In March of 2009 I was blessed to be on a beautiful silent Ignatian retreat and one day my director gave me the Scripture 2 Cor. 1:3-7 to pray through and reflect upon, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God. For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow. If we are afflicted, it is for your encouragement and salvation; if we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement, which enables you to endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement." As I read through this wondering what God was wanting me to see, I noticed that it says, ..."the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then I noticed it says, ....the Father of compassion and the God of all encouragement..." Wow! So I begin to dialogue with Jesus about this and asked him why this was so. He shared with me that how we approached God was going to determine how God answers us.
Here are a few of the examples he took me to. In the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was struggling, in his humanity, with knowing he was about to be put to death and a very harsh one, he needed some compassion! So Jesus said, "Father, let this cup pass by me." The Father of compassion sent angels to minister to his son. On the cross looking out at the crowd who had just put him there, Jesus knowing our sins, called upon the Father of compassion and said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." The Father of compassion forgave us. Again on the cross, after already being there for a while, and in tremendous pain and struggling to breathe, Jesus certainly needs encouragement and so Jesus cries out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Hmmm. Jesus knew this was what he had to do, and he knew if he cried out to the Father of compassion, the Father who was suffering right along with his son, his Father would have put a stop to it all right there, but the God of encouragement was there to get him through it. Then, as Jesus realizes it is all about to come to an end, he says, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." right into the hands of the Father of compassion! Isn't this just what we do when we have been in some struggles and we finally submit it totally to the Father? We surrender and melt in the arms of a Father whose compassion and love soothes our soul.
I was so in awe with this Scripture! It shows us how important it is to know the Father intimately so we know how to address him according to our need. Think about it. We are a daughter/son, an aunt/uncle, a sister/brother and who ever it is addressing us will depend upon how we respond. We would not respond to our niece or nephew in the same way we would respond to our sister or brother.
In this Scripture, Jesus is teaching us the importance of an intimate relationship with God and in all of our situations we bring before him, we stop and discern, are we going to address the Father of compassion, the God of encouragement or yes, sometimes both.
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