While many tend to glorify suffering, the people who experience it are likely to disagree. Having tasted the worst in life so far, I can attest to this.
However, the belief in the virtue of suffering has been embedded in our psyche for centuries. Furthermore, there are also efforts to perpetuate that sentence for reasons known only to the perpetrators. Some take suffering as a step to heaven. Others see the sufferings as a trademark of the followers of Christ. There are religious denominations that associate or even hope that their clergy will inevitably undergo the process. Church members in our Baptist group, for example, affectionately call out to their pastors manugpangabudlay. This local dialect in the Philippines connotes hardships and hardships.
Countries with a colonial past, where religion is used in the conquest, are the most vulnerable to this fate. As in the case of the Philippines. Historians note how the colonizers integrated religion into their subjugation scheme. From feudalism to capitalist systems, religion plays an important role in the domestication of subjects. In the context of the Philippines, as nationalist historians point out, while the sword was used in conquest, the cross pacified the resistance. The bliss of poverty, mourning, oppression, and persecution as taught in the church makes people accept their fate, with relief, awaiting future reward.
The belief in the virtue of suffering is most evident during the Lenten season. Very often, crucifixion and death have been emphasized in observance. This can be attributed to the prevailing notion that the cross has saving power. Redemption has been closely associated with pain and suffering. While Easter is considered the cornerstone of the Christian faith, in practice people place emphasis on the crucifixion.
Interestingly, church authorities have tried to discourage self-inflicted rituals of pain and suffering in the celebration of Holy Week. The clergy, of various affiliations, constantly highlight the meaning of the resurrection in their Lenten sermons and teaching. Still, it has yet to penetrate the Philippine psyche. Filipinos are highly predisposed to suffering, according to Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz. “The Church cannot do much to highlight the importance of Easter among Filipinos because suffering and poverty, as well as love for children, are already deeply ingrained in Philippine culture.” He noticed.
As I was working on this series of Lenten reflections, I remember an article by a Filipino Jesuit priest. It was published after the execution of three Filipinos abroad convicted of drug offenses. Father Manoling V. Francisco maintains that suffering is not virtuous, but love is. Suffering is not even redemptive in itself. The love underlying pain makes it salvific.
Do you then deny the impact of Jesus’ sufferings? Not really. Father Francisco qualifies his statement: “Jesus’ physical torment and emotional anguish do not redeem us; his willingness to suffer for his convictions and for love of us is what saves.” You may be interested in reading her article, in Philippine Star, When Suffering Becomes Virtue.