do Catholics focus more on suffering than non Catholics?

[Earnest_Bunbury]

What seems to be lost in a lot of this talk on suffering is the union of our soul with God. This is the end toward which we strive, that which we seek. From the Catechism:

1993 Justification establishes cooperation between God’s grace and man’s freedom. On man’s part it is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent:

When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; **and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight.** Council of Trent

We don’t “work” for our own justification. Jesus’ “yoke” is our cooperation with Him.

2014 Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ. This union is called “mystical” because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments - “the holy mysteries” - and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God calls us all to this intimate union with him, even if the special graces or extraordinary signs of this mystical life are granted only to some for the sake of manifesting the gratuitous gift given to all.

2015 The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:

"He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows". St Augustine

Our suffering is not self imposed if we are striving to be in union with God, if we are listening to Him. Even though He calls us to leave everything behind, we often cling to some created good and mortification is the self mastery of training our will to desire only God and oppose that which separates us from God. It all comes down to ones motive for doing so, for God or for our own prideful glorification and this is for a competent spiritual director to ascertain, not a layman to judge from a distance as if we could judge someone’s heart.

2013 “All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity.” All are called to holiness: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

In order to reach this perfection the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them by Christ's gift, so that . . . doing the will of the Father in everything, they may wholeheartedly devote themselves to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbor. Thus the holiness of the People of God will grow in fruitful abundance, as is clearly shown in the history of the Church through the lives of so many saints. Lumen Gentium

We are called to a state of holiness that is more than just an acceptance. God calls all mankind to the same perfection, the difference is in the acceptance and the level of cooperation, with the sacrifice of renunciation of all that attracts us away from God alone.

2025 We can have merit in God’s sight only because of God’s free plan to associate man with the work of his grace. Merit is to be ascribed in the first place to the grace of God, and secondly to man’s collaboration. Man’s merit is due to God.

The union we seek with God can only come in the renunciation of ourselves. This is accomplished in cooperation with the power of God in our souls that is the free gift of Grace. Man was made for loving union with God and after the fall, Christ has merited our return to that union in cooperation with this grace given by Him and accepted by us by faith. Living this out requires the sacrifice of the denial of our fallen nature, called mortification.

In deference to our protestant brothers, it seems that the man who perfectly accepts this sacrifice and has a union with God will not want to sin. This acceptance can be lost as it says in Scripture “the righteous man sins seven times a day”. It is only God’s Grace and acceptance of us that keeps calling man back to union with God. We Catholic could never say we are assured of God’s Grace other than God Himself calling us back to Himself as He has said.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

I would like to know what the Church actually teaches about suffering; as opposed to the opinions of lay people, and the quoting, possibly out of context, of saints.

I have a hard time believing that anyone who leads a decent, normal, HAPPY Catholic life and gives to the poor, catechizes his kids, and honors the Ten Commandments etc.(without wrapping himself in barbed wire), has consigned himself to Hell.

 

[Shin]

There is no escaping or denying the Cross.

Our happy life is in the next world, this one is a place of preparation for the next.

He who loves the world and his life will not save his life but lose it forever, but he who sacrifices the world and his life for God and suffers will save his life forever.

This is the very basic foundation of the Christian religion. Without redemptive suffering, there is no Christianity.

It is the world that hates suffering and finds the cross a scandal.

‘. . . we cannot partake of the blood and merits of Christ, unless we partake of his cup of sufferings.’

The Douay Catechism

‘O the supreme folly of those who resist the divine will! In God’s providence, no one can escape hardship: “Who resisteth his will?” (Rom 9:19) A person, who rails at God in adversity, suffers without merit; moreover by his lack of resignation he adds to his punishment in the next life and experiences greater disquietude of mind in this life: “Who resisteth him and hath had peace?” (Job 9:4) The screaming rage of the sick man in his pain, the whining complaints of the poor man in his destitution – what will they avail these people, except increase their unhappiness and bring them no relief? “Little man,” says St. Augustine, “grow up. What are you seeking in your search for happiness? Seek the one good that embraces all others.” Whom do you seek, friend, if you seek not God? Seek him, find him, cleave to him; bind your will to his with bands of steel and you will live always at peace in this life and in the next.’

‘He who suffers in patience, suffers less and saves his soul. He who suffers impatiently, suffers more and loses his soul.’

‘The brightest ornaments in the crown of the blessed in heaven are the sufferings which they have borne patiently on earth.’

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

“It is safe to follow St. Alphonsus’s opinions even if you do not know the reason behind it. . .”

Pope Gregory XVI, addressing theologians

‘Why must we suffer? Because here below pure Love cannot exist without suffering. O Jesus, Jesus, I no longer feel my cross when I think of yours.’

St. Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes

‘Nothing is sweeter than to love God, but with a love rich in suffering.’

St. Ignatius of Loyola

 

[DavidMark]

'Abdu’l-Bahá: 'The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. The more the ground is ploughed the better the seed will grow, the better the harvest will be. Just as the plough furrows the earth deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment. His attitude in this world will be that of divine happiness. Man is, so to speak, unripe: the heat of the fire of suffering will mature him. Look back to the times past and you will find that the greatest men have suffered most.'

‘He who through suffering has attained development, should he fear happiness?’

'Abdu’l-Bahá: **‘Through suffering he will attain to an eternal happiness which nothing can take from him. The apostles of Christ suffered: they attained eternal happiness.’ ****

‘Then it is impossible to attain happiness without suffering?’

