It is perhaps one of our oldest mysteries, why does God allow us to Suffer?
Perpetua and Felicity
The historical account of the death of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, is rock solid. It was written by Perpetua herself.
Perpetua was a young, well educated, noblewoman who made the decision to follow the example of her mother by becoming a Christian. Her father, a pagan, pleaded with her to change her mind but she would only answer him by saying “I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am, a Christian.”
Perpetua and Felicity were arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to die in the arena for the crime of being Christians. They suffered terribly. The prison was so crowded with people that the heat was suffocating. There was no light anywhere and Perpetua wrote that she had “never known such darkness.”
But Perpetua’s greatest suffering was being separated from her young baby. Felicity was even worse off, she was eight months pregnant.
When Perpetua’s father came and pleaded with her to renounce her faith, she replied “we lie not in our own power, but in the power of God.”
Perpetua and Felicity, along with two others went to the arena in an air of joy and serenity. We are told that Perpetua encouraged the others and walked with “shining steps as the true wife of Christ, the darling of God.”
The two women were attacked and thrown about the arena by a rabid heifer. Finally they faced a gladiator and were killed by the sword in the arena at Carthage, in the Roman province of Africa, on March 7 in the Year of Our Lord 203.
Suffering Matters
We continue to suffer in this world because how we respond to our suffering matters greatly in the eyes of God. It is an opportunity for us to grow in our faith. Do we turn away from Him in anger and resentment? Or do we turn toward Him for comfort, out of love?
Saint Augustine, in “The City of God,” put it this way:
“Wherefore, though good and bad men suffer alike, we must not suppose that there is no difference between the men themselves, because there is no difference in what they both suffer. For even in the likeness of the sufferings, there remains an unlikeness in the sufferers; and though exposed to the same anguish, virtue and vice are not the same thing. For as the same fire causes gold to glow brightly, and chaff to smoke; and under the same flail the straw is beaten small, while the grain is cleansed; and as the lees are not mixed with the oil, though squeezed out of the vat by the same pressure, so the same violence of affliction proves, purges, clarifies the good, but damns, ruins, exterminates the wicked. And thus it is that in the same affliction the wicked detest God and blaspheme, while the good pray and praise.” — City of God I.8
This is why it is sometimes said that God allows suffering as a test of our faith.
The pagan view of suffering was different from the Christian view. To the mind of the ancient Romans, suffering was brought on by angry Gods as a form of punishment. Indeed one reason for the persecution of Christians was due to the Christian belief in one God. To the pagan Roman, the denial of the Roman pantheon had angered the gods, causing them to abandon Rome and result in such disasters as the Sack of Rome in A.D. 410 by the visigoths.
The Christian view of suffering is much different. God is all good and so even our suffering can be used for some good purpose. Christ suffered on the cross for our sake and so we Christians view suffering as an opportunity to imitate Christ and offer our suffering up as a sacrifice, confident that God will make it work for good.
Saint Paul writes: “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, … If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?… Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” — Romans 8
Artistic Suffering
There are two types in which artists suffer. The stereotype of the suffering artist, that is, the artist who suffers for his art, is a problem of temperament. G.K. Chesterton addressed this in his book, “Heretics.”
“The artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs. It is a disease which arises from men not having sufficient power of expression to utter and get rid of the element of art in their being. It is healthful to every sane man to utter the art within him; it is essential to every sane man to get rid of the art within him at all costs. Artists of a large and wholesome vitality get rid of their art easily, as they breathe easily, or perspire easily. But in artists of less force, the thing becomes a pressure, and produces a definite pain, which is called the artistic temperament. Thus, very great artists are able to be ordinary men—men like Shakespeare or Browning. There are many real tragedies of the artistic temperament, tragedies of vanity or violence or fear. But the great tragedy of the artistic temperament is that it cannot produce any art.” Chesterton, “Heretics”
But there is another type of artistic suffering that is much more common, that is the artist struggling to produce art and support themselves and often their family. Because the call to the artistic vocation is so strong it often consumes most if not all of the artist’s time. This leaves little to no time for other work and the artist is often frustrated by the inability to both answer their vocation and support their family.
The video series “The Chosen” made an interesting comment on the difference between one’s trade and one’s vocation. In one episode, Jesus is talking to a group of children. The children are asking Him all kinds of questions about how he lives, makes money, etc..
Jesus tells them he does not make money while He travels. He makes things, such as door locks, and trades them for food and lodging. He then tells the children that He has a larger job than His trade as a craftsman. In fact we all have larger jobs than our trade. In broad terms that job is to take the Word of God and share it.
There are many good arguments in favor of the artistic vocation being more than just a trade. But at the same time it is not less than a trade. There are some who are able to take their artistic gifts and build them into successful businesses and careers. But these are the exception rather than the rule. And unfortunately the exception receives such a disproportionate share of attention that it gives the appearance of being the rule.
Jesus was a craftsman, He made things. Being God He could certainly have become wealthy in His trade, but that was not the path He chose and is not the example He set for us. It is important that we express the art that is within us, that we add to the beauty of the world, that is our trade. But we should not confuse that trade with our larger job, or vocation, to share the word of God. Sometimes the two may go together, often they do not. Jesus did not preach a Gospel of prosperity, He preached a Gospel of suffering.
God can on occasion remove our physical pain in order to demonstrate His authority over the world. Philip the deacon preached to the people of Samaria and unclean spirits that tormented their victims were cast out. The paralyzed and crippled were healed. God was at work through Philip. The Samaritans came to accept that the cure for the world’s pain is the Christ.
Jesus did not promise us a life free of pain and suffering, in fact He promised us just the opposite. But He also offered us the strength to endure any hardship that comes our way, through prayer and sacrifice.
We must be a people of prayer. Prayer strengthens us and keeps us close to God.
We offer sacrifice when we put our own needs aside in favor of others. We are stronger in our bond of Christian charity when we support each other and encourage each other.
Saint Perpetua knew this. Her last recorded words were addressed to her brother.
“Stand fast in the faith, and love one another.”
Pax vobiscum