by Jim Beckman, contributor to the Sooner Catholic
I recently shared lunch with some friends. Each of us are amid some transitions in our lives. Times of change can be uncomfortable and even anxiety ridden.
There was a clear sense of that anxiety in the conversation: concern over financial stability, experiencing fear of the unknown, and wishing there was some kind of “safety net” for following God’s call in our lives. At some point in the conversation, a scripture passage came to my memory. I couldn’t remember where it was from, or even what the context of it was, but I shared it nonetheless with my friends: “fear is useless, what is needed is trust!”
In the moment, the word was powerful, and not just for my friends, but for me too. Just saying it out loud had an effect on me. A search afterwards for that passage in scripture made it even more powerful.. Those words were spoken by Jesus himself; you can find them in Luke 8:50 and Mark 5:36. The context is significant – these words fall in between Jesus healing a woman from a hemorrhage she had suffered with for 12 years, and him raising a young girl from the dead. Fear is useless indeed, especially when there is power like that at our disposal!
The call to discipleship is filled with ups and downs, times of grace and fruitfulness as well times of great challenge and difficulty. I would argue that we don’t really grow in times of blessing and fruitfulness. Those are consoling times, and they feel great. It seems like everything is going well, things are “clicking,” we feel close to God and are very aware of his guiding presence. It’s in times like these we are typically on the other side of a steep climb. I believe we are plateauing not growing during these times. It was in the suffering and hardship of the climb that we were growing. The abiding consolation we now feel is usually the result of a period of struggle and felt absence.
This is all very biblical. I could rattle off many scripture passages to support it. To name just a few, Sirach tells us: “My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. Be sincere of heart and steadfast, and do not be impetuous in time of adversity,” Sirach 2:1-2. Psalm 27 says: “Wait for the Lord, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the Lord,” Psalm 27:14. And Romans 5 says: “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:2-5.
We grow through struggle! God shapes us, molds us and perfects us through difficulty and hardship. Don’t shrink away from these things or try to avoid them. They are the path that leads to where we’re trying to get to. One of my favorite Evangelical leaders, Charles Stanley, says it this way: “Adversity is not simply a tool. It is God’s most effective tool for the advancement of our spiritual lives. The circumstances and events that we see as setbacks are oftentimes the very things that launch us into periods of intense spiritual growth. Once we begin to understand this, and accept it as a spiritual fact of life, adversity becomes easier to bear.”
I’d like to close with a real-life example of all we have been talking about. My wife and I are part of a small community of couples that meet every month to pray and share our faith lives together. In one of our recent meetings, one member was sharing where he felt uniquely called to grow when he said, “I need more courage!” He was sharing about being in a secular workplace every day and desiring to share his faith with co-workers, but having no idea how to do so, and even if he did, being so fearful of their reaction that he typically never acted on it. What made his sharing so amazing was that just two years earlier when he had first joined our group, I’m not sure evangelizing others would have ever come up in his thoughts. Several of us were inspired by the spiritual growth that was evident in his life. He was now leading us!
That meeting with those couples was on June 13. None of us would have ever dreamed that less than two weeks later he would no longer be with us. The man who shared those thoughts was Jose Blanco, who passed away on the morning of Saturday, June 25. His words still ring in all of our ears, “We need more courage!” Jose, as sudden and tragic as his death was, died “in between” the hearts of Jesus and Mary. He was passing through the night of Friday, June 24, the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Saturday, June 25, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That a pretty good place to be when you are passing from this life to the next. His faith, and particularly the growth he had gone through the past couple years, are an inspiration to all of us. But that growth was marked by hardship, trial and difficulty. God was working through it all to bring about what he desired for Jose. He was making him ready, without any of us realizing what was about to happen. We miss you, Jose! Thank you for being such a bold witness to all of us.