Did you ever learn something about someone else, and after you did, you were able to understand them just a little more?
That’s what happened to me as I listened to a short twelve-minute devotional about the life of Mother Teresa. As I listened, the one reading explained that at the beginning of her ministry, she had a flood of mystical experiences including visions. At the heart of each was a deeper insight into the burning heart of Jesus’ love for souls. In other words, it became clearer to her how He desires (thirsts) that all may know of His love for them.
They went on to explain that immediately after she founded the Missionaries of Charity, she began to experience darkness in her soul. This part I had known. However, what I hadn’t known was that in1961, she received a light about this darkness. After discussing it with her Spiritual Director, she realized that her painful longing was actually a share in the thirst of Jesus for souls.
“For the first time in eleven years,” she said, “I have come to love the darkness, for I believe now, that this is a part … a very, very small part of Jesus’ darkness and pain on earth.”
She found the strength to persevere because she realized the darkness was a link uniting her to the suffering of Christ Jesus.
What about us? Do we yet realize the mysterious link between the suffering we sometimes experience in our own lives and that of the Lord’s suffering? Do we see it as gift? Do we see it as a call to be partakers of?
Mother Teresa said, “…when you feel miserable inside, look at the cross and you will know what is happening. Suffering, pain, sorrow, humiliation, feelings of loneliness are nothing but the kiss of Jesus. A sign you have come so close — He can kiss you. Suffering is a gift from God.”
I’m not advocating to go it alone in this crazy world when we feel crazed. Mother Teresa sought out another with whom to talk. It gave her insight. It gave her perspective. What I learned was that Mother Teresa was willing to see her suffering as an invitation of being invited into a more intimate and prayerful understanding of His suffering.
Once again, I am not advocating to toss out the medications. However, when we are invited to share in His sufferings, don’t miss out on the opportunity to see things as Christ sees them and not how we perceive them to be. And, may you lean into others for their perspective — so you will better see His.
Psalm 56:8 explains how our sorrow matters to God. “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle! Are they not in your book?”
Romans 5:3-5 explains how our pain has a purpose. “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 explains that as we endure difficulties, we can turn and offer comfort to others. “…and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s suffering so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
Although we may not fully understand the Mystery of Faith this side of the veil, we can pray as those who have gone before us. “Jesus I trust in You.” Amen.
Kathleen Kjolhaug lives on the family homestead in northern Minnesota. She and her husband, Pete, have 12 grandchildren. As a retired reading specialist, she now enjoys writing, taking walks along gravel roads and paying attention through connection with those who matter most — each of you. She’s recently authored a 33 Day Devotional, “Wading into the Deep,” a tool intended to connect the sacred with those who matter most in each of your lives. Kathleen may be contacted via email: wemenews@gmail.com
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