S1 E15: When Love Meets Suffering

Transcript

Carol Vassar:

From SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut, I'm Carol Vassar, and this is Living in Faith, Hope, and Love. Each week, our Pastor, Father Mark Suslenko, delves into Scripture, shares insights from the saints, prophets, and theologians, and discusses practical ways to cultivate faith, strengthen hope, and embody love in the world around us. Through his reflections and spiritual encouragement, this podcast aims to inspire you to live your Catholic faith with joy and purpose. Welcome. 

In our last episode, Father Mark examined the relationship between love and suffering and determined that they are not polar opposites as many of us have long suspected, but are, instead, intimate partners working together in our journey to God.

In this episode, he considers what happens when we bring love to our suffering, and how it changes the journey in very real and very practical ways. Here’s Father Mark: 

“When Love Meets Suffering,” by Father Mark S. Suslenko, Pastor, SS. Isidore and Maria Parish, Glastonbury, Connecticut

Father Mark Suslenko:

God desires one thing for all of his children. For every one of the children he's ever fashioned and created for each one of us, God desires one thing: God wants to dwell in our hearts, in our souls. God wants to make his dwelling in us. Not just be a small part of our existence, but actually to have a claim on us, to dwell in us, to set up housekeeping in us.

God wants that space, and that doesn't happen automatically. We have to request it. We have to ask for it, and it's born out of a relationship of love that we have with God. So, once we engage this intimate relationship with God, and love him and desire his presence, that pleases God, as he wants to dwell within us. And when God dwells within us, God is able to give us a gift. A gift we cannot find in the world, and a gift that no other human being can provide for us, a gift that can only come from Him, and it is the gift of peace...of peace. So, God wants to dwell in us, and by dwelling in us, he gives us a gift, the gift of peace.

Now, when we hear that word, peace, I think many of us start thinking of matters such as an absence of conflict, of going through life without any disturbances. Of having everything kind of on an even keel. No divisions, no strife, nobody at odds with one another. A sense almost of utopia if it's pushed to its limits.

And when we think about peace in those terms, then anytime we experience discord or discomfort, or the rug comes out from (under) us, then we conclude that we are in a place of not peacefulness. But this kind of peace is not what Jesus promises us. When he instructed his disciples, He never told them that life was going to be easy and a bowl of cherries. In fact, He told them the opposite. He told them when they go out and preach the good news, expect to find discord and resistance. In fact, some people will persecute you for doing this, and others may want to put you to death. And so, this life of harmonious beauty was not something Jesus put out there as a possibility, but yet He gave them this gift of peace. 

Well, what is this peace? This peace is a quality of heart and soul that can come only from God because it's rooted in the indwelling of God's presence deep within us. So, once God and we become friends, once that relationship begins to blossom and grow, we then begin to realize that we're not journeying through life alone, but that God is with us every step of the way, that He is the only one who can be responsible for our life, for our wellbeing. God keeps us. God maintains us. God saves us. And that's because of this indwelling spirit of God within us, we then develop this assurance and this confidence and this anchor that keeps us rooted, even when the vessel of our lives seems to be going through some turbulence, the anchor remains. Even in the face of strife and discord, there is this sense of okayness that is deep within us because we know God is there. And so all is well and all will be well, knowing that we have this source within us, this source of life.

And so that's the piece that Jesus wants to give, so that when life gets tough and there's challenges thrown our way, we don't get overturned by them. They don't lead us to despair. They don't lead us to hopelessness. We're not self-focused with the "why me" syndrome. But yet we're able to journey through those experiences with this peacefulness, with this confidence, with this assurance, with this presence carrying us through.

You know, St. Theresa of Avila. She tells us about God's presence, she says. Let this presence settle into your bones, into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, to dance, to praise, and to love. Allow God's presence to settle into your bones and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise, and love: the joyous qualities of life.

But if God's presence is not in our bones, if we don't have a sense of God's indwelling presence, then anything that comes along our way that's difficult is going to rob us of that experience of joy that can be ours. And St. Theresa says to us, this is not for just the learned or those who are spiritually sophisticated. This can be had by all of us. This experience of joy, this experience of freedom. God is settling into our bones.

Well, if you know anything about anatomy, you know that bones grow only because of the marrow that's in them. The marrow gives bone its life. It's responsible for our blood supply. It's responsible for stem cells. It's responsible for our immune system. And if somebody is suffering from a bone marrow disorder, they can find themselves gravely ill. And so, it's essential to our life being sustained. And so we have this spiritual bone marrow in which God is wanting to be a part of and have a claim on that lifeblood that flows through our bones and in our veins. He wants to be an intimate part of who we are. And so the question we can ask ourselves today is, what is the condition of your spiritual bone marrow? Is it weakened? Is it functioning optimally

Think of the last time you had to face a struggle in your life. A hurdle that you had to get over: a disappointment, a fear, an anxiety, a worry. Did you find yourself falling into despair and hopelessness? Or did you find yourself maintaining an even keel, of staying firm and courageous, of finding your way through it even with a little measure of joy still in your heart and peace? 

You see, when God dwells within us, that sense of peace and joy in all things is possible for you and for me. But as I said, it doesn't come automatically. It only comes as the result of fervent and deep and very concentrated prayer, a prayer that is habitual and daily in which we desire, not necessarily things from God, but we desire God's very presence. That when we pray, we ask God himself to enter into our souls, to become a part of the marrow of our bones, so that the two of us are not separate any longer, but around the journey of becoming one, because that's really the goal of life.

The gift of heaven isn't about God providing us a nice playing field to run around in. The gift of heaven is about union with our creator, of becoming one with that source of love at the center and core of our lives, and what better way to begin than today, as we come together once again to celebrate the gift of the Eucharist? Here, in just a few short moments, God becomes actually and wholly present to us. When we receive that gift of the Eucharist, it's not just a thing that we're doing, but it's the very presence of God himself that's entering the depths of ourselves: our very souls. God cannot get any closer to us than when we receive the gift of His body and blood. And so, when we do so today and then every day of our lives, let us ask God to dwell within us so that we, too, can receive that gift from Jesus Christ, the gift of true and lasting peace.

Carol Vassar:

Father Mark Suslenko is the pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. If you like what you've heard today, please subscribe to Living in Faith, Hope, and Love on your favorite podcast app, and take a moment to leave a review.

SS. Isidore and Maria is an active parish community, so whether you’re a long-time parishioner or are just getting to know us through this podcast, we welcome you to join us at Masses or any of our other community events and services. Visit our parish website - isidoreandmaria.org - for a full schedule of Masses, services and other happenings. That's isidoreandmaria.org. We're also active on Facebook and Instagram.

On behalf of Father Mark, I'm Carol Vassar, and we thank you for listening to this episode of Living in Faith, Hope, and Love.