The gift of life and suffering

Fair? Quality of life? What do these things mean? Chatting with some acquaintances the other day we came upon the sad story of a man, with three young children, who is in the last stages of a battle with brain cancer. This young man, and father, was always a vibrant fellow, always upbeat, always cheerful and loving, a faithful husband, father, and disciple of Christ Jesus. Now as he prepares for his death he can hardly speak, he is always sleeping, and he doesn't care to “entertain” visitors. My friends were saying how unfair it is that such a young energetic guy, with a wife and three young kids, had gotten such an bad deal. How unfair it was, that in his last days he had such a poor quality of life.And I thought to myself what do they mean? True, it is not a good thing that this man is dying—but it does happen eventually to the best of us. And it is a tragedy that he is leaving behind his wife and three children. But is there really any room for complaint? This man has live a good life for thirty or so years on the earth. He has been a good son, friend, husband, and father. From what I can tell, in talking with this man I have never gotten a complaint out of him, this man has no complaints and only regrets leaving his wife alone to raise their three children. We are all radically subsistent beings, none of us have a leg to stand on with out creation, without the constant emanation of existence from our creator. As Job says in Sacred scripture, I came naked from my mothers womb and naked I shall return. We have nothing that is our own—all that we have is a gift, which we did not create. Quoting Job again: if I have accepted good things from God should I not also accept evil. God does not give us evil things, just as a father does not give his son a snake when he asks for a loaf of bread. However, he does allow for the existence of evil, or rather more precisely for it not to exist, since evil is an absence of goodness, because without allowing for evil to “exist” nothing could exist except for God who is the only truly good thing in existence. But God's allowance for the existence of evil is such that evil can exist in the particular creature while still allowing for the overall goodness of creation. Thus even when, first the angel Lucifer and then, man increased the evil in creation by committing original sin and sentencing himself to suffering, death, and damnation, creation was still as a whole still good and still redeemable. The physical and moral evils in this world are a result of this original sin that will plague us till the end of the world, but where evil abounds grace abounds the fuller. All that we have and all that we shall receive is a gift from God for which we should be thankful—and if in the fullness of time God chose to take from us his breath of life, depriving us of existence, who are we to complain. Rather we ought at least to be thankful for what time he has given us. However, while our material bodies corrupt and return to the dust from which they came God so love mankind, go so love the world, of man, that in the fullness of time he sent his only begotten son that we might not perish but have eternal life. What my acquaintances could not grasp was that all of life is a gift—a gift which God has given us for a time in this life where we must suffer the effects of our own sins, and a gift which he has promised us even unto the end of the world for, ages unending, in the life to come.Yesterday as I visited with some people in the hospital I got many different responses to their suffering and illness. Some felt self-pity, others sorrow, others despair, and still others hope of going home, but one lady stood out as an example of how a Christian ought to react to suffering, illness, and even death. This woman had been sick for a while and did not expect to go home any time soon, and yet she was cheerful and happy, and she made those around her cheerful and happy. She had a hope which was not for any earthly peace but for the arms of her savior. Though in pain, though suffering, this woman approached life as it is, as a gift, and she gave thanksgiving for all the blessings she has received. Fairness or quality of life was not a part of the equation, for all that mattered was love, the true love of her savior. If more people embraced this philosophy of life, if more people embraced the love and hope that is the Christian faith, then there would be considerably more happy people in this world, despite, or rather because of their, infirmities, sufferings, and joys. A ll life is precious, be thankful for what is given you and adore He who gave it, this is the secret of true happiness.

posted by A Radically Subsistent Being at 10:43 AM