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July 2009 VOICE OF SHALOM |
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LETTER FROM 'HELL' It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love. In this context, I would like to quote a passage from a letter written by the Vietnamese martyr Paul Le-Bao-Tinh (+ 1857) which illustrates this transformation of suffering through the power of hope sprining from faith. "I Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God and join with me in his praises, for his mercy is for ever. (Ps. 136[135]). The prison here is a true image of everlasting Hell: to cruel tortures of every kind - shackles, iron chains, manacles - are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief. But the God who once freed the three children from the fiery furnace is with me always; he has delivered me from these tribulations and made them sweet, for his mercy is for ever. In the midst of these tortments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone - Christ is with me ... How am I to bear with the spectacle, as each day I see emperors, mandarins, adn their retinue blaspheming your holy name, O Lord, who are enthroned above the Cherubim and Seraphim? (cf Ps 80:1[79:2])... I write these things to you in order that your faith and mine may be united. In the midst of this storm I cast my anchor towards the throne of God, the anchor that is the lively hope in my heart."
Pope Benedict XVI
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