Suffering: A means to become the most beautiful face of the Church
In 2018, Pope Francis published an apostolic exhortation, “Gaudete et exsultate (rejoice and be glad), “on the call to holiness in today’s world. This letter states, “Holiness is the most beautiful face of the Church.”
However, the “most beautiful face of the Church” that Pope Francis refers to does not mean external beauty. The beauty here is not a matter of good looks. Rather, it is about the inner beauty of a person when the Holy Father refers to holiness as the “most beautiful face of the Church.” And he emphasizes that the path to holiness is open to all.
For St Alphonsa, the path to this beauty was the path of suffering. From the first days of her childhood to her last breath, her entire life was characterized by various kinds of physical and mental suffering. Together with her grandmother, she read the writings of St Therese of Lisieux. Even during this time, the desire grew in her to belong completely and solely to Jesus Christ as her only spouse. Deeply impressed by the life of St Therese of Lisieux, little Alphonsa decided to become a saint, too, through much prayer and penance. Her path to holiness became a “way of the cross, a path of illness and suffering,” which she later regarded as a royal path in following Christ. Alphonsa regarded her suffering as a part of the cross of Jesus. She said: “I long to suffer with joy. It seems that my Bridegroom wants to fulfill this desire!”
How does a simple person become the “most beautiful face of the Church”? Pope Francis writes: “I like to see holiness in the patient people of God: in the parents who bring up their children with so much love, in the men and women who labor to bring home the daily bread.”
We read in the Gospel of Matthew: “At that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” ( Matthew 11:25). What can children do? They can play, they can sing, they can learn many things, they can help their parents and so on. The list is long. Can children make saints? The story of St Alphonsa shows this. After her death, the children shouted in the streets: “A saint has died. She was a saint. St Alphonsa is a saint.” After her funeral, it was the children who revealed the extraordinary significance of her spirituality. They gathered with flowers in their hands to offer up their little pains and needs, feeling reassured that the sister who had loved them during their earthly lives would continue to pray for them. It is always the children who perceive the miracle of the extraordinary in the ordinary. St Alphonsa, the Passion Flower India, is a favourite saint of children. Although Alphonsa only taught at the school for one year, she greatly influenced the children.
Most of St Alphonsa’s life consisted of patiently enduring suffering; she learned to understand more and more from the cross of Christ. Suffering, her own cross, was understood as a way of following Christ. In this way, the cross, which seemed meaningless in the eyes of the world, became an instrument of salvation for those who believed.
Fr Jaison Kunnel MCBS