“WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG”: a Th Eological Synthesis of the Christian Understanding of Suff Ering and Hope
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Theology Department Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology “WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG”: A Th eological Synthesis of the Christian Understanding of Suff ering and Hope Omarr Montañez DelgadoDelgado Studenttudent ResearcherResearcher Dr. Gabinobino UríbarriUríbarri Bilbao,Bilbao, SJSJ AdviserAdviser Madrid,adrid, June 20162016 For those whose suffering has been the fount of hope of Christ on earth. Table of Contents Chapter I. Introduction 1. Nature and Purpose of the Study ...................................................................... 05 2. Suffering Defined ............................................................................................. 07 3. Why is there Suffering?: A Philosophico-Theological Overview ................... 09 Part One God: Hope in a Suffering World Chapter II. Suffering of the Son of God 1. Suffering as Christological access to a historical knowledge of God .............. 15 a. Questions on Jesus and the tasks of Christology .................................... 15 b. The Suffering of the Son of God gives Light to challenges in Christology ......................................................... 16 2. The Suffering of Christ brings Hope to Suffering Humanity ........................... 17 a. Christ’s Life and Ministry ...................................................................... 17 b. Christ’s Passion and Death on the Cross ................................................ 20 c. The Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead and His Exaltation ................ 23 3. Suffering of Christ in the Salvific Design of God ............................................ 25 a. Suffering in the New Testament Christology ......................................... 25 b. Dogmatic considerations ........................................................................ 27 4. Christ’s Suffering that brings Hope: A Systematic Recapitulation .................. 30 Chapter III. Mystery of the Suffering Triune God 1. Mystery of God in the Suffering Humanity ..................................................... 33 a. The question and knowledge of the Suffering God ................................ 33 b. The language of God in the Suffering of Man ....................................... 34 2. God’s Mysterious Revelation of Suffering through the Sacred Scriptures ...... 35 1 a. God’s Revelation to and Relation with His Suffering People in the Old Testament ............................................ 35 b. The New Testament Revelation of God through the Suffering Christ in His Paschal Mystery .......................................... 37 c. Mystery of the Suffering God viewed from its Dogmatic Determination ........................................................... 39 3. The Hope in Glory: Man’s participation in the Divine Life of God ................ 42 a. God’s Communion in the Suffering of Man: Missions, Processions and Relations ...................................................... 42 b. Unitarian and Trinitarian attributes of God ............................................ 43 Chapter IV. God’s Revelation in Suffering: the Reason of Our Hope 1. Christianity on Suffering .................................................................................. 45 a. The Reason of faith to Hope in Suffering ............................................... 45 b. Christianity towards Authentic Transcendence ...................................... 48 c. God’s Redemptive Relation to Man for Salvation ................................. 49 2. God’s Revelation in Suffering .......................................................................... 50 a. Revelation for Salvation ......................................................................... 50 b. Christ as the Summit of God’s Revelation ............................................. 52 c. Faith as Man’s Response to Revelation .................................................. 54 3. God’s Revelation in the Language of Man ....................................................... 55 a. Tradition as medium of Revelation ........................................................ 55 b. The Word of God in the Church ............................................................. 57 Part Two Man’s Suffering and the Hopeful Response of God Chapter V. Suffering and the Reality of Man 1. Creation and the Existence of Suffering ........................................................... 61 a. The Cosmic Creation and the fullness of the Love of God in Christ ..... 61 b. The mystery of man before the Mystery of God .................................... 63 c. Human condition before his own Creator ............................................... 66 2 2. Christ triumphs over Suffering from Sin and Evil ............................................. 68 a. The Existence of Evil .............................................................................. 68 b. Suffering and Sin .................................................................................... 70 c. Grace in Suffering and the Hope for Salvation ...................................... 73 Chapter VI. The Church, the People of God that Suffer, is a Testimony of her Love for and Hope in Christ 1. Belief and the Knowledge of the Church ......................................................... 75 a. The Mystery of Suffering in the Light of the Trinity ............................. 75 b. Church’s Origin, Nature, and Being in Christ ........................................ 78 2. The Church in Communion: Hope of Christ in the Suffering World ............... 81 a. The Church of God in the New Testament Context ............................... 81 b. The essence of Koinonia in Suffering .................................................... 83 3. The Church as New People of God in the Way of Salvation ........................... 85 a. Diakonia: the Church in Service of God for the World ......................... 85 b. Leiturgia: the Church in the Spirit of the Sacraments ............................ 87 c. Martyria: the Church as a Living Testimony of the Truth ..................... 88 Chapter VII. Suffering and the Signs of God’s Nearness to the World 1. Suffering Construed from the Symbol to the Sacraments ................................ 91 a. Suffering and the Sacramental Beauty of Creation ................................ 91 b. The Symbol and the Christian Identity ................................................... 92 c. Sacraments in Christian Life .................................................................. 93 2. The Celebration of Signs .................................................................................. 95 a. Suffering and the Christian Initiation ..................................................... 95 b. The Sacraments that Heal Human Suffering .......................................... 99 c. The Sacraments at the Service of the Suffering Community ................. 105 3. Sacraments in the Church of Christ .................................................................. 109 a. The Church in Suffering and the Sacraments of Christ ........................... 109 b. Sacraments of Grace and Hope ............................................................... 110 3 Part Three Suffering in the Light of Man’s Vocation and Destiny VIII. Praxis, Human Person and Suffering 1. Suffering in the Eyes of Christian Morality ..................................................... 115 a. Suffering and Moral Theology: A Contextualization ............................. 115 b. Man’s Freedom and Responsibility: A Moral Response to Suffering ... 117 2. Man’s Existence before the World ................................................................... 119 a. Human Life and its Ethical Demands ..................................................... 119 b. The Communion of Love despite Suffering ........................................... 122 c. Justice and Peace for the Suffering World ............................................. 123 IX. The Fulfillment of God’s Covenant to the World: Man’s Triumph over Suffering 1. Christians Confront Suffering with Faith, Hope and Love .............................. 127 a. Suffering Contemplated in Faith, Hope and Love .................................... 127 b. Divine and Human Relationship Enriched in Suffering ........................... 130 c. Suffering and its Relation with the Virtuous Dynamism .......................... 132 2. Hope: True Testimony of Man’s Triumph over Suffering ............................... 133 a. The Hope Grounded in Christ in the History of Salvation ....................... 133 b. Man and his Hope in the Coming of Christ .............................................. 136 c. Hope in the Resurrection and Life Eternal ............................................... 139 3. Mary, Icon and Model of an Authentic Christian Life ..................................... 143 a. The Virgin and Mother of a God who Suffers for Humanity ................... 143 b. The Mother and Model of the Church that Suffers .................................. 145 X. Conclusion and Recommendations .............................................................. 147 XI. Bibliography ................................................................................................. 149 4 I. Introduction 1. Nature and Purpose of the Study “When I am weak, then I am strong” (cf. 2 Cor 12:10): these words of the Apostle Paul will resound in the whole of the study as we traverse the reality of suffering and the mystery of hope that gives every man a sense of meaning and direction towards God. Indeed, suffering