The practice of nursing in the intersection where medical and legal/criminal systems overlap is known as forensic nursing. The basic premise of forensic nursing is that a nurse in this specialty will care for patients who are injured as a result of violence. This can include either the perpetrator or the victim of the violent act, but it is usually the victim who is the patient. Patients who are the victims of abuse, assault or other physically aggressive violence often suffer from deeply-inflicted trauma in the psychological, physical, and even social senses. A forensic nurse is educated and trained to be an expert in the needs and requirements of the law as it relates to victims and perpetrators of violent crimes, and can play an important role in a legal action. They may provide evidence they have collected, may testify in court regarding the patient and the injuries inflicted, and may play a consulting role for the authorities involved in the legal proceedings.
Just as with any other nurse, the primary responsibility of a forensic nurse is to provide the best possible medical and health care for patients. The difference is that the patients in forensic nursing have been assaulted, abused or otherwise injured, and the nurse is an expert in the optimum treatment for all injuries, whether they are physical or mental. Most often the nature of these injuries is sexual, and rape victims and victims of other types of sexual abuse and aggression are the first patients assigned to a forensic nurse.
Skills in many areas uncommon for a regular nurse come into play in this case. A forensic nurse can identify injuries, professionally evaluate the type and extent of the injuries, document the details and results of the abusive incident, and properly collect and store evidence of the crime, both physical and biological. A forensic nurse must also be able to communicate effectively with legal representatives and law enforcement authorities, and testify as an expert witness in courtroom proceedings regarding the case at hand.
There are different types of forensic nurses, who can specialize even within their specialty, so to speak. Victims of sex crimes will be the majority of the patients in forensic nursing, especially in the US, but there are other areas of specialization possible as well. One track for a forensic nurse to take is to be a death investigator, sometimes even acting as a coroner in local government. These nurses specialize in investigating and documenting the causes and circumstances of death, and in dealing with the legal authorities and families involved as a result of the death.
Having these types of nurses on staff is increasingly important for corrections facilities, psychiatric and mental hospitals, and rehabilitation centers. Specialization is also possible for forensic nurses who are interested in helping victims of domestic violence, and elder and child abuse and neglect, in emergency services facilities and staff training, and in public health clinics and agencies. In all of these cases, the nurse provides care to the patient and interfaces with the legal authorities as needed, but each one requires an extensive knowledge of law and law enforcement in small areas of practice.
Forensic nursing is important in the effort to reduce violent crime because these medical experts can be highly visible members of a team that provides care to victims of violent crimes. Their testimony and the documentation and evidence they can provide may be crucial in obtaining a satisfactory legal outcome for a victim and patient. By fulfilling the role they have chosen, forensic nurses become an important part of the overall effort to administer justice in a community, and will have a very rewarding career.
Christian Counseling: Lenten themes and Palm Sunday
In Christian Counseling or Spiritual Direction, the week prior to Palm Sunday should emphasize a few Lenten themes.
Christian Counseling and Palm Sunday Themes
First, one can see the materialistic and worldly ideals of the Jews as Christ enters Jerusalem. They are expecting a Messiah that will usher in a new golden age for Israel that will relinquish the Romans and raise Israel above all other nations. The reality is Christ did not come to undo the chains of the Romans but to free the Jews and Gentiles from a greater tyrant whom was Satan. The spiritual drama that was unfolding was far greater than what the mere eyes of the Jews thought they saw. Yet the inferior worldly expectations of the Jews would transform Christ from a liberating hero to a despised criminal. Shouts of adoration would be replaced with curses of rebuke and the cross would replace the crown.
In reflection, one should consider what expectations do we have from this world? Do we expect a worldly kingdom of riches as the Jews did? Has the Great Fast purged these worldly desires from our souls or do material goods still dominate the greater good which is spiritual?
If anything, the Great Fast should have in the very least opened our eyes to a deeper reality that is beyond the mere physical world. The Great Fast or Lent should have deepened our spiritual eyes to see beyond the illusions of this world. Our fasting and sacrifices should have strengthened our will over our physical urges thus reinforcing the superiority of the spiritual realm over the temporal. In walking with Christ these Forty days, the palms in our hands should wave in adoration for what Christ has given us spiritually not physically.
