At Catholic Charities I encounter many people who are struggling with trials of one type or another and some who are out right suffering. I see how many respond to the trials in their life. The people who inspire me are those who seem joyful in the middle of it all and go about taking the steps they can to help improve their situation. But how do they have joy?
Suffering is not fun, and it doesn’t bring us a sense of happiness. But those who are joyful see it from a different perspective. To them every trial is an opportunity. It’s a chance to reflect and take stock of their faith in Jesus. A chance to discern how much they really trust him. A time when instead of distancing themselves from him and trying to comfort themselves on their own or in a strange way the world tells them, with the help of the Holy Spirit, they intentionally turn towards Jesus, draw closer to him, lean on him, and love him even more. With the help of the Holy Spirit, their trials actually nourish their life with Jesus. It’s this life with Jesus that gives us them power to engage, endure, overcome, and even be joyful in it all, making things they face seem a little less frightening. Where can I get this life with Jesus? It comes from our belief in him.
Our belief in Jesus does not depend on us being able to see him like his disciples did before he ascended to heaven. In 1 Peter 1:3-9 we read that although you have not seen him, you love him and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him. And Jesus himself told us in the Gospel of John that those who have not seen and have believed are blessed. Our belief in Jesus comes from something other than our eyesight.
In his Gospel John tells us that he wrote the things he did so that we would come to believe. To believe that Jesus is the merciful Son of God, that he created you, that he loves who he created, and you don’t need to change it, that he never leaves you, that he comes closer to you in trials and suffering. To believe that he died to save your life, that he rose from the dead, that he is alive, and even though we can’t physically see him, that he is among us, so he can have a life with you and you with him forever. One way we can come to believe or strengthen our current belief in Jesus is by allowing the Holy Spirit to help us know him even better in the Gospel.
The Gospel, written that we would come to believe, and in that belief, we would have life with Jesus, and in that life receive power endure trials, and like those who inspire me, remain joyful in suffering, showing those around us the power the Gospel has to engage and overcome the difficulties we might face.
Our hope is in Jesus who we can come to know through the Gospel. The Gospel is an invitation into a heavenly life in communion with our merciful God, where trials, struggles, and suffering do not discourage us. It’s up to us how we choose to respond. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us accept this invitation.