Suffering and Glory – Living the Choice
You can learn a lot by searching "the vision of God" on Google. This search result contains many articles and essays that discuss God's plan for humanity. For example, we are given directives for discovering God's will for our lives. Some inspirational words are offered by others about how vision helps us accomplish great things. Vision gives us purpose and direction in life, just as the promise of a gold medal motivates an Olympic athlete through years of grueling training. Therefore, we would be equipped to realize God's plan for us, if we had a clear understanding of that plan. God, we are assured, wants us to succeed greatly.
To behold God, face to face in perfect communion is God's ultimate goal for us, and the way he has revealed himself to us in Christ (1 John 3:2). In other words, God wants us to see Him, to rest in His presence and behold His overwhelming beauty, so that we can be transfigured by, and defined by that light.
However, we human beings are interested in practicality, material success and accolades, and less concerned with redemption. But nothing we do or accomplish can save us; only communion with God can change us at our core. The Christian life seems to care little about whether we are successful or unsuccessful by the standards of this world. God's power is perfected in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), and earthly wisdom is foolishness in God's eyes (1 Cor. 3:19). It must originate in the undeniable truth that we are created in God's likeness and that, through Christ, our likeness to God is restored and redeemed, not through our achievements by worldly standards, but through the self-gifting fidelity of the cross.
So, the question of what it means to be human is one that all must answer for themselves. Scripture and Theology investigate this question by exploring the worldwide ramifications of the Christian revelation. Because of our frailties and imperfections, we are always at risk. This is the suffering in our world. St. Paul, in today’s reading, says that the sufferings of this life pale in comparison to the glory that is revealed in us.
The nature around us shows signs of decay like the fading of a flower. After years of vigorous youth, our body begins to sag and age quickly. This feeble body, like the rest of a laboring creation, yearns for consummation, rest, and finality. This is the glorious pain we are in. While the oceans and mountains demonstrate their power, all humans can say is "yes" or “no.” In addition to the grand drama of organic growth, there would also be the tension of our individual power to choose.
Applying the lessons of the parable of the Sower, we can make the following discovery. Birds passing by on the roads of life pick at our unanchored independence. Some people's independence withers and dies. Others, paralyzed by worry about the outside world, cannot speak their mind. Some, however, are able to take it all in like the fertile soil that yields a great harvest. They accept their human limitations, the blessing of being morally upstanding with the divine drive to virtue and holiness. This vision of our human existence sustains our faith as we look forward to the final fulfillment of God's promises.
Fr Tom Kunnel, C.O.