The fourth step of humility is that in this obedience under difficult, unfavorable, or even unjust conditions, his heart quietly embraces suffering and endures it without weakening or seeking escape.
The Rule of St. Benedict, 7:35-36
This step gets into some tricky territory, especially for those who are trying to draw out some of toxicity that has afflicted the church and theology for too long. What I mean by this is, there is a pretty strident (and well-founded) critique of theology that glorifies suffering in any way, or applies some sort of salvific effect to it. Suffering, these voices rightly remind us, is not good, and should be desired. Because, too often, those telling us that to suffer will earn us God’s favor are profiting off of or otherwise benefitting from the suffering of others while surreptitiously avoiding it themselves. This move is at the heart of much religious abuse, and should be uncovered and called out at every opportunity.
At the same time, it cannot be denied that the One we are called to emulate in our lives is one who willing suffered and died for the sake of others, and the Scriptures call us multiple times to embrace our suffering and count it as nothing if done out of our love for others. This is the Biblical foundation St. Benedict finds in this fourth step, and it sets up a pretty narrow tightrope to walk in our faith. How do we imitate the One who suffered and died for us in our service of others, without at the same time coming to prescribe that suffering as necessary for salvation (social or personal)?
I think understanding suffering within the context of humility can be an important check on the toxic tendencies identified above. Humility requires a radical emptying of ego and of self, to de-center our need for glorification or recognition in our actions. The truly humble person serves others not for the praise they will receive for doing so, but for the sake of the act of service itself. Jesus confirms this, as when he commands that those he heals tell no one he has done so, or when he commands that when we pray, we do so in private. Humility is central to how Jesus lived and moved through the world, and in how he commanded his disciples to live and move.
So must it be in our suffering. For too many people, the suffering they encounter becomes a tool to receive sympathy and recognition, or to gain praise for their hardiness or fortitude. But, in a spirit of humility, suffering remains, simply, suffering, endured because it is inevitable and must be endured, not because we achieve some reward from others. This kind of quiet endurance can at times be taken on to achieve some goal or outcome that benefits others, but does so without expectation of reward. As St. Benedict says, the humble heart “embraces suffering, and endures it without weakening or seeking escape.”
This doesn’t make suffering good, or something we should seek out. And it certainly doesn’t change the fact that much suffering is unjust and benefits those in power. But the point of all of Jesus’ life, which St. Benedict was trying to shape his followers to emulate, was to turn the structures of the world on their heads in the service of raising up the lowly and glorifying God. So, too, with suffering. There are those who want to inflict suffering on others as a form of power and control, which comes into existence when we resist or we debase ourselves for the sake of pity. To resist this is to suffer quietly, and thus break the power it holds. And this resistance requires a heart committed to humility.
Justin DaMetz 