Is there any sense in suffering?

Don't be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they don't sow, they don't reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height? If then you aren't able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? Don't seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek God's Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.

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	Is there any sense in suffering?

By Fr. Mieczysław Piotrowski S.Chr.,
Love One Another! 2015-32

“In suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace”(St John Paul II, Salvifici doloris, 26).

Is there any sense in suffering?

It is the Lord God Himself who gives us the answer to the question about the sense of suffering. Above all, He tells us that suffering and death are the consequences of original sin (Rom 3:1–19). The first people gave up the belief that the Lord God truly loved them and that only He was necessary for their happiness. They believed Satan’s lies that abandoning God’s commandments would give them full freedom and happiness. By rejecting God, human ity found itself in a tragic situation of suffering and death, along with enslavement to the power of evil.

“There is no way to Heaven except the way of the cross. I followed it first” (Diary of St Faustina, 1487)

But the Lord God did not leave humanity alone in this situation. Becoming a real person, He entered into the human condition of sin and death. In order to tear humanity free from slavery to Satan, sin and death, Jesus Christ took upon Him self all the sin and suffering from the life of every person throughout history. “He has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; […] But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities” (Is 53:4–5). He was able to accomplish this because, whilst being truly man, He remained truly God, and in God there is no past or future, but only a perpetual “now”. Jesus Christ experienced the consequences of the sins of all people in His horrific passion and death on the cross. In His resurrection, He freed humanity from the slavery of Satan, took away all sin, overcame death and made it possible that all human suffering united to His suffering on the cross could become a path to salvation, a source of extraordinary graces, taking part in His suffering for the salvation of the world. Suffering only makes sense in union with Christ. Remember that the Son of God, in becoming a real human, united Himself to each of us. Don’t forget that it is God Himself who suffers in every sick and suffering person, in each of the millions of human beings living in misery and abasement, brutally exploited, starving to death, and victims of torture and terrorism.

“If, in fact, we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom 8:17)

We only discover this jolting reality of the love of God, who suffers along with humanity, on the path of faith. When a person looks with faith at the cross of Christ and joins his suffering with His suffer ing for the salvation of the world, he discovers the joyful truth that the suffering that he is experiencing becomes a grace, a great bless ing and a way of preparing for the final meeting with God. “If, in fact,we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom 8:17). “Rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when His glory is revealed” (1 Pet 4:13). By uniting ourselves with Christ’s suffering and surren dering our suffering to Him, we discover that whatever it is that afflicts us is a great gift and grace, partaking in the suffering of Christ for the salvation of the world. If you rebel and refuse to surrender your suffering to Jesus, it becomes a force for destroying your entire life. Remember that when you suffer, it is the Lord God who is the first to bear the burden of your suf- fering, and it is only a small portion of His suffering for the salvation of the world. Do not rebel, but rather thank the Lord God for this difficult experience. Offer your suffering up to Jesus.

Let Jesus heal you

In order for Jesus to have access to your heart, to be able to cure and heal it, you have to fulfil the follow ing conditions:

Sever yourself from all sins, since they are the source of all of your misfortune.

Trust in God and believe in His infinite mercy. The Lord Jesus says: “The greater the misery, the great er the right to My mercy” (Divine Mercy in My Soul 1182). Recognise all your sins before Jesus in the sacrament of penance and receive Him in the Eucharist and in the sacra ment of the anointing of the sick.

Forgive everyone everything; don’t hold resentment for anyone.

If you have been involved in any form of occultism or received any bioenergy treatments, it is essential to break off any connections with the powers of evil that work through these media.

Pray the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy daily, read the Holy Scripture, receive the Lord Jesus as often as possible in Holy Commu nion, and adore His Presence in the Most Holy Sacrament.

Source: https://loamagazine.org/archive/2015/2015-32/is-there-any-sense-in-suffering-2

The above article was published with permission from Miłujcie się! in September 2020.

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