This article is part of the Marian Mondays Series, a weekly reflection on the mysteries of the rosary by Jonathan Conrad, owner and founder of The Catholic Woodworker. Subscribe to have these reflections and more sent straight to your inbox every week.
Before I sat down to meditate on this mystery, I turned to Truthly to give me some suggestions for Scripture passages to pray with, and it led me to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-10.
As I prayed with these verses, I was struck by how they relate to a central theme of Jesus’ public ministry: that suffering is part of being human.
While the range and degree of suffering can vary significantly from person to person, one type that we all experience over the course of our lives is ordinary suffering. This kind of suffering encompasses the difficulties, challenges, and burdens that are inconveniences in the grand scheme of things, though they don’t feel that way at the time.
I’ve had my share of these moments, but one that stands out was when I was passed up for a promotion at work about ten years ago. I didn’t agree with the decision and didn’t really understand why it had been made. It was painful for me.
Now, this happened in a period of my life where, though I was returning to my faith, work was still my identity. I needed that promotion to feel important and, when I didn’t get it, I really didn’t know what to do.
It took me a good six months to accept the experience as something other than an injustice. But once I started embracing it instead of resenting it, I started to appreciate the job I had and I started to excel in a way I hadn’t before.
And what I’d once seen as a setback, God used to reorient my heart and remind me that my worth wasn’t in a job title but in Him.
Reflecting on this experience reminds me that we have two choices when we’re confronted with this kind of ordinary suffering:
1. Either embrace and accept it as a way to grow in grace, trusting that God can bring good out of any situation.
2. Or reject it and allow the suffering to make us feel discouraged, bitter, or resentful.
Learning how to endure and embrace ordinary suffering is not easy or intuitive, but like so many things in the Christian life, it’s worth the effort and helps us on the path to holiness.
How might God be inviting you to embrace your own moments of ordinary suffering with trust in Him?
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