Hatching Chicks: An Analogy in Completing what is Lacking in Christ's Suffering

When this blog gets published on Sunday morning, we will be enjoying the final day of our county fair.  As a 4-H family, this has been one of the highlights of our summer for the past how many years.

My oldest daughter, Kate has been such a joy to watch over the years.  She started off as a painfully shy Cloverbud, and has grown into the confident young lady I watched in the show ring just this morning.

Kate and Chilly the Rooster

Because of her love for birds, she pursued more knowledge of them through joining the 4-H Poultry Knowledge Bowl team for our county.  She carefully selects which breeds to order in the spring to raise, keeps them fed and watered, and spends a lot of time picking out just the right birds to bring up to the fair.

This proud mama couldn’t be more pleased.  Her hard work paid off!  She had a fabulous show this morning and walked away with all blue ribbons and even a few champions! 

Kate, Grandpa Joe, and her turkey, Sweet Tea, at the Blue Ribbon Auction.

But what I am most proud of is the fact that this girl does 100% of the work herself.  I am deathly afraid of chickens, so I am NOT volunteering to help her out whatsoever!  All I do is foot the bill at the feed store.  This is a project that she chases with her whole heart. 

Kate is showing off her ribbons in front of her Champion brown egg-laying pen of chickens.

Because chickens are clearly on my mind, I want to give you a quick lesson on them that you may not know.

When a chick begins to hatch, it is essential that you do NOT intervene.  The act of pecking and breaking free from the shell develops the chick’s muscles and respiratory system.

There is also a chance of causing injury or bleeding to the chick as blood vessels may still be attached to the shell.

Watching chicks peck their way out can be one of the hardest things to watch, as you just want to reach out and give them a hand, when you know you can’t.

Using the delicate nature of hatching chicks, I believe this analogy can be applied to an image of our life here on earth… remembering my degree in agriculture, NOT theology, bear with me on this and understand no analogy about God will ever be perfect.

When a chick hatches, it is essential to not intervene.

We face many challenges and trials in our lives.  It is so easy to get frustrated with God and wonder where He is and why He isn’t stepping in and pulling us free from the “shell” of our cross.  We wonder why we have to fight so hard and can feel so alone in our battle.

But He is God our Father!  And a loving father never abandons his children.  He is standing there, with His nose pressed up to the incubator, watching us grow stronger and build stamina. As we peck our way out, He cheers us on.  He is right there with us, allowing us to learn more about how good He is and how much we need Him. 

But if He were to step in and take away all pain and suffering, He would be taking away our free will.  Suffering and death entered the world as a consequence of human sin, but God’s providential love is at work even amidst suffering.  As St. Augustine noted, God, being supremely good and all-powerful, would never allow any evil to exist if He were not able to bring good from evil itself. 

Think of the story of Joseph from the Old Testament who told his brothers who had previously sold him into slavery, “As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20)

It’s an interesting thing to ponder because the world tells us that comfort is the ultimate goal.  But according to John Paul II, suffering has a special value in the eyes of the Church.  It is something good, before which the Church bows down in reverence with all the depth of her faith in the Redemption.  It is answering the call that St. Paul writes to the Colossians, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions…”

JPII writes in Salvifici Doloris, “Every human suffering, by reason of the loving union with Christ, completes the suffering of Christ.”  He continues to write, “Does this mean that the Redemption achieved by Christ is not complete?  No.  It only means that the Redemption, accomplished through satisfactory love, remains always open to all love expressed in human suffering.”

How did I get from chickens to here?  I’m not entirely sure.  Let’s pray the Holy Spirit had His hand in all of this!  Suffering is an extremely challenging concept to wrap our minds around. Still, in uniting our suffering to the suffering of Jesus on the cross, I like to believe that we are helping to take away just a little pain that Jesus Himself endured. 

“Jesus, I offer my headache to You in union with Your crowning with thorns.  Let me take away a bit of Your suffering.”

“Jesus, I unite my broken relationship to You in union with the rejection You felt during Your Passion.  Let me take away some of Your suffering.”

I hope you find the language to unite your suffering to Jesus’, so that you, too, can unite your sufferings to His.  But always remember, He is walking right beside you and will never abandon you.  I pray that you grow closer to Him in your suffering.

Until next time, your sister in Christ,

Leah