We are frequently tested by things we don’t expect or regard as challenging. For example, the death of a loved one or the end of a relationship can leave us feeling empty, grief-stricken, and directionless. Losing interest in one’s job may make it difficult to get up and go to work each morning. Or, a financial challenge coming out of the blue – like the withdrawal of funds from a foreign
donor, losing one’s employment, or an unexpected collapse of the value of one’s investments – can impact us more than we could ever have imagined.
Jesus wanted his disciples to be protected from the nightmare that he was about to face. He did not want them to succumb to the vagaries of the world and the viciousness of those persecuting him. He warns his disciples to plead with God that they do not walk the same path as he did. But
history tells us that many of his disciples endured cruel martyrdom. The statues on the facade of St Peter’s Basilica, looking down on St Peter’s Square (which is actually an oval), remind us of the grisly deaths suffered by Jesus’s closest friends and collaborators.
It is not God’s will that we ever be put to the test – certainly not beyond our endurance. Circumstances may conspire to drag us down. No matter how we feel that God
may be a million miles away, God is always present. Jesus has walked in our shoes. God is not unfamiliar with the human condition – with all its ups and downs.
When we face adversity, our character is revealed. Do we crumble and implode? Or do we rise to the occasion to make the best of a bad turn of events? Whatever happens, are we assured that God is somehow by our side, no matter how miserable we feel?
Reflections by Peter Knox SJ
