A BURNING CANDLE IN THE WIND …………                                                                                    

the smaller it becomes, until the flame dies out. But in the process, the candle gave light, warmth, comfort to many. The purpose of its existence was fulfilled. God’s Will has been done.

The many facets of our present suffering can all ultimately be reduced to the earthly experience of our relationship to God.  God is invisible, while we are clothed with a body which one day will turn to dust. This means that the Godward-orientation, which the Spirit has aroused in our hearts, can only express itself here, on earth, through our contacts with other human beings.

If anyone who has enough to live on, sees another in need, and yet closes his eyes, his heart against him, how can the love of God dwell in such a person?  We must not make love a matter of mere words or talk … lip service, it must be genuine, and show itself in our deeds (St.James). No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God dwells in us and His love is brought to perfection in us (St. John).

There is always an element of suffering in the love of Christians for one another. It is measured by the extent to which we give ourselves, our person, and our possessions. Mother Theresa of Calcutta expressed this thought in different words: “Give until it hurts.” There is a struggle about this act of giving and our old fallen nature.

‘Dying to self’ is a full-time job, rather ‘vocation’, where our natural tendencies are concerned. My time, my strength, my knowledge, my talents, my energy … are not MINE. God was pleased to give them to me on ‘loan’, to use for my brothers, for the benefit of others. If we are using OUR time, OUR energy and every OUR for personal gratification, for OUR personal use, we are misusing them. We have to give account to the Creator some day.

Suffering also comes to us from somewhere else. We are probably a burden to others, and other human beings can cause us to suffer. Suffering, in the form of trials do not necessarily originate in ourselves or in other people. They can occur in the form of sickness or misfortunes of various kinds, and these too can demand of Christians the martyrdom of bearing witness to their Faith in eternal life.

Our existence on this earth is in itself a trial that requires a continual re-affirmation of Faith in God, a trial that offers us the opportunity to win freedom for ourselves by overcoming. By its means we learn to rule over created things, which can now no longer harm us. “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him.”

Let us recall St.Paul’s words: “What can separate us from the love of Christ? Affliction or hardship, persecution, hunger, nakedness, peril or the sword? It is written, ‘For your sake we are being put to death all day long: we are treated like sheep for slaughter.’ Yet in these we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us. Nothing in the whole creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”