Finally, where will we stand at the end of the week? Will we wave our palms this Sunday and then after Easter return to our old ways? Will we boast like Peter, and proclaim our love of Christ but then at the end of the week, deny him? Will we stay awake for that one hour with Christ in the garden, or later fall asleep? Instead, let us hope that our Lenten gains will not be superficial as the false praise of the Jews, but instead be true and strong long after Palm Sunday. At the end of Lent, will our sacrifices be fruitless, or will we stand with Mary, John and the Holy Women at the foot of the cross to the very end?
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Christian Counseling Education Program: Christ’s agony in Gethsemane
Christian Counseling Education Program can give those in grief deep insights by comparing one’s grief to Christ. In
regards to Christ, the pinnacle of mental human anguish would be to foresee one’s death, especially if that death involved torture and pain at the highest levels. Jesus experienced this intense mental grief to the extent he sweat blood.It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that Christ heroically, in all his humanity, accepted the burden of sin and its cruel bite.The divine nature of Christ foresaw, while the human nature trembled and accepted the horrible tortures of the whippings, thorns, cross and nails that would be instruments in his painful death.Yet within the two wills of Christ blended a perfect harmonious person, one in person, two in nature, but undivided in his acceptance of this pain.This pain that Christ felt in the garden was a true mental torture.He was completely human, not a phantasm, or incomplete shell for the divine, but a human person, free from sin, but nonetheless submitted to the same psychological torture any man would face in such terrible tribulation.In this one must stand in awe of Christ’s heroic personality. In his deepest grief, even as his friends fall asleep for that one hour, Christ prays and accepts his cross, his suffering and his grief as God’s will. He does not flee the scene, use his divine powers, or wager with the Father, but instead heroically and triumphantly accepts the pains and grief he will endure for the love of the world. Within this drama unfolds two equally intriguing elements of Christ’s passion. One is theological and involves God’s plan for the salvation of the world and the other involves the praxis of acceptance and example.
Christian Counseling Implications
The first theological implication involves analogy and pre-figurement. Only scripture in its intricate beauty can parallel two events that were forever bound together. The first is Christ as the New Adam. The Old Adam in the Garden of Eden, followed his own will and befell the temptation of the serpent, or Lucifer. The New Adam in the Garden of Gethsemane, follows the will of the Father and crushes the head of the serpent; with the Old Adam, humanity fell, with the New Adam, humanity was raised.
The second implication is more personal. It does not involve the salvation of everyone but involves individual example Christ gives to one. Christ reveals in his most vulnerable state what it means to accept the crosses of this world and how we must all accept our crosses. No matter what grief or pain may become of it, Christ presents himself as the perfect paradigm and example on how a Christian should and must accept his daily crosses. Christian Counseling sessions should emphasize this ideal.
This is a bitter sweet reality. Christ’s passion should make us all weep, but unlike a distant deity, Christ is a deity that not only teaches via example, but ultimately sheds his own blood for his people and rises triumphantly. This should give anyone in grief a light of hope that after suffering always comes resurrection. This ideal should also be utilized by Christian Counselors in their sessions.
Christian Counseling Training Program: A uniqiue view on Suffering
Christian Counseling Training Program
Christian Counseling and how one deals with suffering has unique ideals. The idea of suffering and happiness differs from culture to culture and religion to religion. The Hindu tradition speaks of escape via deification, and the Buddhist tradition speaks of escape via annihilation. The old philosophy of Manichaeism claims a dualistic godhead—one of evil and one of good who battle throughout the ages. Other explanations dismiss the religious and approach suffering as a reality without any theological significance—it merely is. They claim that the materialistic world evolves without any spiritual meaning and the classic struggle for survival of the fittest is the key drama that unfolds with happiness for some and suffering for those defeated.
Christian Counseling and the Theistic Tradition
The theistic tradition stemming from Abraham, however, offers a solution to suffering—sin and reparation. It denies that suffering is something to escape but to be endured and accepted. God originally created a perfect world, but via the sin of Adam, death and suffering entered into the world. Christianity, Islam and Judaism all accept this universally and pray for the coming of an eschatological figure that will bring judgment to a fallen world.
