Resiliency

I love jade plants.  I have a jade plant in my office that I have had since 1990.  Back then it was big and really healthy.  Over the years I have come so close to killing it.  There were times I had given it up for dead.  That jade plant just keeps coming back, maybe not as pretty and big as it used to be, but it is alive.

This little jade plant comes from a cutting on a big bush in California.  I cut a little piece off and let it dry out for a couple of days - no water.  I don't know too many plants that can survive being cut without water.  Jade plants can.  Just stick them in some good soil and wait.  This is my first time trying this and I'm amazed that this little plant is growing new leaves!

Ever know someone who is like a jade plant?  It's someone who can be cut, starved, mistreated and generally neglected, but still emerge intact.  He might be scarred or damaged, but he is alive and growing.

God will not give me more than I can endure.  Although I may be bruised, Jesus did not come to break me.  This was the message of Isaiah 42:

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him,

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

He will not cry or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street; 

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

I don't want to be a bruised reed or a dimly burning wick.  It scares me that God might test me.  I have to pray.  Hold on.  Be a jade.

cc

Sorrow and Suffering

I have been thinking about this topic for a long time, but have struggled to find the right words to describe it. The final impetus came with the suicide of a certain famous actor.  The circumstances are truly tragic:  a well-loved personality seemingly so full of life suffering from a deep depression and the early stages of a chronic debilitating disease.  How is it possible to find good from this?

I'm not addressing the issue of why God "allows" the existence of suffering and sadness.  Books have been written on this topic and my short explanations would seem trite.  However, God has a way of bringing good from sorrow, suffering and evil.  But how?

Human beings are naturally positive beings and we find value in courage and perseverance.  Fortitude is a gift of the Holy Spirit, who brings beauty from ashes.  Isaiah 6:13.  "The world we live in often seems very far from the one promised us by faith.  Our experiences of evil and suffering, injustice, and death, seem to contradict the Good News; they can shake our faith and become a temptation against it."  Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 164.  When faced with pain, we must look to the witnesses of faith.  Salvation history is a series of people who suffered and persevered; these are the people we look to as examples.  They let God shine through their pain to impact the world in ways we could never imagine.  We can have the same impact when we persevere through suffering and sorrow.

No one wishes to suffer.  Even Christ begged the Father to avoid suffering:  "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will."  Matthew 26:39.  (Certainly Jesus knew what was coming, but perhaps He said that to show us His human nature.)  Would we appreciate the gift of the Incarnation if He had not suffered and died?  Can you measure the good that has come to the world from Christianity? 

Good is already beginning to shine through the untimely celebrity death I mentioned at the beginning.  Awareness of the impacts of depression, an understanding of the causes of suicide and the impacts of Parkinson's disease are just a few good things that are emerging.  Who knows how many lives will be transformed (or saved) as a result of this heartbreaking death?

God's will be done.

cc