One of the first examples any of us experience in this life comes from our parents. Think of how parents cared for us as children. They gave-up on sleep to nurse us, to comfort us as infants. They gave-up precious sleep attending to our needs in our childhood illnesses. So many good parents suffer hard, long hours of work to provide for their families. We are all beneficiaries of the redemptive suffering of those who raised us, not to mention the mothers who uncomfortably bore us in their wombs and birthed us. We are born through the suffering of another.
A second example of redemptive suffering. I was teaching third graders about the beatitudes, and we got to the 8th beatitude which mentions suffering. The Lord teaches “blessed are they who suffer for the sake of justice”. I asked for an example, and one of the third graders said, “when you see someone getting bullied, you can go and stand-up for that person. It might be hard because you might get picked on too.” What a great example! The suffering we bear when we stand up for the little guy—for the vulnerable—is another example of redemptive suffering.
Standing up for what’s right changes things, it unleashes redemptive power, bullies back down. As adults we stand up for what is right when we stand up for our Catholic values in the public arena, when we stand up for the “littlest among us”, the unborn. So many evils in the world today are often the result of fleeing those opportunities to stand-up for what is right. We are not called to be a “silent or inactive moral majority”, we are to suffer for the sake of justice. And again, lives are changed, lives are saved, when Christians take up this role.
Another example of redemptive suffering is that of our patron saint whose feast we celebrate this weekend
The story of St. Ignatius of Antioch is a great one. He was a Catholic bishop who lived very close to the time of Jesus. After Jesus ascended into heaven, Jesus’ apostles were tasked with making disciples to continue the work of spreading the Christian faith. And St. Ignatius was one of those disciples. He was baptized and for a time learned about Jesus under St. John the Apostle, the very same apostle who laid his head on the chest of Jesus at the last supper and stood at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified, who ran to the tomb at the resurrection, and witnessed Jesus ascending into heaven.
So, Ignatius had one of the best teachers you could ever ask for. When he was ready, Ignatius was sent by John to continue the work of the Church in the gigantic city of Antioch, which even 2000 years ago, had a million people, meaning, it had more people than Cleveland.
Being such an important city, the Roman Emperor came to visit Antioch, but the emperor was not a Christian, in fact, he wanted to destroy the Christian Church. So he summoned Bishop Ignatius, and demanded that he give up his faith and renounce Jesus.
But remember, Ignatius knew that Jesus is truly the Son of God, that Jesus was crucified, died, and rose from the dead.
So, courageously, Bishop Ignatius stood up to the Emperor, and told him that there was no way he could deny Jesus, because he knew the Gospel to be true—he knew that Jesus said and did the things the Church claimed. After all, it had only happened 60 years ago. There was no denying it. Even when the emperor threatened to kill Ignatius if he did not deny Jesus, Ignatius held fast to the truth and would gladly die to prove this point, that Jesus Christ is truly God and savior of the world.
For courageously standing up to the emperor, Ignatius was sentenced to death—to be devoured by lions in Rome, which is why our school mascot is the lion—a reminder of the courageous death of our patron—that we might have the same courage in professing Jesus.
Through his Redemptive Suffering Ignatius emboldened the Church. His letters have been read by Christians for almost as long as the Gospels. His blood, shed for Christ, no doubt strengthened all those who were being persecuted in the early Church, and he inspires all of us, to live courageously for Christ.
In our First Reading, we hear that the Messiah willingly accepts the task of becoming a suffering servant, a sacrifice for the justification, the salvation, and the redemptive of others. Through Jesus’ redemptive Suffering, each of us has received new birth as children of God. All of us, reborn in the waters of baptism—have been justified and redeemed—given another chance at heaven—through the redemptive suffering and death of Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel today, it is clear that the Apostles were not to keen on this idea of redemptive suffering. They didn’t think Jesus should have to suffer. They hoped that the Messiah was going to be a military leader who would cause Israel’s enemies to suffer. And they certainly didn’t think that being his follower would mean that they were going to have to suffer.
But to be a follower of Jesus means that we, like Him, will engage in a life of sacrificial self-giving for the good of others.
Like the apostles in the Gospel, many people in the world have a confused idea about what will make them happy and what will make them great. Greatness according to the world usually means, having the position of power, having the wealth to do whatever you want, having fame where everyone recognizes you and applauds you as you are coming down the street. But that’s not greatness in the eyes of God. No number of Heisman Trophies will gain you entrance into heaven. Heaven is not contingent on the number of people you have working for you, the size of your house, or your bank account. To become great in the eyes of God requires you to pour out your life in God’s service in imitation of Jesus Christ.
Blessed are those who suffer for the sake of righteousness. Do you want heaven enough that you are willing to suffer for it? Do you want heaven for your fellow man, enough that you are willing to be ridiculed for it? Are you willing to suffering the consequences of standing up to an emperor, like St. Ignatius, or to an authority figure who is urging you to compromise your faith?
Through the intercession of our Patron, St. Ignatius of Antioch, may we respond generously to the many ways the Lord invites us to allow the power of redemptive suffering to be unleashed in our lives—prayers and penances and the acceptance of inconveniences and uncomfortable conversations and days and nights spent in charitable service—that the lives of others may be led to Jesus and transformed for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
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