Does God see my Pain? · 5:29pm Mar 2nd, 2019
Suffering is one of life's greatest obstacles to seeing the Goodness of God. Does God see what we suffer? The following words are not my own, but a reflection on this mystery by the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. I share them with the hope that they help you as much as they have helped me. If any of you are in need of prayers for any reason, just let me know in the comments, or feel free to message me, peace.
'One of life’s great scandals is pain. Not only in ourselves but in others. How did our Lord look upon it? When He went into the Garden of Gethsemane on Holy Thursday night, as He abandons Himself to His Father’s will, there arrives a band of about 200 led by Judas. Peter takes out his sword. And our Lord said to Peter, “Put the sword back into its scabbard. Shall I not drink the cup My Father gave?” My Father?! Not Pilate? Not the people? Is this the cup the loving Father gives? That’s precisely the point. All pains, all trials of life pass through God’s hands first before they ever come to us. And so now our Blessed Lord is saying, that the pains that we have are seen and known by the Father.
Now when we come to Calvary here are three crosses: Pain, pain, pain. The Roman execution was considered the cruelest punishment that could ever be visited upon man. So cruel was it that the Romans would never allow a Roman to be crucified. And here is the answer to those who ask, “Well, does God know what I suffer?!” Did God ever have a migraine headache, as if His head was crowned with thorns? Does God know anything about the wounded hands and feet that are brought into the accident wards of hospitals? Does God know anything about the starvation in India, Latin America? Did He ever go without food for two days? Or three? Or five? Does he know anything about thirst? Does God know anything about homelessness? Was he ever without a home? Does He know what it is to be a refugee? To flee from one country to another? Does He know what it is to be in jail? Does God know any of these things?
Yes. “Take up your cross daily and follow Me.” That was the way He wrote on pain.'
