The Gift of Suffering
Lent Day 25
“It is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.”
— John 9:3—
Becoming Catholic brought a lot of surprises, but one that sticks out to me was the witness of saints embodying the idea that suffering was a gift. In every religion, you have people who suffer for their beliefs. So it’s not merely the idea that Catholics suffer worse than this or that group; you can always say this person suffered more than this person, so we are not just talking about “who got it worse.”
What was apparent in my reading of the saints was that they saw suffering as a gift for two reasons:
It was a way to become closer to Christ.
It was offered up for the salvation of souls.
Don’t think that I’m downplaying the courage of Protestants with what I am about to say. Catholics and Protestants have both demonstrated their love for Christ by what the Church calls the “baptism by blood”. What I am trying to point out is that suffering and martyrdom are not the same thing — all martyrdom is suffering, but not all suffering is martyrdom; some suffering is for a season and doesn’t end your life.
Protestants and Catholics largely share the idea that suffering is a way to be closer to Christ, so I’m not going to split hairs on that point here. What I find interesting and unique to Catholic teaching is the idea of offering your suffering up to God. This act is often seen by the saint as an opportunity to imitate Christ. In other words, in the same way that Christ offered himself on the cross for the salvation of the world, so the saint offers his suffering up to God for the salvation of the souls that have been entrusted to his care.
In Pope John Paul II’s encyclical On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, he discusses the role of suffering in the life of the believer as redemptive. He cites St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians as one of his main texts,
“Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the Church”
— Col. 1:24
Pope John Paul II argues that our suffering has been redeemed by Christ’s suffering on the cross, not in the sense that suffering no longer exists but rather that it has meaning, specifically redemptive meaning. He writes,
Thus, with this openness to every human suffering, Christ has accomplihsed the world’s redemption through his own suffering. For, at the same time, this redemption, even though it was completely acheived by Christ’s suffering, lives on and in its own special way develops in the history of man. It lives and develops as the body of Christ, the Church, and in this dimension every human suffering, by reason of loving union with Christ, completes the suffering of Christ. It completes that suffering just as the Church completes the redemptive work of Christ.
Pope John Paul II, “On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering”, paragraph 24. emphasis in original.
As a Protestant, you never really got a straight answer on the Problem of Evil. Sure, you could argue that God had a “reason” for allowing evil, but there was no Church that was willing to say what that reason was. The Catholic Church, through John Paul II and her saints, does show us that the reason is that it unites us to Christ and has the power to bring redemption to the souls for whom it is offered. If God’s goal is to make us like Christ, then it follows that suffering may be part of that process.
One example is sufficient. St. Padre Pio at one point had developed a severe hernia in his abdomen. Padre Pio had a miraculous manifestation of the stigmata, which is a rare miracle where the wounds of Christ appear in the body of the saint. One of the doctors who had investigated the wounds had returned to the monastery to check in on the monk, and he discovered the hernea.
Padre Pio opted not to use any anesthesia. The doctors insisted that he should have it, but Padre Pio said, “Doctor, I promise not to move.” The operation proceeded, and Padre Pio offered the suffering up for the salvation of souls. You can read about the full account of this epic saint in the book, The Life of Padre Pio by Gennaro Presziuao.
What we find in the Church’s teaching is the antidote to the Prosperity Gospel, not merely in the form of self-help, sermons, or books, but in the very teachings of the Church and the lives of the saints. Through our suffering, God is glorified and is made visible, but the Christian is also brought closer to Christ in a unique and meaningful way. In short, we should not seek suffering, but should it come, may God help us have the faith to see it for what it is, a gift.
— DR