Nigeria has become a land of suffering and pain.  We have a superabundance of the two.  There is extreme poverty in the midst of plenty.  Some people can afford to fly business class to Dubai, to Europe or North America, while some others are compelled to trek to and from work.  They cannot even afford an Okada ride.

        Some people can send all their children to some of the most expensive schools in far away land, where there is no strike actions by academic or non-academic staff of universities, while some others cannot afford to pay their children’s school fees in Nigeria.

        Some can travel abroad to receive the best medical attention.  Some others cannot afford to buy Panadol tablets in Nigeria.

        Some people can chose what to eat and what not to eat, while some others cannot find anything to eat.

        Some people are protected by all the security agencies in the land—the police, the military and the secret service, while some are exposed to and helpless before kidnappers, bandits, herdsmen, armed robbers and Boko Haram.

        Such is the story in Nigeria.  It is a story of scandalous contrasts.  We live on a land that is richly endowed by the Almighty in his mercy.  Yet, we live in poverty and insecurity.  There is enormous suffering in the land.

        It is in this land of suffering that the word of God speaks to us.  It is in the midst of suffering that we hear the words of the Letter to the Hebrews, saying to us: “Suffering is part of your training.  God is treating you as his sons.  Has there ever been any son whose father did not train him?”

        With those words, the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews calls to our attention how tough it is to be a child of God.  God appears to leave us to suffer.  Is He still our Father?

        While many preach today that suffering is not the “portion” of a child of God, the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews is teaching us that suffering is part of the life of a child of God, that God who loves us uses suffering to train us.  The writer admits that suffering is painful.  But he also says, “later, in those on whom it has been used, it bears fruit in peace and goodness.”

        In a passage that is found in the same Letter to the Hebrews, the author tells us about Jesus, saying, “Son though he was, he learnt obedience through suffering.”

        Now, this teaching is very tough.  How can a God who loves allow any of his children to suffer?  Why is there so much suffering, so much pain in the world?

        The Letter to the Hebrews answers: Suffering makes us grow again.  It is not that God makes us suffer.  But he does allows us to suffer.  We should not pray for suffering and pain.  But they will come.  And when they come, they test our faith.  They come to test if indeed we love God in good times and in bad.  Can I still keep my faith in God when suffering comes my way?  That is a question every Christian has to answer.

        When Jesus called us to follow him, he did not promise us a trouble-free life.  If anything, he teaches us that whoever wishes to follow him must take up his cross daily, and follow him.  He tells those who wish to follow him to pass through the narrow door.  And we all know how difficult it is to pass through a narrow door.  But the narrow door that leads to salvation is the tough teaching of Christianity, the teaching of the Gospel.  It is not easy to live according to the Gospel of Christ.  Living according to the Gospel is like passing through a narrow door.  Yet, Jesus admonishes us, saying, “Try your best to enter through the narrow door.”  That is, try your best to live a life that conforms to the teaching of Christ.  But, as we all know, living according to the teachings of Christ brings suffering.

        Today, there are people who go to Church but whose lives do not reflect what the Gospel of Christ is all about.  They do not want to pass through the narrow door that the Gospel is.  They are looking for an easy Christianity.  But an easy Christianity is a contradiction in terms.  It is not easy to be a true Christian because if you want to be one, you will not conform to the standards of our world, but to the standard of the Gospel, the standard of Christ.  And when you try to be faithful to the Gospel, which is what we all must do, you pay a price for it.

        Think of the public official who refuses to join the bandwagon of bribery and corruption.  He or she may not be promoted.

        You want to renew your driver’s license or your international passport.  If you refuse to bribe the one who is to carry your file, what you should obtain in two hours may not be obtained in three years.

        You are a business man or woman, and you want to be honest in your business.  You may not make a profit.  The dishonest makes huge profit.  The honest makes nothing.

        You are young woman, single and searching, but you refuse to have premarital sex with your boyfriend.  You may end up not getting married.  Those who jump from bed to another are getting married.  But the men they marry are not their husbands.

        You dress in ways that expose your body and reveal the contours of your body, mistaking indecency for fashion.  You will attract men, no doubt, not because they love you, but because they love your flesh and the sexual pleasure it offers.

        The narrow door that Christ is asking us to pass through is the narrow door of fidelity to our Christian calling.  It may not bring comfort.  It may not make you rich and famous.  But the word of God in the Letter to the Hebrews assure us by saying: faithfulness to God in the midst of suffering bears fruit in peace and goodness.

        Let us remember this: God is not a manufacturer of suffering.  But God provides us with strength to overcome suffering.  He gives us the strength in the reassuring words of the Letter to the Hebrews, in the body and blood of his Son which we receive in the holy sacrifice of the Mass—the food that gives us strength, peace and goodness.

Father Anthony Akinwale, O. P.