Huge gain for a little pain

I remember a family friend, a bit of a blowhard, once telling my parents, “Too bad they got rid of abstaining from meat on Fridays. Everyone knows you're Catholic when you order fish on Friday.”

Yes I know, I know – we all know someone who’s said that, and we’ve all considered it equally foolish because it highlights the difference between appearance and substance. That’s why, for many years now, priests have emphasized good works over personal sacrifice in their Ash Wednesday homilies. Oh, we still ask, “What are you giving up for Lent?” Some of us still give things up – sweets, TV shows, coffee – but more of us are also doing pro-active things such as improving our prayer lives, volunteering for good causes or just making it a point to do something extra nice for someone every day. And those things are wonderful. But maybe a little sacrifice deserves a second look.

Pope John Paul II bore his share of
suffering in his life, and understood the
spiritual gifts of suffering.

Like most cradle Catholics who heard the Gospel stories from, well… the cradle, Jesus’ passion and death seemed sterile. Pain and suffering were an abstract. That began to change when I was about 16 and heard Jesus Christ Superstar for the first time. Years later, a dear St. Joseph’s parishioner, the late Dr. Ed Sujdak, gave a presentation on the physiology of Jesus passion and death – complete with replica nails – spikes, actually. A dozen years ago, Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ allowed us to visualize the gut-wrenching, brutal annihilation of Jesus’ humanity.

When we suffer, we can better understand what Jesus did for us. As Paul wrote to the Romans (8:16-17), "The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him."

Just as Jesus’ suffering redeemed us, our suffering is redemptive, too. Our suffering can remit punishment for our own sins or even the sins of others. Pope John Paul II discussed this in his apostolic letter “On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering” (Salvifici Doloris). “To suffer,” he wrote, “means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ.”

Just imagine, a headache and even a heartache can ease our time – or someone else’s time – in Purgatory.

If nothing else, Lent is still a good excuse to enjoy
a succulent fish dinner.

That’s the value of a Lenten sacrifice. Every time you pass up that piece of chocolate cake, that glass of wine with dinner, or the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory, you can move a little closer to heaven. Or you can help someone else get closer to heaven – a friend, a relative, the guy who cut you off in traffic, or even the boss who used your face as a rung on his way up the career ladder. And that is a wonderful reflection of Jesus’ love for us, especially if we do it in secret, without telling anyone.

And, for the next six Fridays, you can order that fish dinner and feel even better about it!