Hence the theistic tradition accepts suffering as a reality but with this acceptance, many find criticism. How can the evil of suffering co-exist with a good God? The other traditions dismiss a personal God or treat suffering as illusion or something of a negation, but the Theistic tradition accepts death and suffering as concrete realities of a fallen state. Hence why would a good God allow this? In answering the agnostic and atheistic challenge, the theistic tradition has emphasized the sin of man as the reason for suffering and death, but it does not answer enough. Why would a good God who can foresee man’s fall, still permit such a tragedy and why would a good God punish humanity so intensely? Again, the theistic tradition answers the challenge. St. Augustine teaches that free will was the cause of sin and hence suffering. Evil was not the creation of a good God, but a deviation from the source, as darkness is to light. This deviation from the “light” was due to free will. Was free will worth it? God in making man in his image and likeness gave man choice- The power to utilize his intellect and make a decision with all the consequences. If that choice was not made available to man, then he could not be made in the image and likeness of God. In being made in the image and likeness of God, a spiritual being must have the ability to think and choose in a rational way unlike the rest of creation. In that man and the angels share a common trait and in that common trait both fell.
The theistic tradition, however, does not leave creation fallen and broken, but promises relief from suffering and pain, but only through death. Death is the irreversible scar of man’s sin that must be embraced. While the three primary creeds of theism all offer hope and redemption, only one of these creeds proceeds beyond a distant dictation from heaven that eventually help will come. While the other two traditions present a loving God who punishes, only one presents a father who is willing to leave his throne and enter into the cold, dark night and find his children at risk to his own health. This unique salvation and understanding of suffering is through Christianity.
The Christian Tradition
Christianity is the only theistic tradition that shows a God who does not merely arbitrarily proclaim death and suffering as a product of man’s bad decisions, but also portrays a God who teaches and via example shows humanity how to accept suffering. The perfect paradigm in this is Jesus Christ. Unlike the other theistic traditions, the Christian tradition has a God who is intimately involved in the salvation of mankind at the expense of falling victim to the same punishment of sin—suffering and death. How could this be? The answer is seen through the unique mystery of the Incarnation, where a loving God who could never suffer, took upon human flesh, and made himself vulnerable to the cold of the fallen world. In this mystery, the 2nd Person of the Blessed Trinity, while retaining his divine nature, clothed himself in human flesh and offered himself as a victim in complete sacrifice for his fallen children—to not only redeem, but also to be the perfect example in how to live life and to suffer properly.
St. Thomas Moore, in his writings, points out the errors of past Christians or non-believers who did not comprehend the truth of the Incarnation. To some, Jesus seemed only human in his sufferings and the divinity was dismissed due to this, while to others, his humanity was swept away and made incomplete through the various teachings of Arius and the Gnostics. The reality within the Christian tradition is quite clear concerning Christ’s suffering. The 2nd person of the Trinity was a divine being who did not deserve suffering and yet still took upon human flesh and suffered and grieved as any human being does today via Jesus. Christian Counselors should make their sessions emphasize this to the grieving.
The Lord did not clothe himself in flesh and proclaim himself a king avoiding all sufferings and mishaps of life but accepted the cruelty of the world. Although a king, he denounced the warmth of a palace or the many riches of the world, but embraced the stable, the poverty of a carpenter’s son and eventually the weight of the cross. He became our example on how to accept grief and death in this world.
It is prudent to reflect on the unjust suffering our redeemer endured due to our mistakes. Did he not suffer and grieve as we do? Did not the death of family and friends pierce his heart as it does to us? Did he not grieve the death of his father? –Or His cousin St. John the Baptist? Yet in these deaths and the many sufferings, did he not console those who grieved and suffered? Did he not even console the grieving women while he carried ultimately his own cross to his death? Did he not console the family of Lazarus and ultimately raise him from the dead? Merely reflect on the suffering of Christ throughout scripture, the passion stories, and the Stations of the Cross and how he heroically overcomes these trials as a perfect example. Yet did his perfect nature deserve such a fate?
