On Despair
"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabacthani!"
Oh, how these words of our dying Lord on the cross pierce our hearts!
If you recall from my first post in this blog, I promised not to dwell on suffering and despair. I intend to keep that promise. Even though these words of suffering were uttered under the most desparate circumstances, they are truly words of prayer, hope and ultimately salvation. Recall that Jesus went to his death so that we might be saved. As he hung there naked on his cross, he was filled with pain, yes, but in many ways it was a pain which he endured joyfully and lovingly. God, in Jesus, gave up his own life out of love for you and me.
Dwell on this for a moment. Christ died for you. Christ died for me. It isn't enough to say that Christ died for the sake of humanity. While that is true, it is equally true that he died for each of us individually! He would do the same thing again today for you and you alone. What a magnificent love that is! And it is a love that God lavishes upon us all. This love that God has for each of us is only barely touched upon here:
"The LORD remembered us in our misery, God's love endures forever;
Freed us from our foes, God's love endures forever;
And gives food to all flesh, God's love endures forever.
Praise the God of heaven, God's love endures forever."
Psalm 136:23-26
Yes, God's love endures forever, even through the death of His own Son, Christ, Our Lord! It is Christ himself that feeds us with His own body and blood.
I just finished reading the book Silence by the Japanese author, Shusaku Endo. The silence referred to in the title is the silence of God that I am sure each of feels like we are experiencing at times. It is this same silence of God that Christ experienced on His holy cross. This book is set in 17th Century Japan, during a period of intense persecution of Christianity. Two Portugese priests sneak into Japan as missionaries and are eventually captured by the government. While in the custody of the Japanese, the priests undergo unbelievable torment and suffering. Fr. Rodrigues, the central character of the story, finds himself experiencing this silence of God and it makes his soul, like Christ's in Gethsemane, "sorrowful even unto death."
This feeling of God's silence is one of the worst sensations we can ever have in this life. We know this feeling by a different name - despair. But remember, we know the end of the story!! The next time you find yourself despairing for anything, remember that God's love is INFINITE. It knows no end, and even if you feel that God is silent, know that He is truly there. I am sure that the disciples of Christ felt the silence of God following his death on the cross. Can you imagine that? To have been in the presence of God, and then to suddenly have Him taken from you? For three days the disciples were without the God they had always known. But does this mean that God was truly absent in their lives? By no means! While God may have been silent to them, He was surely with them. When we despair, let us remember that God is with us, and that, like the disciples, we will always have the message and the truth of the RISEN CHRIST!
Do not weep! Do not despair! Christ has wept for us. Christ has despaired for us. Christ has suffered for us. Christ has conquered sin and death, and He freely offers to all who believe in Him the salvation that only He was able to earn.
All Glory and Honor be to God, the Almighty Father, and to His Son, our Lord and Savior, and to the Holy Spirit.