afraid to lose our security, our place in life, our health, our reputation, what we style as our importance. We are afraid to live and more afraid to die. Give us your Holy Spirit that we may find our peace in you. Strengthen us in hours of need. Most of all, may your Holy Spirit teach us to see what is truly important and to surrender that which is really unimportant and perhaps an obstacle on our road to you. May our Lord Jesus Christ, the poor carpenter of Nazareth, the homeless preacher of the roads, the man condemned to death and deprived of all the earthly things, including this life, be our model. May we not wish to be more secure than he was.  And when things are taken from us and our security fails, may his example and life be a guiding light to us through the short journey of this life. Heavenly Father, you alone have riches to give that time cannot carry away. You alone can give us that Kingdom which does not perish. We pray, O Lord, that through the example of your Son and the grace of your Holy Spirit, we and all of those dear to us may have a true security based on the acceptance of your Divine Will. May we have eyes to see beyond this world and hearts to cherish that which does not pass away, but which lasts forever. Amen.