Contemplative in the Mud

The Sufferings of Little Jesus

3–5 minutes

Benjamin Embley

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2 comments on The Sufferings of Little Jesus
At the Ruins of Saint Paul's in Macao, little Jesus is surrounded by the instruments of his Passion
At the Ruins of Saint Paul’s in Macao, little Jesus is surrounded by the instruments of his Passion

The interior sufferings of Jesus, as a child, were greater than the exterior sufferings of Jesus in Holy Week. Really: the interior sufferings of the child Jesus “outweigh”, so to speak, the exterior afflictions and sufferings of Jesus’ Passion. This is something that Marcel Văn says in his Conversations with Jesus, Mary, and Thérèse. As we enter Holy Week, let’s check out what exactly Marcel says, what he means, and whether it’s true.

Towards the end of April 1946, while in his novitiate year with the Redemptorists in Hanoi and writing down his familiar “conversations” with Jesus, Mary, and Thérèse, Little Văn had a silly thought:

Van, 7 years oldThis silly thought came to my mind: all the external suffering that you have endured from the moment of your arrest until your last sigh on the cross, even all these sufferings, I say to myself, are not comparable to the least interior suffering that you send me…

But this silly thought, directed at himself and the way Jesus, in his wisdom, treats Marcel, doesn’t stay long focused there. It quickly occurs to Marcel that it’s even more true of Jesus:

Ah! Little Jesus, I love you. You suffered much more interiorly than externally.

The key phrase here is Little Jesus. Marcel is not only thinking of the interior sufferings of Holy Week. He is actually intending to talk about the interior sufferings of the Holy Child Jesus, of “Little Jesus”. This is emphasized by some words of explanation and clarification given by Jesus some days later:

If your father Saint Alphonsus had not loved me as a child, if he had not understood my life as a child, neither would he have been able to understand the death that I endured on the cross.

We are certainly talking about the necessity of seeing Little Jesus’ world – and, by extension, Little Jesus’ sufferings. Jesus adds,

The outward sorrows endured until my death are nothing compared with the interior pain that I left in childhood in thinking of the sufferings I would have to endure later.

Marcel! It is easier to suffer in the present than to think of the sufferings that one will have to endure later.

What is this “suffering in the present” that is greater than suffering in the future? Surely it is not an act of worrying about the Divine Providence. We know for sure (Mt 6:25–34) that this is excluded. But it is also possible, for the Agony in the Garden, while part of the Passion of Jesus, also comes before the arrest. Although much closer to the time, this is a “suffering in the present” on behalf of the future. What then could such “suffering in the present” be? Surely it is simply knowing that this suffering is necessary, that it has a cause (our own sin and evil), that it will reveal the interior of others’ hearts. And that, for Little Jesus whose heart is all Love, is suffering indeed.

Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at Holy Redeemer Church in Bangkok, ThailandIndeed, we have a glimpse of the Church’s attitude towards this truth in the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help: Jesus is shown the instruments of the Passion as a young child. For what reason? Because, surely, he suffers interiorly for this at all times, not discontinuously only at his Passion, but in his entire living humanity.

Is it true that the least interior suffering is greater than all of Jesus’ external sufferings? Yes, of course. The two are linked, connected, not absolutely cut off one from another. But interior suffering is always greater because it occurs in the spiritual part of a person. It is like asking whether a child’s rough knowledge of things is greater than a well adapted, clever dog’s, elephant’s, or dolphin’s. Yes, it is. Always. It has passed through the spirit; that is enough. Or we could think about the fact that obedience, which is a kind of penance of our intellect and judgment, is greater than bodily works of penance. The logic is the same. It is the same with suffering. The least interior, spiritual suffering of Little Jesus in anticipation of knowing that others’ sin will be made known is greater than his external suffering in Holy Week. (Indeed, as John of the Cross and Marcel both assert, it is this interior suffering which is more properly the cause of Jesus’ death than his external suffering.)

How much Jesus loves us and did from the moment of the Incarnation to his Death! It is a great mystery. And it’s true: if we don’t really appreciate the depth and the prolongation of the mystery into Nazareth and Jesus’ childhood, do we really understand the Cross?

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Benjamin Embley

With backgrounds in engineering (BSc PhD) and philosophy (MA), Ben has lived and worked in England, France, and Thailand and is now back home as a settler in the unceded traditional territory of the Wabanaki peoples in Canada. He is a Laudato Si’ Animator and currently studying an MTS Peace & Justice in Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

2 responses to “The Sufferings of Little Jesus”

  1. sandyfaithking Avatar
    sandyfaithking

    Interesting. I wonder if this relates to Jesus’ mother, too – in the sense that she watched her beautiful boy (do all mothers think their boys are beautiful? I do – and I can imagine that, knowing how special Jesus was, Mary did too) live and grow, but she knew all along that ‘a sword would pierce [her] soul’ as it says in Luke 2:35. She had the struggle of trusting and obeying, too, and suffering on Jesus’ behalf… Maybe that is part of being a mother. All this is pure speculation but, I wonder, when Jesus was on the cross and his mother was there watching him die, whether it was Jesus’ interior pain on his mother’s behalf that at that point was worse than the physical pain? Whether the cry of ‘forgive them, Father, they know not what they do’ is also an expression of this interior pain? I can’t read the story of the night at Gethsemane without tears. Very interesting. I will have to think about this some more. Thank you – always something challenging on this blog!

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    1. Ben (เบ็น) Avatar
      Ben (เบ็น)

      I think you have a very good point. Mary suffered interiorly. A lot. Simeon prophesied it. And as you say, it makes sense.

      As to whether the cry “Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they are doing,” expresses the interior pain: Yes, I think so. I think the interior pain must come out in all the words and actions recorded of Jesus. But of course, the visible and the spoken are just the tip of the iceberg. Some things are, to some extent, beyond words.

      P.S. This quote about the suffering of Christ and Mary in doing the Father’s Will (trusting and obeying) is somewhat related: https://contemplativeinthemud.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/a-separating-will/

      P.P.S. Western/Latin Catholics have a devotion called the “Seven Sorrows of Mary” (not everyone practises it, of course, but some do): Simeon’s prophecy, the escape to Egypt, the loss of Jesus in the temple at age 12, Mary and the holy women meeting Jesus on the road to Calvary, Jesus’ death, Jesus coming down from the cross, Jesus being buried. Mary’s pain was probably in other events in her life (just like Jesus’). But these ones we know of. They’re all events of (primarily) interior suffering on Mary’s part. So I think you are right to bring Mary into the discussion of interior suffering, for sure. The Scriptures seem to agree. =)

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