Autumn Hepler

Seton Hill University

How Will You Respond?

Did you know that pure carbon under high temperatures and extreme pressure creates
a diamond? It isn’t until that carbon has to endure such extremities that it turns into something
so rare and beautiful. Think about this. Carbon, something so ordinary and common only
becomes it’s most beautiful state after it has gone through a grueling natural process. Now
think about people in your life. Do you know of anyone who is unlike anyone you have ever met
and their life shines in a way that you can’t quite explain? Have you ever talked to that person
and learned their journey? Perhaps this ordinary person has endured great suffering in their life
and through those experiences, it has helped shape them into someone who is extraordinary.
Maybe it is through the pressures in life and the sufferings that we find our meaning in life.

In the book “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl, we learn about a man who
survived three years in a concentration camp. The descriptions of what these people had to go
through during this time is hard to even imagine. These people were forced to separate
themselves from their families, be stripped of all of their belongings, only to be left with their
bare nakedness. They no longer were known by their names, but a number that was tattooed
onto their bodies. To think about losing everything you had known only to be treated like an
animal is degrading to say the least. Despite the harsh conditions these poor people had to
bear, some of the men managed to find humor and meaning for living to continue on fighting
for another day. Time and time again in the book, Frankl would say profound things that
showed it was basically mind over matter. Viktor said, “Suffering ceases to be suffering at the
moment it finds meaning.” We learned in Chapter 2 of Faith, Religion & Theology that “God can
bring goodness, love, and meaning out of suffering.” (P.45-46) I personally loved when Richard
Chaput said “…the only way he survived was to refuse to believe that God sat in heaven pushing
buttons marked “accident,” “polio,” or “cancer.” He decided that his condition was part of an
imperfect world, and he insisted on believing that God was a loving and caring Father who
would help him through anything.” (P.45) Those poor people at the concentration camps could
have easily played the victim card and cursed God that He allowed that to happen to them.
Maybe many of them did do that. But with Viktor’s story, he knew there was more for his life.
Viktor knew that everything he had ever known or worked for could be taken from him, but he
still had the freedom to choose how he would respond. And that was something that nobody
could ever take from him.

We are not guaranteed a life without suffering. In Romans 5:3-5 we learn, “More than
that, we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance
produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because
God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
“Here the Christian is not only a believer, but also one who is both aware of and active in the
struggles for human dignity. The faithful Christian here is not a mere spectator of life, watching
from a safe distance of prayer and churchgoing, but an active disciple of the Lord.” (P.55) We
can find joy when we are faced with various trials in life for the testing of our faith proves to be
immovable. (James 1:2-4) We know that “Faith is always a calculated risk.” (P.11) This is
especially true when it comes to human faith. “No matter how calculated our decision to
believe in something or someone, we seldom have absolute certainty. Faith in sense is always
“without seeing.” (P.11) Frankl embodied 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we live by believing and not by
seeing.” Despite what prior human faith Viktor had before he had to succumb to the
concentration camps, he chose to believe in something better than what was going on in front
of him. Viktor had no guarantee of ever getting out of the torture he was in or that he would
ever get to see his wife again. He didn’t know if he would ever get to write his book or see
another sun rise. But Viktor believed what he could not see. He knew there was something
much greater and that faith got him out alive. How many of us could say that we would have
had the faith and the strength to live through those horrid living conditions? “We say that faith
is a gift because, in faith, we are enabled to reach beyond ourselves and our world to a divine
reality that is beyond, transcendent to our human capacities.” (P.36)

We may find ourselves in situations where the suffering seems unbearable. We may find
ourselves questioning why life is the way it is. In chapter 2 we learn that “…it is possible to think
that we are losing our faith, when, in fact, we are simply questioning some of our beliefs.”
(P.45) Most people end up having doubts about their faith, but we can rest assured that “Faith
is stepping out, an extending of self in love. We all want to love and be loved, but we soon
recognize that no human love can fully satisfy us. There is Someone who loves us and who can
be loved with complete abandon.” We will all experience different journeys in life and no two
people will go through the same suffering, but it isn’t about comparing our journey to others. It
is however, our responsibility to choose how we will respond to everything we experience. We
can choose to sit on the sidelines and be consumed in our self-pity or pride, or we can choose
to rise up by grabbing ahold of our faith and extend love to one another. Yes we have very
different stories, but we are all a part of something so much bigger and wonderful. The
meaning of our life can change with each passing stage in our life from childhood to old age.
One thing we can learn from Frankl is that no matter how hard life gets, we can dig deep into
our faith and rise above it. His story is one of courage and strength that can only come from
God. We can also learn from Faith, Religion & Theology that we will all go through different
phases of beliefs and faith. God has given us the free will to choose what we want to do with it.
My question to you is, how will you respond?