Accompanied in Our Suffering

Written by Catherine Flanagan

“My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?” These were Jesus’ words on the cross as he endured intense suffering and a feeling of abandonment. Yet we know that God didn’t abandon him and that Good Friday wasn’t the end of the story.   

As we approach Good Friday this year, the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ last days hit me with a new resonance. On Holy Thursday, Jesus gathered with his disciples to celebrate the Passover. He knew this would be his last Passover, his last celebration with his friends; literally, his last supper. Too many people this past year have faced ‘lasts’. Like Jesus, some of them knew they were having their last precious experiences with their friends or family. But many others didn’t.  They went into the hospital with COVID-19 and never emerged, never saw their loved ones in person again. If they were lucky, perhaps they had a final phone call or FaceTime.

Such unimaginable suffering. More than two million people around the globe have died.  Countless more have endured illness and loss. How could we be blamed for crying out as Jesus did on the cross? Addressing another tragedy, Pope Francis offered these thoughts about suffering, "Jesus passed before us through suffering and death. He took upon himself all our sufferings. He was despised, humiliated, beaten, nailed to the cross and barbarically killed.”

We have a God who knows human suffering, because he too endured it. God does not abandon us, but instead remains close in our suffering. "God's answer to our pain is a closeness, a presence that accompanies us, that doesn't leave us alone. Jesus made himself the same as us and for this reason we have him near us, to cry with us in the most difficult moments of our lives. Let us look at him, entrust him with our questions, our sorrows, our anger,” Pope Francis wrote.

As we entrust God with our questions, sorrow, and anger, it is a comfort to know that we are not alone in our suffering. The universal toll the pandemic has taken has led many to rediscover the truth that we are one human family. As such, we too must remain close to one another and accompany one another through this worldwide crisis. This idea of accompaniment has been part of the mission of Solidarity Bridge for twenty years. However, the suffering of this past year, and the response of our community to it, have been truly unprecedented.

Responding to the immense suffering in Bolivia and Paraguay due to the pandemic and its toll on the healthcare systems, Solidarity Bridge coordinated six emergency shipments of supplies and has increased our financial support. Our Bolivian sister organization, Puente de Solidaridad, has expanded its focus to supply critical medications, imaging and COVID testing. This flexible and loving response to the urgent needs of patients affirms that even in suffering, there is hope. Even with physical distance, we can hold one another close.

In the face of the devastating toll of the pandemic, like Jesus on the cross, we may at times feel forsaken, abandoned. But we are not. God and many good people are with those suffering and they are leading us through this seemingly endless Good Friday into the light and hope of Easter.  

My prayer as we enter these most holy days of the Christian faith is that we will each feel the presence of our God who loves us and always remains close, even in our darkest hours.