Question: My God, My God, Why Have you Abandoned Me?

Do you want to know something that contributes to my uniqueness?

Tough, I’m going to tell you anyway.

My favorite genre of movies is Holocaust movies.



Life is Beautiful. The best movie ever!

Now, I know that probably sounds morbid and sadistic upon first hearing, but I do not mean it in that way. I just happen to love movies (and books) that portray the victory of the human person over difficult or demoralizing conditions and the resilience of the human spirit in suffering, especially when the story is based on true events.

The victory of the human spirit in suffering…

I don’t think it would be right to write a series of blogs on what it means to be human and say nothing of this mystery that we call “suffering.”

Why on earth is there so much of it??? Why do our families break apart? Why are we mistreated and abused by the people who say they love us most? Why are there children in Africa dying of hunger and violence and AIDS? Why are our countries torn apart by natural disasters, and children orphaned by chemical warfare? Why?!

Man suffers physically, emotionally, and psychologically, and when he finds no satisfactory meaning to for his suffering, he suffers all the more. What is the meaning of it all?

“If God is good, why is there so much suffering in the world?”

Man suffers on account of evil, which is a certain lack, limitation or distortion of good. We could say that man suffers because of a good in which he does not share, from which in a certain sense he is cut off, or of which he has deprived himself. He particularly suffers when he “ought"—in the normal order of things—to have a share in this good and does not have it. (Bl. Pope John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, para. 7)

God does not desire for His children to suffer. It is the companion of evil and sin, which entered the world not with the dawn of man, but with the Fall of man. When man first chose sin – disobedience to God – he chose to deprive himself of the goodness of life in God, and suffering was the natural consequence of his choice. We suffer because of that original sin, and because of the actual sins that we and those around us continue to commit. God does not cause suffering, but He does permit it, because in love, He will not overstep our free will.

 

“What have I done to deserve this?”

Although suffering can be, at times, a consequence of sin, a call to conversion and a catalyst for the “rebuilding of goodness” (SD, 12) within us, we would be mistaken to believe that all of our pain and sorrow comes to us because we have done something wrong. Sometimes God allows us to experience suffering as a test, an opportunity for personal growth and growth in virtue. We need only recall the story of Job to see that this is true. Job was a “blameless and upright man….who feared God and avoided evil” (Job 1:1). Yet, in a matter of days, Job loses ten children and hundreds of livestock, and contracts a disease. Talk about an archetypical example of bad things happening to good people. Maybe it would help to reframe our questions from “God, why are you doing this?” and “What have I done?” to “God, what is this for?” and “What are you teaching me?”

“My God, My God, why have You abandoned me?”

God, where were You when I needed You?

Where were You when all that I hoped for -
Where were You when all that I dreamed -
Came crashing down in shambles around me?
You were on the cross.
(From the song “You Were on the Cross”, by Matt Maher)

The cross: The place where our suffering is finds its ultimate meaning. The Cross is the place where God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, chooses to fully embrace the mystery of human suffering, brought about evil and sin. Though He Himself is sinless, He chooses to enter into it, to wrap it around Himself and breathe in all its torments….even the terrifying anguish of feeling abandoned by God (Mt. 27:46)….and by means of His suffering and death, to redeem a world under its curse. Christ’s suffering, death, and RESURRECTION open, for us, a door to life which was previously closed because of sin. Through them, we again become sharers in God’s divine life.

His suffering is an expression of the magnanimous love of the Father, willing to GIVE His own beloved Son up to death, and the love of the Son, willing to freely lay down His own life…for me and for you. Everyone suffers. Everyone has a “cross” to bear. But without Jesus Christ, that cross is just a heavy burden, a hunk of senseless pain. Jesus Christ gives meaning to our suffering: Love. On the Cross, He took MY sin upon Himself, and He entered into MY suffering. He proves that He does not abandon me; He does run from me in my suffering. He takes it upon Himself; He suffers with me in it (compassion).

Why did He do it? Love.
And because He did it, He transformed suffering from mere punishment and deprivation to an entry point into deeper union with Him and His abundant love.

How do we respond to suffering?

Viktor Frankl, telling the story of his life in a Nazi concentration camp, says this: “If [suffering] were avoidable…the meaningful thing to do would be to remove its cause, be it psychological, biological or political. To suffer unnecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic” (Man’s Search for Meaning). 

And St. Paul says this: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church…” (Colossians 1:24).

It is commendable to seek medical help, to work for social justice, to seek to alleviate suffering, especially the suffering of others – provided we do this humanely and morally. It is perfectly acceptable to pray for God’s healing or deliverance. But while we wait, and if the healing we expect does not come, still we can find cause for rejoicing. We don’t rejoice because we are in pain, but because we believe that God desires the good and is already at work in bringing good things from our suffering, for ourselves and for others. We rejoice because through our suffering, borne in love, we are purified of our pride, our imperfections, our sin….and we are better able to help others and suffer with others going through the same trials. We rejoice because, through our suffering, united to Christ’s on the Cross, we share in His work of redemption.

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared to the glory to be revealed for us” (Romans 8:18).

Regardless of the answer to the “why?” of our pain and sorrow, the answer to the “what for?” is always love. As with our joys, our gifts, our relationships – the whole of our lives – our suffering is an invitation and can be a means to greater Love. Suffering may be the result of evil, but with Christ our Victor, let us “overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).