Before I Forget…

· "The problem is not that we've tried faith and found it wanting, but that we've tried mammon and found it addictive, and as a result find following Christ inconvenient…   We are human beings, not human havings.  God loves us for who we are, not what we have." 
    -How Much Is Enough?  Hungering for God in an Affluent Culture
      by Arthur Simon

· Set a straight course and keep to it, and do not be dismayed in the face of adversity. 
- Ecclestasticus 2:2

After an infant is baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church, the priest takes the large cross he wears and forcefully strikes the baby on its breast, hard enough to leave a mark, and so hard that it hurts the infant and the child screams.  If we did that in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, I can only imagine the outrage. 
But there is powerful symbolism in the Greek Orthodox tradition.  The blow indicates that the child who has been baptized into Christ must bear the cross of Christ in its life.  The cross is a sign of sorrow, suffering, pain and death, not a sign of prosperity, ease victory or of success.  By the Cross of Christ, pain, death sorrow and suffering are overcome.  To be baptized into the life of Christ we should expect suffering and pain in our lives--that trials and troubles will be a normal part of our lives.  But we don't expect pain and suffering, do we?  There is a false and phony version of Christianity that has seduced us, that says we don't have to carry the cross of Christ…that some how in some way, God owes us big time because we are believers. 
Having been a priest for over thirty years, I know that suffering is a part of everyone's life… that bad things happen to very good people.  All of us have a story to tell, the story of our life.  Do we blame God for the death of Jesus on the cross?  Do we blame God for the pain in our lives?  Scripture tells us that Jesus endured the cross for us and for our salvation.  How do we endure the cross in our lives? 
Webster defines endure :  "to remain firm, as under trial; to suffer or bear up patiently;  as to endure hardship.  To continue in the same state without perishing; last."  How did our families endure the Great Depression and World War II?  How did some people endure and survive the Nazi concentration camps?  How do people endure chronic pain and illness?  How do some seniors endure the aging process and the loss of a spouse and independence?  The suffering and pain we face in life is not about an uncaring God but about the faith of the believer!  We put all our trust in God--even when our lives are full of pain and suffering--just as Jesus did on that first Good Friday.  The great saints of our Christian tradition faced failure, frustration and conflict, but they didn't despair.  They kept faith in God.
This world has always had its problems.  The very first people on earth had problems of survival.  In this sophisticated age of ours with all its technology, we have our own unique problems especially since 9/11.  Faith helps us face our doubts, fears, and eventually death itself.  Faith reminds us that death will not be the end of us.
True Faith will be more than endurance--faith helps us to overcome any and all obstacles that we face in this life.  Faith is not about "getting" something, but it is a gift and helps us give the best of  ourselves to one  another.  God's work for us is all about life and not death.  Every trial and suffering can help us become more human, more alive, more real.
How can we model a life of faith to our young?  Will we be a people of faith when everything is taken away from us… when we are alone with only our cross.

Fr. Bill