Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
(Hebrews 2:5-12; Mark 1:21-28)
A contemporary spiritual writer believes that it is next to impossible to teach spirituality to youth. He claims that they are too preoccupied with themselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit. One would hope to find exceptions, but the author of the Letter to the Hebrews makes an interesting statement to a similar effect regarding Jesus.
The Letter states that Jesus was made perfect only through suffering. Of course, he possessed perfection in his divine nature and had the possibility of reaching perfection, as we all do, in his human nature. But, the author goes on, he had to suffer to become truly loving, which we should see as the essence of perfection. This means that he had to suffer to attain humility and compassion. Those who suffer become aware sooner than others that they are not the center of the world’s attention. They also recognize that others face problems even more serious than their own.
It is not easy to suffer, of course. Yet we can face suffering with the hope that, like Jesus, it will bring us to a greater love for others. By allowing suffering, God moves us along the way of eternal life.
