By Fr Asaeli Rass SVD

For each of us, this has been a unique experience of Lent and Holy Week.

When I arrived in Myanmar few days ago, much of the suburbs of Yangon were still in darkness and reports of ongoing armed conflict in northern Shan, Rakhine and Kachin are adding uncertainty about the future of this beautiful country.  I too am conscious of what’s happening in Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and science has not completely eradicated COVID-19. It is shocking to think how much the world has changed in such a brief time. Now we enter all of this, into the epic stories of the Paschal Triduum.

We are faced with suffering, innocent suffering, undeserved pain and death. Right now, I’m trying to take in psychologically, spiritually, and personally, what is God trying to say? How do I enter into these three holiest days in the Christian calendar in a meaningful way bringing it all together? I can’t think of a better way but to believe that God does use everything especially suffering if we are to experience global solidarity and hope for a better world. It does not matter where we go, we cannot escape from suffering and it bypasses, race, gender, religion, and nations.

Remember that book in the Old Testament named after an emotion. It’s the Book of Lamentations. It is composed of five laments to a time of crisis in the sixth century before Jesus was born and when the temple was destroyed, rituals could not be celebrated, streets were empty, and leaders were scattered. It was a time of exile.

Years ago, I found myself praying at the Western Wall in the old Jerusalem. As we entered, the attendants gave us this small booklet to pray the prayers of lamentations in the Scriptures. As we were praying, we remarked how Jesus too, would have come to the same place to lament, to remember the suffering of the people, of the community.

I believe the only way is to go deep into the question of why does God tolerate suffering. The fact that Jesus stayed on the Cross until the end, the fact that on the Cross he could say, as do all who suffer: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mark 15:34), has remained in our human psyche the strongest argument. I have always wondered what would have happened if the agony on the Cross had not happened. Would we still experience the truth of God’s love?

It was not enough for God to say that He loves us. Jesus had to show it by fully embracing his own suffering and death which eventually leads to great love. It means, God allows suffering to enter our vulnerable state, to be disfigured, to feel abandoned and enter into shame. This is what distinguishes the Christian religion from other religions on the planet. It is shown on that hill far away, where Jesus Christ wills to hang in mortal agony for the world’s salvation. We have to allow these feelings, and invite God’s presence to hold and sustain us in a time of collective prayer and lament.

Recently, while visiting some poor villages in Myanmar, I was approached by two groups of school children and parents. Their only request was to bless and pray for them through their pain. As people of faith in a wounded world, we are people of compassion, we are feeling the suffering of the children.  As we focus on the paschal mystery of one man whose name is above all other names, the image of the invisible God, our mission remains - to bring comfort and healing to the Christ’s body breaking before us.

May this Paschal Triduum be a time of renewed gratitude for the gift of Christ and the cross he mounted in order, out of an incomprehensible depth of love, to redeem the world.

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD is the Provincial of the SVD Australia Province.

PHOTO: Provincial, Fr Rass is pictured spending time this Holy Week with a family in Myanmar, where the SVD is in ministry.