Three Kinds of Suffering

A lot of our members are having knee, hip, or shoulder replacement surgeries. I found there are always two surgeons for these. Because they are “joint” operations. 

Many people are suffering in mind, body and spirit. To suffer physically means aches and pains that are felt in the body. These include physical diseases. This kind of suffering is widespread. Another form of suffering is emotional. This is harder to see. It includes feelings of sadness, anxiety, anger, and depression. This is also very common, but harder to spot. There is stigma and shame admitting to and talking about emotional distress. A third kind of suffering is the least understood. This is spiritual suffering. It happens when a person makes choices in conflict with what is right and wrong. Spiritual suffering is so widespread and commonplace that most people have difficulty being aware that they are in this condition at all. It is like a fish trying to be aware of water.

Jesus Suffered

Today we remember the temptation of Christ. This is the first Sunday of Lent and so we remember how Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. When the devil came to tempt Jesus, he did so in three different ways: physically, mentally, and spiritually. The first temptation concerned Jesus’ hunger. He was told to turn stones into bread to satisfy the pain in his gut. The second temptation was emotional. The devil led Jesus to the top of the temple mount and told him to jump off, to give in to despair. The third temptation was spiritual. The devil led Jesus to a high mountain from which they could see the grandeur of the earth. He told Jesus to worship Satan, the essence of evil which yes at times wields power on this earth. These three forms of suffering and temptation present themselves still today to you and me.

St. Perpetua Suffered

The feast day for Saints Perpetua and Felicity will be celebrated this week on March 7. The passion of Perpetua and Felicity was one of the first things I studied in seminary, and his stuck with me ever since. It is so striking because most of the text is written by Perpetua herself in the year 203, she was born in 182, and so was 21 years old when she died. She also suffered in body, mind, and spirit. 

In her account it is the emotional suffering that takes the greatest toll. There are two people in her life that cause her great emotional distress. The first is her father. He is not a Christian and he feels absolutely livid that she has become one. He begs her to give it up, and when she doesn’t he berates her. The other person in her life that causes her great emotional distress is her child, a nursing baby. She nearly goes out of her mind pining for her baby, but because some Christian deacons bribe the prison guards she is able to have her baby with her in jail for a time, which gives her temporary relief. 

The physical suffering she endures is obvious: mistreatment in prison and eventually the brutality of the arena with beasts and gladiators. The spiritual torment she is faced with is similar to Jesus. She is offered an opportunity to leave jail. She is led to a tribunal where there is a statue of the Caesar. All she has