Reflect also upon the suffering of his mother, who shared her son with the world. Did she deserve the pain of seeing her son cruelly and unjustly scourged, mocked and finally crucified? Merely look at her seven sorrows that are outlined in her life! Not only would she witness Christ’s ultimate suffering and death, but she would be reminded of the prophecy of his eventual death well before Christ’s death. The stinging whisper would haunt her heart throughout her life. Yet in all her suffering, and the suffering of her son, one can see two things. First, one can see a paradigm or model on how Christians are to accept the suffering the world gives to them and second, a gift of hope and love that our God does not distantly and arbitrarily decree suffering as a result of sin, but shares in it. This is the ultimate love and compassion of God. It is a love that accepts an unjust death for another.
Throughout history we see the burning love of the saints for God. We see them triumphantly accept martyrdom or the approach of death. They hope to transform death into victory as Christ utilized his death for our victory. The saints realized that suffering and death are a part of this world but only a temporary element of our overall existence. In that, they accepted the suffering that co-exists with this fallen state and hoped to transform it with love in the model of Christ. While some saints accepted the suffering as it came to them, many heroically with a burning love for Christ accepted many amazing supernatural pains. While some Christians may remain skeptical, there are accounts of stigmata where saints, whose love transcended the planet, embraced the pain of their savior in thanksgiving, reparation and adoration of their Lord. Some saints such as St. Francis of Assisi or in the modern day, Padre Pio, felt the full pain of the stigmata with the five wounds of Christ. Other saints throughout the history of the church suffered individual wounds, such as St. Rita and the mark of the thorn that pierced her forehead. Still despite the dramatic sensationalism of these events, other saints merely accepted the everyday crosses given to them by their savior, most notably, St. Theresa, the Little Flower, whose daily penances involved offering up the little things of daily life.
The saints clearly understood that Christ’s life was subject to unjust suffering—suffering he could have avoided but accepted because He loved mankind so much. In return, as a child hopes to repay his father even in the smallest gift, the saints transformed earthly suffering and elevated it to a supernatural level as Christ did. They used him as their paradigm and model in giving back to Him and their fellow man—serving as fellow examples in how a Christian with dignity accepts suffering and death and transforms it into something beautiful.
Does this remove the sting of suffering or grief? No. It did not for Christ or the saints; it merely gives us direction and guidance in the dark times when we will all suffer. We can suffer as the atheist—who denounces his affliction, or we can embrace our afflictions when they do come and accept them as the will of God. If our savior would be willing to die for us, would he not guide one in these dark times as well? In these dark times of pain and suffering, it will hurt, but at least in the Christian tradition, we know our father is holding us and sharing in every part of our grief. It helps us realize that the reality of this world is not merely a punishment but the only other way things could be—because if there was another way, I am sure our Lord would have looked for it—but in conclusion merely said in the garden, “Thy will be done”. Christian Counseling sessions should emphasize these values. To learn more about Christian Grief, you can also click here
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Christian Counseling and the Grief of Mary
Christian Counseling sessions can utilize Mary’s suffering in helping those who suffer today. Mary knew she would give up her son and share him with the world. Her heart was torn when they fled Herod and fled to Egypt, her heart was pierced when Simeon reminded her of Jesus’ fate and she was tormented as she watched her son physically carry his cross to his death. She spiritually suffered with her son through every slap, every curse, every whip, every thorn, every fall, every nail, and every second of torture on the cross. Her traumatic grief surpassed that of any parent. The grief she knew cannot be imagined. She herself “died “that day as well.
Mary as an example of suffering in Christian Counseling
Our Lord is seen as the ultimate paradigm of suffering. He is the suffering servant who unjustly but willfully allowed himself to grieve and suffer a most tortuous death for the salvation of man. Yet as Adam fell with Eve, so Christ rose with his own Eve. This New Eve is a title reserved for Mary. As Eve, she is not the primary reason for the fall or in Mary’s particular case the redemption, but as Eve she also plays a pivotal role aside her Adam, who is Jesus. Mary represents a suffering servant in concert with Christ who willingly sacrifices her son for the sake of mankind. She accepts the sufferings of Christ, shares in them with her son, watches him die and holds his sacred body in her trembling and grief stricken body. In this Mary does deserve thanks and patronage and also to be imitated and revered as a model of Christian suffering. Christian counselors can use her as an example to help others who experience suffering in their own lives.
