September 30, 2004

Dear Friends,

No one, most especially the very faithful and dedicated mother I recently spoke with, deserves to suffer so much. This past year her family’s story read like a soap opera script – cancer, abuse, betrayal, imprisonment, financial difficulties. “I feel like Job, and all the kids are devastated”, she said; “but despite it all, I know we’ll make it”. As I listened I saw something alive in her grey weary eyes. It was something like a small bit of ember burning half hidden in cold ash.

“Why do bad things happen to good people?” Anyone over the age of reason has asked this question – to themselves, to others, and to God. Yet, it appears that no one, including God, offers any reasonable answer. Television reveals the plight of millions who suffer from storms, mudslides, war, disease, terrorism, hunger and homelessness. The utter injustice of it all numbs the mind and chills the heart and everyone wonders – WHY?

Some years ago a popular poster offered us some simple advice about suffering; it read: “When life gives you lemons – make lemonade!” While the message is cute and in some fashion true, in reality, life isn’t so simple. The bitter pill of suffering doesn’t easily slide down with the water of “optimism” or a spoon full of “positive thinking”. The Bible, however, gives us a message from God which in no way can be called “cute”, yet in every way can be called “true”. It is a message which concerns faith.

The mother I spoke of is suffering indeed, but she is also standing. Why? Because she possesses within her heart the fire of faith. This was that bit of brilliant light I saw in her weary eyes. No, faith is not magical, rather, it’s mystical. It cannot be coaxed out of heaven by some special prayer or earned from God due to any good deed. The intelligent cannot create it nor can the spiritually gifted conjure it up. It is a treasure oftentimes both held in the heart of the forgotten and missing in the lives of the famous. Yes, it is like a fragile flame whose power is only matched by the darkest night. For this reason, my friend, stand strong in the night, your faith in God will see you through.

Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR
Community servant, residing at St. Felix Friary in Yonkers
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