The Will of God
A question arose about offering our suffering to God. Why, the query continued, would God welcome our pains and disappointments? Can’t we just give him the good things that we live with?
Think of how much a mother wishes for her children to seek her comfort when they are hurting from a fall, bruised knees or a bloody nose. How relieved she becomes when her arms are able to hold that child and tell them everything will be alright.
She never would say, “come to me when you can laugh and tell me what good deeds you performed today”. It is your pain and anxiety that she awaits to give her motherly comfort so you can walk away knowing the one who bore and nursed you loves you beyond compare.
This is God, the loving person who created you and me, that constantly waits for us to seek him when life doesn’t appear to treat us well. Did God always desire to have us in our weakened condition coming to him for help? Absolutely! Let’s go back to the beginning.
One of the astounding mysteries of God; his eternal existence. Each of us had a beginning from conception to life outside the womb ending with our resurrection. God had no beginning. Therefore he will have no end.
Imagine, if you are able, if there never was God. We would never have been born because there would not have been a Divine entity to create anything. But, there is a Divine God who is always, who wanted some life he called human that he could nurture, love, and fashion in his image.
God didn’t create puppets that he could control at his bidding. He fashioned us with a free will so our journey to himself would come from an open desire to seek his comfort when we fall, bruise our knees, or have a bloody nose. God wants us to come to him when we cry and are hurting and do not know where else to turn. This is the humanity the Trinity created.
Look at the clear sky and see the billions upon billions of stars just in our galaxy. When God created us he also created a universe that is so vast it boggles our minds. This is part of the beauty of life for us to see, wonder about, and explore in our future; all for us. Who can say there is no God? Who of us would dare to disbelieve that God is exactly like our mother; warm, caring, being there when we fail and are hurting, and cheering us along as our life succeeds.
As a mother’s instinct is to bear children, care for them throughout their life, comfort their fears, smile at their successes, and share the very essence of one who is a real part of her persona, so God has the same goal for humankind.
This is the life God created; humans who get hurt, who make mistakes, who even turn aside from their creator, but he always waits for our return to find open arms that will comfort us when we come with bruised knees and bloody noses. Like a mother he always welcomes the creatures he created with love and understanding.
Yes, the answer to the question about offering our sufferings to God; offer them for some good, like poor souls in Purgatory, the end of abortion, your priests, the Holy Father, or hurting members of your family. The needs are endless and there never are enough prayers said.
Ralph B. Hathaway, January 2020