My Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

"Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many."  These words from today's first reading show us the theme that we must ponder today.  Our eyes are fixed on Jesus almost in the same way as on Good Friday.  Jesus gives "his life in ransom for the many." 

Scripture is given to us so that we might change.  Our eyes are on Jesus today as we meditate a bit more on His suffering.  The invitation is for us to embrace the sufferings in our lives so that Christ's gift of salvation might be known in the whole world.

None of the prophets liked to suffer.  No great religious teacher is going to exalt suffering for its own sake.  Generally we humans do not like to suffer.  We find all kinds of ways to avoid it.  There is something basically healthy in trying to avoid suffering.  On the other hand, when we avoid suffering on our part and inflict suffering on others, we need to examine our consciences.  We know that Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemani, asked that the cup of suffering be taken away from Him, if that was possible.

The other side of suffering we see over and over in our world and in the history of all peoples.  Those who love deeply are willing to give their own lives up for those they love.  We see this in mothers protecting their children from harm, in fathers trying to protect their families and sometimes in friends.  We can think of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, who was willing to give his life in Auschwitz so that a prisoner who had a family might live.

We see people willing to suffering in solidarity with others.  Here we might think of Edith Stein (Sister Teresa, Benedicta a Cruce), who chose to die in solidarity with her own Jewish people rather than escape the holocaust because she had become a Catholic nun.

It is this kind of suffering that we must meditate on today, since Jesus chose to die for us.  Jesus accepted suffering and death so that we might live.  Are we willing to chose suffering and even death so that others might live?  Most of us will not be put to this test in the way of the martyrs--but daily in our small choices we manifest our capacity to offer our lives for others.

The mother of the family who has a job and yet takes care of an ailing parent or a sick child with obvious generosity of spirit is such an example of suffering love.  The father of a family who loses his wife to death and has young children will often embrace a life of dedicated suffering to raise his children well.  We see friends willing to go out of their way to help others who are in need.  We see many people willing to go and work in poorer nations for the good of others. 

The second reading today, from the Letter to the Hebrews, is about this solidarity with others.  Jesus, our High Priest, is like us in all things except sin:  "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet never sinned."  That Jesus could suffer and still be God is a scandal for many, but for us Christians it shows how deeply united He is with us.  Jesus takes on our humanity so that we can take on His divinity.  

Today, if we are willing to love someone else enough to suffer for them, we take on the divinity of Jesus in our own lives.