Walking through the valley

In the Good Shepherd psalm we read you guide me along the right path for the sake of your name (23:3). This is easy to say when things are going well. But what about those times when life deals us a heavy hand, when we do not feel we are on the right path, and we find ourselves questioning everything we knew or believed in? What then?

Then is a time to remember: these moments do not need to define us. L Giussani writes Life is not a tragedy. Tragedy is what makes everything amount to nothing. Yes, life is a drama. It is dramatic because it is the relationship between our I and the You of God, our I that must follow the steps which God indicates. (343)

Just as any path will at one time lead us up and another time take us down, so having a relationship with the Divine has its peaks and its valleys. God is big enough for us to question, to be angry, to ask why.  Our task is not to stay stuck when we hit the valley.  We must always continue forward, knowing that in order to come through the valley of darkness we must learn to fear no evil, for the Lord is with us, with his staff and his rod, to give us courage. It is just another way of saying, life does have meaning, even in its low points.

Life amounts to something. We must hold on to this thought when we are tempted to think of it as a tragedy.

Going beyond pain

This Sunday, we will hear the Passion of the Lord read in full. What thoughts should this bring to our spiritual lives? Should we feel depressed or be sad? Or should we accept the obvious truth that suffering has always been a mystery to our race. Instead of devising various ways to explain it away, or make it seem good, we should see it for what it is, a part of every person's life.

I think we should stop trying to explain suffering, and instead realize it can hold meaning. We tend to color suffering, explain it as either a night, or darkness, or even the color black. But such comparisons do not ease pain. Instead of seeking the "why" of suffering, we should instead look for the grace in it.  As Viktor Frankl writes in his book, Man's Search for Meaning, If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering (67).

How do we find that meaning? We can start by realizing that Jesus, in his passion, showed us how to conquer not only pain, but death itself. By believing in God's power to bring good from anything we suffer, we can actually strip pain of its evil, of its darkness, of its night. Then we can say with Paul, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). What power!

How we accept our vicissitudes in life have a lot to do with how we build our character. We must take stock of this truth. We must awaken our soul to its magnificence. We must not give up when the way becomes steep or difficult. For wondrous things happen to those who wait on the Lord with faith, believing not only that all things are possible, but that God can bring good out of anything, regardless of its color.