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JMJ
"When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was himself a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be handed over. Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it [in] clean linen and laid it in his new tomb that he had hewn in the rock. Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance to the tomb and departed. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb." (Mt 27: 57-61)Suffering is woven into the fabric of life. A Christian is not different because he admits this fact but rather because he understands its redemptive quality. Sometimes, the weight of the cross can be lightened with the knowledge that a particular suffering endured has a definitive and even a joyful coda as is the case of a woman in labor, cited by Our Lord Himself. Other times, the presence of the cross, though difficult, is still readily accepted because carrying it ensures the security of one's loved ones, as occurs with a father who daily undertakes a stressful job in order to provide for his family.
However, there are other crosses born which have no foreseeable finale nor do they appear to be necessitated by a temporal gain. Those suffering are burdened with the fear of an unknowable conclusion and the frustration that their suffering is for nought.
The day of Our Blessed Lord's death was not called "Good"- except by His Mother- until Easter Sunday morning. The hearts that were heavy with grief as they buried His Sacred Body could imagine no alleviation of the sorrow that now overwhelmed them. They, his faithful followers could not understand why His Passion had to be suffered; mired in the temporal, they forgot the eternal, until Easter Sunday when His Victory over death gave meaning to His suffering and placed hope in the cross for all ages to come.
Easter Sunday does not always come so quickly after one's Good Friday; in fact, it will not be fully realized until one reaches the heavenly shores. It is only then that the tapestry of his life, woven with the many strands of suffering, will be revealed as the perfect plan of God. Until that time, Our Father asks us to patiently remain by the tomb, as the women did, and wait with trustful hearts, confident of the glorious hope that will assuredly be fulfilled.
