Suffering and Rebirth

By Pragmatikos Theophilus

To the surprise of few, life has been known to have suffering. Woes that could last momentarily, or persist for years; some woes lasting one's entire time here on earth. Suffering can be a difficult topic for some, with both physical and mental forces causing pressure that one succumbs to, for misery's sake. Even without the presence of obvious stress – though mental health is hit-or-miss for some groups – one's thoughts may dwell upon death and futility. Others raise up nihilism, projecting suffering onto existence, painting over the intent of life in order to render the pain moot. However, to first understand suffering, someone should ask: What is a life?

This does not have to be as burdensome a question for our purposes as philosophers have made it in the past. The point in asking this now is only, and simply, to understand how to treat the value of life – specifically your own life. The Lord gave us Christians a promise that most have likely heard by now: we will be given a new life after death. The meaning of "life after death" at face value may seem like, 'we die, our bodies decay, and so our life is gone; a new life replaces and overwrites our previous one'; this is a mistaken way to think.

We all know Jesus died to redeem us from death and sin, but the word "redeem" here was translated specifically from the Greek apolytrōsis, meaning a release or freeing through the payment of a ransom, or price. He does not re-create our lives; he liberates them from the grasp of death, and transitions us to a new life in turn. This new life does not overwrite our experience, but to be born again in spirit. The Lord explained being "born again" to Nicodemus, who was confused given his age – how could he be born again if his parents were long dead? Jesus explained: "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit" (John 3:6). Through the Holy Spirit, and through belief in Jesus, our life is redeemed, and we are reborn spiritually; separate from our bodies, for which God has a different plan.

When Jesus died and was resurrected, his body was raised, and his disciples could see his wounds. He showed a disbelieving Thomas: "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side" (John 20:27). Those wounds were there to show that it was truly him — "Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have" (Luke 24:39). The Catholic Church teaches that this same transfiguration awaits those the Lord has chosen; the same life we have now, but without pain, decay, or death.

It is a tragedy, then, when life is given up in defeat. Though many people don't like to talk about it, many people in suffering or mental distress have chosen to end their life on their own terms, for various reasons. The Church has long recognized that grave psychological anguish, illness, or suffering can diminish a person's freedom and responsibility, so that culpability before God is not ours to judge. But where suicide is a truly willful act – a conscious, deliberate refusal of the life one has been given – the real tragedy lies there: in the refusal itself. If we are offered the promise of new life, God will not force it upon us if we ourselves refuse it. 

Then, how should we treat our lives in the face of suffering? The thing to remember is that our lives were bought. "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). Sins against the body are a real thing, and we should remember the relationship of our bodies as the housing of the Holy Spirit. Pain and suffering of the body will be gone when we are reborn. Do not disparage your life, which houses the Holy Spirit; suffering is not something worthy of overtaking your life.