Providence and Suffering

Feast of St Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr C-2 (August 10)

Entrance Antiphon This is the blessed Lawrence, who gave himself up for the treasure of the Church: for this he earned the suffering of martyrdom to ascend with joy to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Collect O God, giver of that ardour of love for you by which Saint Lawrence was outstandingly faithful in service and glorious in martyrdom, grant that we may love what he loved and put into practice what he taught. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(August 10) Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr

Saint Lawrence was one of seven deacons who were in charge of giving help to the poor and the needy. When a persecution broke out, Pope St. Sixtus was condemned to death. As he was led to execution, Lawrence followed him weeping, "Father, where are you going without your deacon?" he said. "I am not leaving you, my son," answered the Pope. "in three days you will follow me." Full of joy, Lawrence gave to the poor the rest of the money he had on hand and even sold expensive vessels to have more to give away. The Prefect of Rome, a greedy pagan, thought the Church had a great fortune hidden away. So he ordered Lawrence to bring the Church's treasure to him. The Saint said he would, in three days. Then he went through the city and gathered together all the poor and sick people supported by the Church. When he showed them to the Prefect, he said: "This is the Church's treasure!" In great anger, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a slow, cruel death. The Saint was tied on top of an iron grill over a slow fire that roasted his flesh little by little, but Lawrence was burning with so much love of God that he almost did not feel the flames. In fact, God gave him so much strength and joy that he even joked. "Turn me over," he said to the judge. "I'm done on this side!" And just before he died, he said, "It's cooked enough now." Then he prayed that the city of Rome might be converted to Jesus and that the Catholic Faith might spread all over the world. After that, he went to receive the martyr's reward. Saint Lawrence's feast day is August 10th.

Scripture today: 2 Corinthians 9:6-10; Psalm 112:1-2, 5-6, 7-8, 9; John 12:24-26

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honour whoever serves me.” (John 12:24-26)

Providence and Suffering It has been said that the Christianity of large numbers of people amounts to a respectful regard for the Bible and a form of belief in Providence. Setting aside the matter of how the Bible is viewed and read, let us consider the matter of Providence. When people think of “Providence” they think of the beneficent care of God. This belief in God’s care, or in the care of nature as supervised by the gods or the Ultimate, has always been a fairly common feature of religion. The religious person tends to think that the powers above care for him in some sense. The atheist does not think this, because for him there are no powers above, or if there are they have a minimal role. But revealed religion declares a magnificent and stupendous teaching on Providence. There is but one God, and he is almighty. All things, seen and unseen, are in his hand. Even though great numbers of persons whether angelic or human have rebelled against him, they cannot thwart the attainment of his ultimate goals. If the hallmark of the competent person is his capacity to attain his ends despite adverse circumstances, the Creator is supremely competent even if it involves for him a cost almost beyond imagining. He will attain his goal of being all in all. Let us take but one instance of this, to appreciate the wonder and scope of divine Providence. I refer to the creation of each individual. St Paul writes that from before the foundation of the world, each of us was chosen by God to be holy and blameless in his sight and full of love (Ephesians 1:4-5). So God’s choice of each of us was made from eternity. Now, consider the incalculable number and range of circumstances which contribute to the appearance of any one item in creation, including each of us. Each of us, for instance, depended on the chance meeting of our parents, on that of our grandparents and all our ancestors — to cite but one kind of seeming chance event which brought about the appearance of each human being. A multitude of other chance events also had their role. But they were not just “chances” because the Providence of God was at work in all of them. In and through them, God brought about the creation of each of us whom he had chosen and foreseen from all eternity.

While it may seem that things just happen — a chance meeting, a sudden unforeseen tragedy — there is no mere “chance” because God is God and not just another factor in the scheme of things. A person takes his holiday in Bali, and is killed by a terrorist explosion. It was very bad luck that he made the decision to go. But there is nothing that is outside the plan of God because God is the Creator of all. We cannot adequately understand the relation between human freedom, the physical laws of the world, and God’s almighty power, but it is a doctrine of the Christian faith that God exercises his Providence over all. This must be kept in view when thinking of the evil and suffering of the world. Why did it happen? Was not God there? If there is a God, why did he not stop this, or change that? We do not know. But he was there, and he is almighty, and he will attain his goal of drawing abundant good out of the terrible things that happen. There is a further mysterious twist to the evil that seems to go unchecked by God. It is that it is the plan of God that good will especially come from suffering, if borne in obedience. In his Providence, it is when the grain of wheat dies that it bears much fruit. “Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life” (John 12:24-26).

Repeatedly our Lord said that he had to suffer many things, be rejected by those who mattered — the chief priests and the scribes — and be put to death. It was only in and through this evil that he would enter his glory, and open up the gates to glory for those who believed in him. This is surely the most striking instance of the mighty Providence of God. Whenever we think of divine Providence or refer to it, we ought not just think of the care that God exercises in giving us the good things we need, but of his transformation of suffering into a path to glory. The horrible fact of suffering has become, by the provident care of God in sending his Son, a means of great and enduring fruit.

The supreme way to enter into the Providence of God and to be carried along to the end term of his guidance of history, is to remain united with Jesus Christ. No one can calculate the course of history because there are simply too many “chance” happenings involved. But we are safe if we remain with God because he is the Lord of all. We shall be safe with God if we take our stand with Christ and come after him as he proceeds along the way of obedient suffering. Saint Lawrence the martyr shows us the way. As our Lord says, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honour whoever serves me.”

(E.J.Tyler)

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Second Reflection: (2 Cor. 9:6-10)

Generosity There are many benefits and blessings that come to us from being generous. But let us notice one blessing that St Paul speaks of in the first reading for this feast of St Lawrence. God loves a cheerful giver, he says. He will reward such a giver by granting him all he needs, and still have something for all sorts of good works. Indeed, he will "make the harvest of your good works a larger one" (2 Cor. 9:10). Our time is given us in life to do good work for God, to fulfill the share allotted us in the work that God himself is doing. Christ referred in the Gospel of John to himself as working, and to the Father as working. Our dignity is to spend our time in life collaborating with God in God's own work. We do this by our own daily work. By giving our time generously to God, St Paul says, we shall receive the blessing, the grace, to be able to do more good still, to produce a harvest of good works.

Let us resolve to do all the good we can by our work in life. The key is to give generously to God and to others, confident that God will enable us to do even more good and even better work.

(E.J.Tyler)

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