In Lent, we remember the trials and the death of Christ in a way that invites suffering and silence into our present lives. But if we believe that resurrection is real and ongoing, and if we believe that the Lenten wilderness leads to new life, how does that change our response to suffering? Here, J Rourke, a first-year MA in Counseling Psychology student, reflects on how the Jesus story transforms our usual understanding of suffering—particularly the ways we choose to respond to it.
Buddhism has taught me a lot about Lent.
In my paraphrase, there are four key statements that define Buddhism:
Life is suffering.
The root of suffering is submission to suffering.
Suffering can be chosen, and unchosen.
The cure for suffering is practicing redemption.
I was raised a Christian. I went to a Christian college, where giving up sugar for Lent (and replacing it with Splenda) was suffering. Giving up Facebook for a month was common chosen suffering. One year I fasted, another I took on vegetarianism (and kept it piously for five years after). Once, I was almost convinced to give up sarcasm! Almost.
My classmates and I were trying to choose suffering to remember suffering is optional. The slight ache of missing something we liked was supposed to remind us of a greater suffering: Jesus died. And it hurt.
Another way of stating the purpose of Lent is that Jesus submitted himself to this world, and he suffered for it. Lent is the Christian time to remember: life is suffering.
Yet Lent invites us to something beyond remembering. Lent invites us to do what Jesus did, to suffer, so we can experience the truth now: life is suffering. For Christians to do this, Buddhism has to go backwards:
Give up something you like, stop practicing redemption.
Live with this choice.
Do not avoid your desire for this choice to change.
Abide unmet desire: suffer.
Without resurrection this life is normal. Lent invites us to the truest of hurt: when we avoid and repress our desires, we submit to a life of suffering. But the Jesus story invites new life, something beyond a submission to suffering as usual.
So I invite you to reflect during Lent: how will you choose to end your life of suffering?
Life is suffering.
The root of suffering is submission to suffering.
Suffering can be chosen, and unchosen.
The cure for suffering is practicing redemption.