Dr. Martin Kallungal
READING: “As Christ has undergone bodily suffering, you too should arm yourselves with the same conviction, that anyone who has undergone bodily suffering has broken with sin, because for the rest of life on earth that person is ruled not by human passions but only by the will of God. You spent quite long enough in the past living the sort of life that gentiles choose to live, behaving in a debauched way, giving way to your passions, drinking to excess, having wild parties and drunken orgies and sacrilegiously worshipping false gods. So people are taken aback that you no longer hurry off with them to join this flood which is rushing down to ruin, and then abuse you for it. They will have to answer for it before the judge who is to judge the living and the dead” (1 Pet 4:1-5)
REFLECTION : Why should one suffer, especially, when one is doing good? Reason prompts us to connect suffering with sin and wickedness. But, the scripture connects suffering with doing good. One of the major themes in the Letters of St. Peter is suffering for the sake of doing good. The opening verse of the above read passage might give an impression that suffering is related more to ‘breaking with sin’ than with ‘doing good.’ But, a careful reading of the passage will tell us that this impression is not right. However, building further on superficial impressions, many Christians accept various kinds of suffering as necessary means to overcome sin. Such people train themselves in feeling good in punishing them in different ways. This is an incorrect understanding and approach towards sufferings, at least as the First Letter of Peter sees it. Actually, it is at the personal conversion and baptism that one gives up sin, which is effected by nothing but the grace of Christ. Sin, according to the Letter, is act of doing wrong, which is contrary to what God wills. In this sense, a person who sins is acting according to one’s passions, not according to God’s will. Sin is a bad way of life. With conversion and baptism, which brings about complete break with sin, a person not only stops following the dictates of one’s desires for pleasures but also starts fulfilling the will of God. Having reborn in the Spirit, as we read, “for the rest of life on earth that person is ruled not by human passions but only by the will of God.” Nevertheless, a person whose life is, thus, ruled by the will of God will encounter many sufferings from others who continue to follow their desires for pleasures. St. Peter refers to the concrete life-world of his readers where there are gentiles who “choose to live, behaving in a debauched way, giving way to your passions, drinking to excess, having wild parties and drunken orgies and sacrilegiously worshipping false gods.” In our time also there are people who live hedonistically. Such people will question Christians, criticize their different way of life, and slander against them. Sometimes, they will persuade them to return to the old ways of life; and, some other times they will persecute them for being different. Therefore, it will be a great suffering for Christians to act strictly according to the will of God in the midst of people who breathe sensuality, temptation, persecution and death. Resisting the personal inclinations and cultural compulsions to involve in a range of pleasure seeking activities, on the one hand, and performing good acts according to God’s will in an unfriendly and unspiritual world, on the other, make sufferings unavoidable in the lives of Christians. Suffering is a sign that one has ceased to sin and started doing good according to the will of God for him/her.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for telling me that I must arm myself with your conviction concerning sin and suffering. Having broken with sin thanks to your redemptive work for me, I must be ready to suffer even unto death in my earnest efforts to do as many good things as possible in accordance with the Father’s will. Lord, I am sorry that I have sought for the absolution for my sins from confessors as if it were a medicine to cure a spiritual illness. Today I realize that confession and conversion should have concrete consequence for my beaviour. Yes, Lord, “anybody who tries to live in devotion to Christ is certain to be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12).
CONTEMPLATION: Recall the days you lost in empty living. Gently ask your soul, “what did you gain from living like that?”
ACTION: First, make a list of experiences that you are now ashamed; and make a strong act of will to give them up. Second, take pains to do something substantial for the less privileged ones around you.
