Wednesday {Encouraging} Word // no. 9

On Easter Sunday, the world lost one of its greatest champions of the Faith, Mother Mary Angelica, foundress of EWTN.

I’ve known her on TV for many years, but somehow it’s only now, after her death, that I’ve sat up and started really paying attention to the words and life of this amazing nun.

Last week, I pulled out a book that I’ve never read much of before — Mother Angelica’s Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality. And every page I turn leaves me nearly speechless.

This woman is hilarious, poignant, deep, and down-to-earth, with a Holy Spirit-inspired knack for speaking straight to the heart. And she’s just what I need right now in my spiritual life, even though I didn’t know it until last week.

There are a million and one words of wisdom from this book that I’d love to share with you, but for today I want to focus on just one of her gems about suffering.

Mother Angelica, who was Rita Rizzo before religious life, was no stranger to suffering {really, who isn’t, in this life?}. Her father, who never wanted children, abandoned her family when Rita was a young girl, leaving Rita in the precarious care of her mother, who had a mental illness. Rita also endured a debilitating stomach ailment for many years as a child and young woman.

Later, when she was at the height of her mission as an entrepreneur-nun, Mother Angelica had several serious health challenges, including major back surgery and two strokes.

She says, “I don’t remember a day, even before I  knew Jesus, when I didn’t have a problem, when I didn’t have a pain.” What did this constant travail teach her?

Here’s Mother’s perspective on suffering:

It takes a lot of guts to endure pain all day long.

Some of you have pain in your limbs, in your body, in your heart, in your mind — and there’s no way that you can get away from it. But you can suffer with Jesus.

This is why we have Our Lord on the cross. Not because we haven’t taken Him down, but because you need a reminder that in your pain and suffering you’ve got Somebody with you. You’ve got Somebody in you. You’ve got Somebody holding your hand. You’re not alone. …

Every pain we endure with love, every cross borne with resignation, benefits every man, woman, and child in the Mystical Body of Christ.”

These words pierce straight to the soul, don’t they? There’s something here for everyone, no matter what trial you’re going through. It’s the beautiful and gut-wrenching doctrine of redemptive suffering, offered with profound understanding from a woman who knew pain throughout her whole life.

I’ll be honest. There’s been quite a bit of physical suffering in my own life this past year, and most of the time I fight it. I may not be complaining every minute of every day, but I also don’t usually make an active effort to accept the suffering in the moment, and offer it with love to Jesus. Sometimes, acceptance of my pain can seem like the straw that might just break this camel’s back.

But when I hear Mother Angelica, something is different.

Her words compel me to try, to try to suffer well. Why? I think Mother’s words here appeal to me so much because she first acknowledges the great burden of pain, she empathizes with the plight of every human person. There is power in empathy, power to reach hearts.

And yet, she doesn’t stop there. She doesn’t try to change the truth about suffering: that it’s redemptive, that it’s purifying, that is has intrinsic value, that Christ suffers with us and we suffer with Him, for the salvation of souls.

This truth is at the heart of our Faith. Suffering without love is wasted, but with love and united with Christ, it is utterly redemptive. The Cross teaches us this.

Today, in this moment, may God give me the grace to suffer with love.

What are your thoughts on Mother Angelica’s words? Do you struggle to suffer well? I’d love to hear from you!