Emotional and physical suffering or mental anguish is hard and painful but what can we do about it? Will we just cry and think badly of ourselves and/or curse other people? Will we just focus on our addictions or hurting others just to decrease the pain in our hearts?
Dear reader, there is a much better way to turn the pain of living and suffering into something greater! Doing what I will share with you today is so much better than being pathetic, raging against the world or thinking that dying is better while experiencing any pain.
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That Sorrowful Mysteries Expression... 📿
Here's a short anecdote for you. I think I was in college when I started saying a certain expression whenever I was inconvenienced, annoyed or pained. Actually it was more for levity of a difficult situation, to add humor.
Even after I graduated I was still saying it. No one ever asked me why I said such things until I changed career and worked for a certain company.
One day at work, I again said, "Oh the pain, the agony..." due to a particular hassling event or experience. A male colleague suddenly asked out loud what it's about, why say such things? Indeed, why this expression or set of words?
Surprise, surprise someone beat me to the answer! I didn't expect that another work colleague knew the reason. Haha. (Well he's gay and liked the said guy so he answered his crush's question.) To summarize what he said, "It's from the rosary, the Sorrowful Mysteries."
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Oh wow. I was amazed someone knew where I instinctively got it from. 😆 Well hey, I spent 4 years in a Catholic high school and we had to memorize all the mysteries of the rosary. That was for our religion subject. You know how memorization is a big part of our student lives. 😆 "The pain, the agony in the garden..."
Actually I rarely said it since then but I just find that moment amusing. No one else has ever said that answer out loud ever. Haha. And now you know about it too!
In the said sorrowful mysteries we see how the life of Christ was truly filled with suffering. And yet it is only this year that I learned how it is also redemptive.
Redemptive suffering is something that greatly differentiates Jesus (+ the Saints) and many of us. But wait, there's more! That big difference can be made similar and familiar! We can apply it to our everyday life! How? The answer is by offering all of OUR OWN sufferings and pains to God.
Just like Jesus Christ who suffered (despite His innocence) for all of humanity, you can save your family and other people too! We can't literally do what He did but we can still be like Him! Am I making sense yet or what? 😂
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Why Do We Suffer?! 😠
Sin is like an epidemic, it spreads and still prevails because being sinful is getting normalized once more. Collectively we hurt each other because of our sinful activities or practices. That's why I say, suffering is caused by you and me.
Many are getting desensitized to sin by doing it again and again. This causes others to think there's no repercussion and so they begin to imitate the sinners. Tsk tsk, people who do bad are even hating on others who tell them they're doing wrong. 🙄 (I've done it too but such is life, huh. It all depends on how one says things.)
Jesus provided the Sacraments (cough confession cough) to help sanctify humanity and yet not everyone accepts such gifts. God then drops chastisements upon us due to our sinful nature so we will return to Him. And yet unlike Job (from the Bible) most of us just cry out and blame Him for any pain/suffering instead. (I've done that too and I've learned from it.)
God does not want us to suffer needlessly. And yet we continue to cause pain and suffering to each other because of rejecting God's commandments. Other than that, there are people who cannot know great love without great suffering.
The good news is, all is not lost as long as many of us learn and choose to love and care for others. Also when there are people offering mass and praying for each other that's unconditional love. Thank God for Mama Mary, the saints and devout Christians.
And thank you too because you can be one of those people right now! 💪 Whenever we experience hardships, we can offer the pain to God!
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What do you mean "Offer It Up"? 🤔
"Yeah, what does it even mean? Huh???" That's exactly what I thought when I heard it from a priest.
Nobody in my entire life has ever told me about it before. I've never read it online either too. No I'm not part of a devout Catholic or Christian family so I had absolutely no clue what it is. (Thank God for priests who can offer us solutions to our mental, emotional and spiritual problems.)
Hearing about those words without enough explanation made me do a quick online search. I wasn't able to ask for more details so I just looked online. Good to know there are many articles about this Christian action.
If you are not aware of this Christian practice, you won't know what to do with your pain and anguish! You'll just cry and cry and be depressed forever like crazy! Like WTF thinking, "stop crying!" but you can't even. I know because experiencing heartbreak for the first time or the death of a loved one can be like that.
This is a Bible verse popularized in the Philippines by Mr. Basil Valdez's song: Lift Up Your Hands. (screenshot source)
For non-Christians or those unaware and even the lukewarm Christians, it starts with this verse. Personally I only knew of "casting my heavy burdens unto the Lord" because of a very well known song in the country.
Because the said Bible verse(s) is part of a song, it has been embedded in our subconscious in some way. Lift Up Your Hands is even played by many at funeral processions!
Unfortunately I didn't really know what those verses truly meant growing up, but I did it back when I experienced my first heartbreak years ago. Nobody told me to do it. At the last minute, when I thought I would go crazy from thinking about what happened, I remembered such wise advice because of the song lyrics stored in my head.
Truly the Lord answered my prayer when at long last I gave my suffering to God when I couldn't take it anymore. Praise the Lord! God finally took away the pain in my heart after I sincerely called out to Him. I even went to mass for it!
Last year, I learned something new to add to such actions. The second part or the next level to those BIble verses is in offering up our sufferings FOR NOBLE PURPOSES. Just because we don't want it anymore means it should just be given up like it's nothing. Make your anguish count!
To make it simple, it's like this..
Any pain and suffering (or joys and happiness, everything) you experience in life = valid offering to God = PENANCE for the following:
- redemption or conversion of sinners
- for help of the poor and the persecuted
- for the healing of the sick and dying
- for the souls in purgatory (to be fully cleansed)
- etc.
Those are some of what/who we offer our aches and pains for. Now do you see why a lot of our human suffering is just being wasted?
Let's Do It Now! 💪
So why don't we try it out first? Yes, right now, let's pray and offer our hardships to the Lord.
Pray and unite all the
mental,
emotional,
spiritual and
physical pain
you're experiencing now and in the past
with Jesus' suffering on the cross.
Offer them to God for
the help of the poor,
the healing of the sick or dying,
for the conversion of sinners,
for the purification of the souls of relatives or friends who have died, etc.
Amen.
Have you done it? Like, really and sincerely?
Did you do it just now or have you already done such in the past?
Did you pray a short or long prayer?
What can you say about it?
But Wait There's More! 😆
Basically, out of everything I read about the saints, there is only one conclusion: The key is love. If we can show love for others we would gladly offer any of our suffering for other people. Yes we can be selfish at first but in the end it turns to love.
Part 2 is coming up! For the meantime feel free to do your own research on how to "offer it up". And why not share your thoughts in the comments too. 😉
XOXO,
@artgirl
This post was moved and reposted here from a previous community this was in.