“What am I going to do with it?”
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time-B
The day before I left on my retreat, I went to a Funeral Home in Louisville to pay my respects to the family of a young man from a former parish. Their Son was only 39 yrs. old and died from Lung Cancer that took his life very quickly – he never smoked. As I was talking to his Mother, she said to me: “Father, why Todd? Why did this happen to my son with two young children when there are so many people in the world who are evil and hurting others?” I said to the Mother: “Julie, I don’t have an answer for that.”
While on my retreat I prayed daily for that family. I prayed also that God would help me and them understand such a heartfelt and tragic loss when there seems to be no sense to make of it. There are many people who ask this question all the time, why? Why me? Why my family? Why this pandemic? Why does evil seem to triumph over good?
It came to me one day just after celebrating Mass on my retreat. I started to ponder the many people in our world who have had terrible things happen to them; unexplainable and tragic losses who have asked this very question. Sure, there are many books written about such topics, like: When Bad Things Happen to Good People, a 1981 book by Harold Kushner, a Conservative rabbi. In his book Kushner addresses one of the principle problems of theodicy, the conundrum of why?
The real question to ask, I believe, is rather, “What am I going to do with it?” It, being the tragedy. Many people have faced this question over time, and many have turned the tragedy into something very good. For instance, singer Jennifer Hudson lost her mother, her brother and her nephew in a span of three days after William Balfour, her elder sister’s estranged husband, brutally shot and killed them in what prosecutors deemed a fit of rage. Despite her unfathomable pain, Hudson not only learned how to forgive Balfour, but also created the Julian D. King Gift Foundation in honor of her nephew’s memory. The foundation aims to “provide stability, support and positive experiences for children of all backgrounds to help enable them to grow to be productive, confident and happy adults.”
Oprah Winfrey may be one of the most successful women in the world today, but she worked through incredibly tough demons to arrive at her current post. She suffered sexual abuse from several family members starting at age 10, which ultimately led to her sexual promiscuity as a teenager. At 14 she became pregnant but lost her baby boy soon after giving birth. She harbored this painful secret for years until a relative shared her story with the press in 1990. She said: “I soon realized that having the secret out was liberating. What I learned for sure was that holding the shame was the greatest burden of all.” Despite the trauma, Oprah was an honor student in high school, earned a full scholarship for college, and is now a woman that millions look up to and admire.
There are so many people like these women who took the tragedy and turned it around into something good! They too may have been shaken to point of disbelief and even despair but rather than ask “why?” they asked, “what can I do with it?”
Our faith teaches us that to begin with the fact that suffering just is, and that everyone suffers at some time. Once we do that, we have a choice: We can rage against it or we can accept it. If we do the latter, we can proceed to a staple of Catholic spirituality, commonly known as “offering it up.” This means to accept suffering in union with Christ, who, even though he is the Son of God, accepted horrific suffering and death.
There are examples of great suffering in all our readings this weekend. Why? The people may have asked but then they asked, “what am I going to do with it?” We see how Job never gave up on God, even though he fell into despair. Paul continued his mission and ministry, even though he was thrown into prison and eventually murdered. Simon’s Mother-in-Law suffered greatly until Jesus healed her, and then got up and waited on her guests.
Jesus’ healing was not to be the only characteristic of who He was, but rather to proclaim the Good News throughout the whole area of Galilee. Jesus’ own suffering was horrible and tragic, but he did not ask why? He showed what he was going to do with it – He saved us – by the wood of the Cross.
God bless us, and all who live in simplicity of heart.
Job 7:1-4, 6-7
1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23
Mark 1:29-39