Homily: Thursday - 2nd Week in OT 2017 - God's silence in the face of suffering

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching the new Martin Scorsese movie, called “Silence” based on the book of the same name, by Catholic Japanese author Shūsaku Endō . In the story, two Jesuit priests travel to 17th century Japan to discover the fate of another priest, who had been spreading the Gospel there in Japan, who had disappeared. Christian lay faithful and priests were being arrested and put to some of the most severe tortures in Church history. Knowing that the Japanese government was seeking to wipe out Christianity from the land, the two Jesuits courageously journey to Japan to find him.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but the priests are not in Japan long before they begin to witness these terrible persecutions first-hand. One of the priests prays to God, trying to understand why these good people must suffer so terribly; he calls out to God seeking answers, but he begins to despair when he doesn’t hear God answering him back, hence the title of the movie, “Silence”: God’s silence in the face of our ardent prayers and suffering.

The letter to the Hebrews, which we’ve been reading for over a week now, presents the image of Jesus as the High Priest. Today we read how the High Priest, “lives forever to make intercession for us”.  He who bore all of humanity’s suffering and sin, now sits at God’s right hand. So, we can trust that God does hear our prayers.

But, sometimes we doubt that he hears us because God doesn’t answer the way we think he should. We pray for someone to be cured of cancer, the cancer doesn’t go away, so we conclude God didn’t hear our prayer.

Sometimes it seems God is silent, but the fact is, he’s already spoken. He has heard and answered every prayer, through Jesus Christ. You might not understand what that means, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

In a very real sense, more than we often understand, God has already “cured” cancer and every disease, by making them opportunities to grow in sanctity through Jesus Christ. He has transformed every trial, every moment of suffering, into a conduit of grace.

The journey of faith involves growing in confidence that Jesus Christ is our strength, he is the answer to our prayers for deliverance, he is the way that leads to eternal peace and joy. No matter what we suffer, God is there inviting us to trust Him, to bear our sufferings in union with Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.