As stated her whole life was a life of sacrifice and grief leading to the ultimate piercing of her heart at Calvary. She was not spared the pain simply of her title, “Mother of God”, but like the King of the Universe, this spiritual Queen set the same example while on earth and accepted the crosses of this temporal reality. It is thus prudent and wise to utilize the rich spirituality of Christianity regarding the meditations of Mary and her life. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to inter denominational cross fire between Christians and their perspectives on the role of Mary. I feel that such differences can be dogmatic at times but that a lot of the mistrust is a result of merely local customs.
Within the Protestant camp is an idea of Mary as Mother of God but after that, especially in more fundamental circles, her role diminishes. This is not to claim there is not a respect for Mary, or a desired imitation of her earthly virtues, but within less organized branches of Protestantism, there is definitely a reaction of less emphasis on Mary. This is primarily due to a conscious or at least subconscious reaction to the dogmas of Roman Catholicism.
Catholicism, as with the earliest traditions, has always pursued a deeper Marionology that exalts her as Queen of Creation. The devotions and prayers to the mother of God stem from the Scriptural reading of the Wedding Feast of Cana who through Mary’s persistence, Christ performed his first miracle. Early Church fathers also imprinted on the early church a need to include Mary as a role model and intercessor for the infant church. Contrary to misquoted or misled individuals, Catholicism never promoted worship within the cult to Mary. This alone has led to false ideas between the denominations and has halted good intentioned ecumenism between the branches of Christianity.
Instead of creating false images of Marian worship, it is better to acknowledge the true and existing differences between certain Protestant sects and the Catholic Church regarding Mary. In conclusion to this, we shall be able to answer with certainty the question, “Can Mary be utilized by all Christians as an everyday devotion and used as a model for Christian suffering?”
In investigating Marian theology, we will start from least to greatest differences. The least difference is the idea that Mary was a perpetual virgin. The Catholic Church claims Mary never engaged in conjugal relations with Joseph after the virgin birth of Christ, while some within Protestantism attest that Jesus had brothers and sisters. I will refrain from my own personal opinion but emphasize that whether Mary engaged in sexual relations with Joseph after the birth of Christ is irrelevant in regards to her purity. In no way should this present a buffer between some Protestants and Catholics from partaking in mutual veneration and meditation upon Mary and her sufferings.
As we climb up the ladder of theological differences, one reaches a more pivotal doctrine. Within Catholic theology, Mary was conceived without sin. Protestant theology denounces this and proclaims only Christ was sinless. Many of the ideas concerning Mary’s sinless nature come from philosophical speculation that Mary was molded as to a perfect chalice or tabernacle to hold the Lord in her womb. Early Church teachings and tradition also held to such ideas, especially in regard to the Assumption of Mary. Mary as the new Eve, in dependence and complete obedience to Christ, served as a co-partner or helper with Christ in the redemption of mankind. She, however, was not the primary source or a necessity in the process, yet due to the invention and grace of the Holy Spirit was able to carry out her role in accordance with Christ. Flowing from this train of thought, the Catholic Church concluded that her Assumption and co-Redemptrix role with Christ was a logical conclusion to her sinless nature. In pointing these elements out, it is important first to recognize two things in the theology. First, her sinless nature was not to her own merit but a charism and special gift of the Holy Spirit and second, her role of co-Redemptrix in no way completed Christ’s sacrifice. Christ, alone, as priest and victim performed the perfect sacrifice but Mary’s side role as a sinless bystander and a grieving mother played a part in man’s redemption. Her active yes to the angel Gabrielle and her passive submission to the crucifixion of her son played important parts in man’s redemption process. Catholic theology does not equate a godlike status where she is perfect by her own making and actively redeeming mankind through her own merit and grace. On the contrary, her status is a gift and her special role in man’s redemption is that of a helper, preparing the sacrifice of her son. In that her position is unique in the process of man’s redemption.
