[When the council] had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
(Acts 5:40-41)Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
(2 Timothy 2:3)No member of the Christian body can come to great glory apart from the Head.
Our head is Christ, and if we wish to gain heaven we must be joined to him and follow him.
What was the way along which Christ walked into heaven?
Who for very shame can desire to enter the Kingdom of Christ with ease, when he himself entered his kingdom with so much pain?”
(St. Thomas More, Dialogue, 226)
Suffering has another aspect, beyond reparation and purification: loyalty to our Master.
To suffer is to share the destiny of the one who walked a very dark road to save us.
The saints, those who have been closest to Christ through the centuries, have been characterized not by less suffering than the rest of humanity, but by more.
In their love for him, they wanted to be close to him, and he honored their wish.
Jesus is reigning in heaven, but at the same time he is offering himself as the eternal High Priest.
Anyone who wants to be close to Christ will be brought close to the cross.
Jesus made suffering one of the conditions of discipleship: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
There are two different ways of hearing and responding to that call.
The first way, taken by far too many people through the ages, is to hear the call to suffering and crucifixion and try to avoid or minimize it.
We see that Jesus walked a dark road, but we want to find a different road into heaven.
But there is no other road. Nothing that is not crucified can be brought to divine life and admitted to the Kingdom.
But eager hearts will want to do more than grudgingly accept what they can’t get around.
The apostles rejoiced that they were “counted worthy” to suffer for Christ.
They didn’t complain about it; they realized that they were being given a great privilege.
Thomas More makes an appeal to our true chivalry.
“Who for very shame” would want to walk an easy road after Christ walked such a hard one?
We should not pursue suffering for its own sake.
But as men of loyalty, to find ourselves standing with Christ in hardship— whether disgraced, betrayed, jeered at, or beaten— is a high honor, known by all the hosts of heaven.
It is also a source of spiritual power.
To suffer with humility, not pride but humility, is like kryptonite against the devil; it saps him of his power.
To suffer is to engage in battle with the dark powers that rule the world, and it will gain for us the crown of victory.
Brothers, let us be men of loyalty to our Lord.
Let us stand with him as he faces all the powers of darkness.
Let us respond to suffering, wherever it comes from, not with anger, self-pity, or discouragement, but with steadiness and endurance.
The Father will give us the grace to embrace suffering out of great loyalty to Christ if we ask him.
So today, ask him.
