You Will Have Tribulation
Suffering Is Our Lot
“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33).
Why Do the Wicked Prosper?
People wonder why devoted Christians suffer trials and tribulations while ungodly people seem to have an easy, pleasant, pain-free life. Suffering and enduring trials is the vocation and privilege of every follower of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Suffered
God the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word incarnate, came down from heaven to suffer and die for us.
Jesus said that He would lay down His life for the world’s salvation and “give His life as a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:28).
He said He would “suffer many things and be rejected” (Lk. 17:25).
His adversaries would “mock Him, and spit upon Him, and scourge Him, and kill Him” (Mk. 10:34).
In the Letter to the Hebrews, Saint Paul tells us that God the Father made Jesus Christ, the Son, perfect through suffering (Heb. 2:10) and that Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered (Heb. 5:8).
The Follower of Jesus Christ Must Suffer
Suffering was the sacred calling of Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Therefore, suffering is the calling of everyone who follows Him.
“For to this [suffering] you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).
Saint Augustine of Hippo said,
“God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.”
Our Lord told His disciples,
“They will deliver you up to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues” (Mk. 13:9),
and they will
“put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake” (Mt. 24:9).
Christ says,
“If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23).
What is the cross but an instrument of suffering and death? Therefore, let the Apostle Thomas’s words be our motto, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (Jn. 11:16).
Paul and Barnabas preached, “saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Ac. 14:22).
Saint Peter writes, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12).
For all Christians are required to suffer:
“the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Pt. 5:9).
Our lot in life is suffering. Saint Paul directed the Thessalonians, “that no one be moved by these afflictions. You yourselves know that this is to be our lot” (1 Thess. 3:3).
Be Glad to Suffer Something for God
So don’t be discouraged and downcast by all that you have to suffer. It is a sign of favor from God.
Therefore, “rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings” (1 Peter 4:13). “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials” ( James 1:2). When life gets difficult, beginners (1 Cor. 3:1) often say, “Why is God angry with me? Why is God punishing me?” But trials and tribulations, patiently endured, are a sign of God’s special love and favor.
“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake” (Phil. 1:29).
After the Apostles were arrested, imprisoned, and beaten,
“they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name” (Acts 4:41).
Suffering Prepares Us for Heaven
Suffering is a sign of predestination:
“For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).
“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).
Saint Thomas Aquinas says that to patiently bear a heavy cross for long time is a sign of predestination.
“You will be consoled according to the greatness of your sorrow and affliction; the greater the suffering, the greater will be the reward.” — Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi.
The Latin Church Father Lactantius (260–330) writes,
“He who chooses to live well for eternity, will live in discomfort for the present. He will be subjected to all types of troubles and burdens as long as he is on earth, so that in the end he will have divine and heavenly consolation. On the other hand, he who chooses to live well for the present will fare badly in eternity” (Institutes bk. 7, chap. 5).
“Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:3), for our Lord promises, “In the world, you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” ( John 16:33).
