Advincula calls on faithful to learn to ‘feel, share, & offer pain’

Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula has called on the Filipino faithful to learn to “feel, share, and offer” their pain just like what Jesus Christ did. In his homily, Advincula said that “let us learn from our Lord Jesus who is our exemplar for experiencing and sanctifying our passion and pain.” “Let us learn from Him–three lessons: feeling our pain, sharing our pain, and offering our pain,” said Advincula in his homily during the celebration of Palm Sunday on April 2.

Feel

The prelate said that Jesus “went through His passion feeling the pain” and that He did not deny  and hide that He was experiencing pain. “He did not pretend to be alright. He did not anesthetize Himself from the horror of the cross, rather He embraced the cross, carried the cross, hanged on the cross, and died on the cross. In His full humanity, He felt His pain, He felt our pain,” said Advincula. “In our human weakness, we naturally want to deny our pain. When we are hurt, our minds want to shut down the experience of difficulty and distress, especially when it is just too much for us to process and understand. But eventually, we have to muster the courage to face our troubles, go through our pains, and embrace our crosses. We need to resolve to feel our pain and empathize with the pains of others,” he said. Advincula said that “wounds buried remain alive. They won’t heal by remaining hidden.” “Indeed, if we attend to pain, if we look at and listen to pain, we would be surprised to actually learn from pain, we will become better persons,” he said.

Share

Jesus also did not keep the pain to Himself, said Advincula. “He even honestly vented to His Father the bitterness and doubt of His heart when He cried out ‘my God, my God why have you forsaken me.’” he said. Advincula said that “in our human pride,” people naturally want to keep the pain all to themselves. “[This is]  so that we would appear victorious in the end and we would be able to say ‘I did it my way. All by myself, my own power, my own strength, my own might,’” he said. “Ang mga puso natin ay mauuwi sa hapdi at pagkasawi kung sasarilinin natin ang sakit at kakainin at lalasunin tayo ng ating yabang. Ibahagi nawa natin ang sakit. Ibukas natin ang sakit sa Diyos at sa kapwa (Our hearts will end up in pain and failure if we keep it to ourselves and if we let our pride consume and poison us. Let us share our pain. Share our pain to God and to others),” he underscored.

Offer

Jesus also “offered” His pain to God, said  Advincula. The prelate said that “Jesus’ act of sanctifying the experience of suffering is our hope amid the experience of senseless violence, unjust condemnation, and absurd pain.” “Sometimes, our pains are beyond words, beyond reason, beyond logic. Even Jesus ended up wordless amid the chaos of the cross. His last utterance was merely a loud cry. But while pain seems to be beyond meaning and understanding, no pain is beyond love,” said Advincula.