Response to "Bonhoeffer on Suffering"

In addressing Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Suffering, John Godsey stimulates, among other things, the following reflection.

Suffering has the potential for clarifying issues that were previously fuzzy. At least, this potential is available to those enjoying the resources available to Bonhoeffer, such as his faith.

The suffering he encountered helped clarify for him the person of Jesus as the Messiah, the Suffering Servant. This in turn threw light on Who God is: One Whose love for us is such that it somehow encompassed the suffering Jesus, His Son, endured.

Suffering also opened up ministry for Bonhoeffer, clarifying for him what it should be, and especially to whom he should minister. It was the suffering people of his acquaintance that enlightened the path of discipleship he followed--in the end, it proved to be his fellow Germans under Hitler's oppression.

We see a similar potential in the suffering operative in the Oklahoma City bombing. Especially for the survivors, whether victims or family/friends of the slain, suffering cleared the air regarding good and evil as nothing else can. How evil is the federal government as it ministered to scores of clients in that nine story building? How good is a militia-style mind set that rages against federal regulations intruding on its freedoms? What may have been debatable seems less so now.

The suffering in Oklahoma City touches us. Whatever opinions we might have harbored about "Okies" and their way of life underwent considerable refinement as we watched these people amid their suffering. It clarified for us the character of the people, their inner resourcefulness and strength, their caring concern and compassion, their grace under stress.

Suffering can do the same for us, too. For one who has faith in God, and struggles to find the path leading to Him, the encounter with suffering, in oneself or another, can have a purifying effect. It can break down barriers that false "clarities" raise about the worth of persons, and their relative value and dignity. In this way, suffering becomes a leveler that allows us to better assess persons on the playing field of life.

On the other hand, it can clarify issues for us by distinguishing good and evil, right and wrong. It can sharpen our judgments about persons and events. It can help us see the truly needy, not so much in terms of their desserts or merits, but more in terms of what and how they suffer. And it can beget a compassionate response to those most in need of our ministrations.

This, of course, supposes a certain set of attitudes within us, faith above all else, a faith that nourishes itself on the same sources that fed Bonhoeffer: Jesus the Suffering Servant, and His loving compassionate Father.

Editors Note

We are grateful to Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. for providing a theological reflection, connecting Bonhoeffer's theology of suffering to the tragedy of Oklahoma City as well as to all the incredible and incomprehensible suffering brought about by the violence of our time. Fr. Sebastian is currently the Rector of the Passionist Monastery in Chicago. He is a former Provincial of Holy Cross Province, and is the immediate Past President of Stauros International. He was a professor of ethics at Catholic Theological Union and continues to speak and write on the subject. His most recent book, Moral Theology and Suffering was published in February.