“You must endure the dark hours and trials so that your trust may fully depend on me” (Inner Word).
This is one of the most difficult lessons we must learn on our way to eternity, but it is also one of the most important and fruitful. Our Father never actively desires evil or suffering. Why would He? However, evil entered the world as a consequence of man’s sin, bringing suffering and death with it, as our faith teaches us. We lost paradisiacal innocence, and now humanity lives under this shadow.
Faith teaches us that the Son of God came down to us, mankind, and became man Himself in order to redeem us. If we accept the salvation offered to us through faith and follow the Lord, then the way to eternal life is paved for us.
However, God has not yet eliminated suffering on earth. That will only happen in eternity. Still, God uses suffering in various ways, so that it bears fruit for the good of humanity. Today’s passage emphasizes this idea. It is about spiritual growth.
When we face suffering with a spiritual attitude, it leads us to cling more closely to our Father and trust Him more deeply. Then, we repeatedly witness — often only in hindsight — how the Father has sustained us amidst shadow and suffering, never abandoning us. This certainty increases our love for God and helps us gradually lose our fear of suffering.
Rather than fearing it, we can learn to consciously bear suffering for the love of God and souls. Thus, we become more like our Lord and hold fast to our Father.
This is what God wants, and this is how He makes us mature.