Many Protestants without misconceptions on Catholic Marionolgy still would find this theology a hard pill to swallow. The idea of Mary as sinless presents a great deviation from their tradition since Luther and Calvin. Even with the term “full of grace” applied to Mary to possible infer her sinless nature, Catholics and Protestants have a hard time agreeing on an interpretation that can be postulated with universal agreement. This again leaves one with the question can a deeper Marian devotion exist universally across Christianity and can be Mary be a universal icon and mold for Christian suffering? I would contend that she can be.
First, the misconceptions and taboos that are associated with the cult of Mary must be removed in Protestant circles. No one is worshiping Mary. Mary is being only utilized as an example, and what an example she is; the mother of Jesus. As a suffering servant of Christ and her intimate connection to Jesus, one cannot find a better example or candidate to emulate during extreme cases of human suffering-especially the most traumatic grief of losing a child. Also within the Mary, we find a fellow creation that is not divine as Christ. True, Jesus was perfectly human but within his Hypostatic union with the divine, he was both God and man. Within Christian theology, it is easy sometimes to diagnose a certain function of Christ to his human nature and then some functions to his divine nature, but as the early Christological councils taught, Christ is one person. Unlike Christ, Mary is not divine. Mary in this way can be analogically even more comparable to our situation. Second, the agony of Mary and her role surrounding Christ’s death must be seen as secondary to Christ and like all Christian suffering throughout the ages be seen in union and concert with Christ’s death. Of course one cannot deny that Mary’s offering will always be superior to other Christians. She witnessed the death of her son and willingly endured Good Friday. Who can compare to that? In Catholic theology, she endured it as a sinless person by grace of the Holy Spirit, while in Protestant theology she endured it for her own redemption as well as mankind’s redemption. Both ideals are compatible within Christianity. There is no reason or charge to place against such a devotion to Mary as a model of Christian suffering. Nor should there be a protest to any special privilege or honor given to her for her extraordinary Christian virtue she displayed on that Good Friday.
In conclusion, Mary should be revered by all of Christendom as a model and paradigm of proper Christian suffering and her sacrifice on Good Friday should be respected and honored by all Christians. In not revering and utilizing the spirituality of Mary in one’s meditation and counseling, Christians are dismissing a valuable resource and stripping themselves of a rich Christian tradition. Christians should without fear, turn to her in their hours of grief and emulate her example and pray to her to go to her Son’s throne for them. Mary emulated Christ in her own sufferings better than any human person. We should mimic her heroic virtue and carry our cross as well she carried hers. To learn more about Christian Counseling and Christian Grief.
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Lazarus and Christian Counseling
By: Mark Moran, MA, SCC-C
The immense grief following a death of a family member can be excruciating and overbearing
and Christian counseling sessions may be needed. The absence of the loved one creates a void that is only natural. The grieving process becomes a reaction to an extreme bond of love. In many of these moments, the Christian may become so overburdened with grief that he or she feels abandoned by the Lord and left in the desolate desert of grief. No pithy sayings, no gestures, or no religious figures can remove the pain. Yet, in this inner turmoil, one should find relief in a God that mourns with us, suffers with us and at one time within the context of historical reality experienced the same piercing prongs of loss. The pains of grief associated with death and loss cannot be avoided, it is inevitable and it favors no one. It did not favor our Lord either who unjustly experienced its bite. Who are we to run from our cross if Lord of the universe himself could not turn away from them? Instead, it is prudent to imitate our Master in all, including grief.
Story of Lazarus in Relation to Christian Grief
The story of Lazarus supplies an excellent source of proper imitation in how a Christian should experience grief and loss of a loved one. It portrays the universal human condition of death and the grief that surrounds the loss of a loved one. As anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one, so did the family of Lazarus, as well as Lazarus’ close friend Jesus. In Scripture, it is mentioned twice how Christ wept the loss of a loved one. He wept the loss of his cousin, St. John the Baptist, and also wept the loss of Lazarus. It would be naïve to discount the numerous other losses our Lord experienced despite lack of scriptural reference. There is no doubt Jesus experienced the loss of his father, St. Joseph, his grandparents and many others who were dear to him. Like our own hearts, his heart was pierced with each loss. In these losses, he magnanimously displayed the dignity of proper Christian grieving. Not a “dignity” displayed by some cultures that is stoic or void of emotion, but a grief that portrayed a dignity of acceptance. The examination of the story of Lazarus will provide an excellent case study in how Christ handled himself and the family around him regarding the death of his dear friend. In this examination, the Christian will find many elements of proper grief and proper prayer regarding grief as found within the Christian tradition.
A question that is commonly sought, within the believing community that grieves a loss, involves the exclamation, “why do such bad things happen to good people?” The story of Lazarus illustrates not so much the answer to the question but the reality of it. A reality that, while not giving a philosophical answer, nonetheless, gives a comforting ease to the soul that one is not alone in his or grief. It also shows the griever that the grief is not only particular to them but in fact a universal condition; A universal condition that even the Lord’s closest friends were not spared, nor the Lord himself. Christ became the ultimate paradigm not only as the suffering servant on the cross, but also in everyday loss. Jesus in the story of Lazarus wept the loss of Lazarus and still today weeps the loss of all that are close to him. For those who believe in his resurrection, this cannot be denied. Does not his human heart beat viably in his resurrected body even today? Does not that heart still bleed for us in our darkest hour? Does not his humanity fused triumphantly with his divine nature still yearn and mourn with us? All of these questions can be answered in the affirmative. Just as he wept for Lazarus and comforted his friends who mutually mourned the loss of their friend, so Jesus continues to weep with us in our loss of our friends.
This is the amazing element of Christianity. The theology of Christianity preaches a God that can grieve via the fusion of a divine nature with a human nature. If the Incarnation had never happened, God would still love us deeply, but it would be impossible for a perfectly content being to suffer any personal pain with us. Other than the pure love that pours out of the divine in sympathetic concern, a divine nature cannot suffer personal loss. The divine being can only be slighted due to a proportionally error of sin against justice. This slight, however, is more legalistic than personal. In the end, the divine does produce infinite love but it cannot share in an intimate discourse of emotion that involves loss, suffering, and the intensity that exists between lovers. The human element of scripture in its poetry and attempt of understanding created an anthropomorphism of the divine. Human elements, human descriptions, and human traits were given to the divine to better describe God’s ways to the childlike human spirit. The Old Testament texts, while free from error, painted an image of a God they could relate with, discourse with, and interact with. While it is true the Lord spoke to the prophets of the Old Testament, it would be wrong to attest human like qualities to the divine that portray a lack of immutability or sometimes omniscience. This is not a glaring contradiction as some may feel in theology and scripture. The reality is God did interact with his creation but not to the point of an anthropomorphization of the divine. While one could contemplate that the Lord appeared in more simple ways to people, it seems more logical that the human writers of scripture attributed human qualities to God to better understand him. These qualities, however, distorted the nature of God and created an image that varies greatly differently from Thomistic metaphysics. The story of Moses and the Burning Bush in many ways captures a more true personification of the divine than any other story. Here we see an immutable, alpha-omega being who cares for his creation but is far from resembling anything human or capable of human emotion. Is it not possible in knowing the striking difference between human and divine nature that the Lord saw this impasse? Is it not possible that the Lord hoped to bridge this impasse through a fusion of the two natures? Is it not possible that via this fusion the Lord hoped to love us more intimately and to suffer and mourn with us? In response, it is possible and it was made possible through Jesus Christ.
With such consolation and knowledge that during loss, we do not suffer alone and that our Lord has become human, not only to redeem us, but to love us more intimately and share in our sufferings and grief, one can triumphantly see a gleam of light in the dark and gloomy clouds of grief. One can also triumphantly begin to carry his own cross with more certitude that this cross while heavy will ultimately lead one towards his or her own resurrection and happiness.
The idea of resurrection becomes another important theme in the story of Lazarus regarding Christian grief. As Christians, all profess the general resurrection of the dead upon Christ’s return. This is a primary dogma of the Christian faith and was solidified in Christ’s own resurrection who as the New Adam reversed the first death with the first resurrection. As followers of Christ, we also will share in this resurrection but only after death. Hence the greatest and most ironic belief in Christianity: through death comes life. Suffering and death are inevitable elements of the fallen and temporal reality of man, an element Christ voluntarily submitted himself to. The story of Lazarus presents a prefigurement of Christ’s resurrection and hints towards man’s own resurrection. The miracle Christ performed for Lazarus was done with compassion and love, but was also done, not only to show those present he was God, but also to foreshadow the resurrection of all in his name.
The resurrection of Lazarus, however, cannot be associated with the norm. It is obvious that when someone dies they remain dead. Jesus will not raise everyone from the dead nor answer everyone’s call, even his closest friends. This is not due to his lack of love for us but his knowledge of the reality of the universe. Christ can and sometimes does answer our deepest prayers but only within the confines of the Father’s will and for the most part within the confines of the laws of nature. This brings us to an interesting element within the story of Lazarus regarding Christian prayer in times of distress and deep anguish.
A miracle is an action by God that transcends the laws of nature. While the unbeliever attempts to expose miracles as unexplained natural phenomenon, the believer holds firmly to the obvious sight that God has intervened via prayer. However, to hold that miracles can be universal experiences for all believers is a dangerous avenue of thought. This reduces prayer to mere sorcery and control of the divine. Prayer does not guarantee or demand miracles. Prayer, on contrary, seeks the will of the divine. Miracles become an occasional fruit of prayer and faith if in concordance with the divine. Miracles associated with prayer are to be seen as gifts and especially so because when witnessed, they became testimony to God and his will. While a miracle is a beautiful thing, such as the raising of Lazarus or any modern day cure, one must be sure that within his or her petition the ultimate purpose of the prayer is conformity to the divine.
Unfortunately, this misunderstanding of prayer and the production of miracles has also led to other fallacies in addition to improper intention based prayer. In many circles the idea that a lack of miracles equates to a lack of faith or purity of the individual’s prayer. Pure prayer seeks God’s will. God’s will, for hidden reasons beyond the intellect of man, sometimes permits the miraculous and at other times does not. This has no bearing on the spirituality or faith of the grieving who prayer to the Lord. It merely has to do with the will of God. Christ taught us even to death, that in prayer, we must submit ourselves to the will of the Father. In doing so, he set the ultimate example and taught us how to perfectly pray and what to expect. This is obviously easier said than done, especially in our naïve and childlike understanding of God’s ways which in some cases answers our particular cries but in other cases mourns with us in the “unwanted” ending. Christian Counselors should help to guide people to proper understanding of this.
Conclusion
The story of Lazarus while having a “happy” ending, still paints the perfect image of Christian prayer in distress. If one notes, Jesus does not immediately travel to the family of Lazarus, nor does he heed the warnings of the disciples not to go to Lazarus. Christ, on the contrary, waits four days to the dismay of Lazarus’ family and by ultimately going also to the dismay of the disciples. In this regard, the miracle was performed according to the will of Christ and his Father, not to the immediate cry of those who mourned Lazarus. In our attachment to the deceased or those dying, do we not wish Christ to appear at our beckon call and do as we wish? Is this prayer? Is this even an understanding of death? A miraculous event, while desired, does not justify the prayer, but the acceptance of God’s will purifies the prayer. This purified prayer not only aids the spiritual distress of the loved one who is dying, but also elevates the heavy cross of the family. In prayer, this heavy cross is to be accepted and offered in concordance with the suffering of Christ who sits with them in the darkest hour. This does not promise a release of the pain, but shows that the energy associated with the loss is channeled in the proper direction, which is towards God. In this suffering and potential “bad ending”, our prayer while seeking a different route, is still open to the final fate which can triumphantly be faced, albeit in tears. This alone is miraculous for it transforms a natural event of death into a spiritual resurrection where the loved one who is lost receives the spiritual help he needs and the loved ones who are grieving receive the spiritual graces to carry their cross. In the end, unlike the family of Lazarus, our prayers must be open to Christ’s will. To view and possibly take Christian Counseling courses, click here.