'Abdu’l-Bahá: 'To attain eternal happiness one must suffer. He who has reached the state of self-sacrifice has true joy. Temporal joy will vanish.'

(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 178)

 

[CarolinNC]

I am disabled and in pain most days, getting around is a struggle, but with the teachings of the Catholic Church on redemptive suffering, I have found that there can be grace, peace and happiness in the suffering. I offer up all that I suffer, all that I am, and all that I do to my loving Lord. And he does not abandon me. He fills my heart with joy, He has given me work to do for his sake and the sake of His little ones and those at the end of life, and He gives my heart so much love that sometimes I feel like I will burst. Like Saint Therese, I can only do little things, but I can do them with great love.

May the Lord be praised.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Still don’t believe that a decent Catholic living a decent Catholic life is condemning himself to Hell unless he wraps himself in barbed wire.

There will be enough suffering without making a sport of seeking it.

 

[Earnest_Bunbury]

I would like to know what the Church actually teaches about suffering; as opposed to the opinions of lay people, and the quoting, possibly out of context, of saints.

I have a hard time believing that anyone who leads a decent, normal, HAPPY Catholic life and gives to the poor, catechizes his kids, and honors the Ten Commandments etc.(without wrapping himself in barbed wire), has consigned himself to Hell.

As hell is the separation from God by willful rejection, the rejection of suffering and sacrifice that is God’s plan for the individual is that which is opposed to God and is rejection of God Himself.

Giving in to lustful desires because someone doesn’t want to work as self-mastery is opposed to the virtue of purity and chastity. Not seeking God, called lukewarmness in the Bible, is opposed to the virtue of diligence, the sin of sloth that keeps one from their greatest Good, God, by seeking entertainment or persistent business instead of what everyone is called to, perfection in union with God that is sanctifying Grace.

Sacrifice is to do that which is opposed to ones fallen nature, difficult at first but gets easier because it is our greatest Good. God helps with His grace, His “yoke”. A yoke is made for two, this means Jesus is helping to carry the burden making it easier. Suffering is the acceptance of the trials and tribulations given us to make us better, tempered as steel or gold purified in fire. Sin leads to much unhappiness and inner turmoil that is easy to discern. People seek psychiatrists, drugs, and more sin to cover up what only God can fill, the God-sized hole in mans heart.

The world rejects this difficult “narrow road” for the seemingly easy “wide road” that leads to eventual perdition in that it conditions one to reject God all the way to death. God’s revelation is the fulfillment of what is written in our hearts in the natural law. It comes down to God’s will, as Jesus said “Doing the Will of the Father”, the Will of God for the individual that we must discern in union with the Trinity. Doing the good that is your will and not the “anointed” work God wills you to do is the reason for “Did we not do great works in your Name, casting out demons?” Jesus says “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven”. One must sacrifice to do this. This is the Catholic teaching.

 

[Gabriella_San_S]

I am disabled and in pain most days, getting around is a struggle, but with the teachings of the Catholic Church on redemptive suffering, I have found that there can be grace, peace and happiness in the suffering. I offer up all that I suffer, all that I am, and all that I do to my loving Lord. And he does not abandon me. He fills my heart with joy, He has given me work to do for his sake and the sake of His little ones and those at the end of life, and He gives my heart so much love that sometimes I feel like I will burst. Like Saint Therese, I can only do little things, but I can do them with great love.

May the Lord be praised.

Thank you, dearest friend, for your beautiful "way of life’ which gives such glory to God and relief for poor sinners! You are truly blessed. May your joy increase, as you unite your holy cross to the Holy Cross of Christ… to be exchanged for a beautiful crown for all eternity!

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

As hell is the separation from God by willful rejection, the rejection of suffering and sacrifice that is God’s plan for the individual is that which is opposed to God and is rejection of God Himself.

Giving in to lustful desires because someone doesn’t want to work as self-mastery is opposed to the virtue of purity and chastity. Not seeking God, called lukewarmness in the Bible, is opposed to the virtue of diligence, the sin of sloth that keeps one from their greatest Good, God, by seeking entertainment or persistent business instead of what everyone is called to, perfection in union with God that is sanctifying Grace.

Sacrifice is to do that which is opposed to ones fallen nature, difficult at first but gets easier because it is our greatest Good. God helps with His grace, His “yoke”. A yoke is made for two, this means Jesus is helping to carry the burden making it easier. Suffering is the acceptance of the trials and tribulations given us to make us better, tempered as steel or gold purified in fire. Sin leads to much unhappiness and inner turmoil that is easy to discern. People seek psychiatrists, drugs, and more sin to cover up what only God can fill, the God-sized hole in mans heart.

The world rejects this difficult “narrow road” for the seemingly easy “wide road” that leads to eventual perdition in that it conditions one to reject God all the way to death. God’s revelation is the fulfillment of what is written in our hearts in the natural law. It comes down to God’s will, as Jesus said “Doing the Will of the Father”, the Will of God for the individual that we must discern in union with the Trinity. Doing the good that is your will and not the “anointed” work God wills you to do is the reason for “Did we not do great works in your Name, casting out demons?” Jesus says “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven”. One must sacrifice to do this. This is the Catholic teaching.

None of which answers my question.

I have yet to see something that is not personal opinion that directly states a good, decent Catholic doing everything he should is automatically condemning himself to Hell.

 

[Gabriella_San_S]

None of which answers my question.

I have yet to see something that is not personal opinion that directly states a good, decent Catholic doing everything he should is automatically condemning himself to Hell.

Whoever suggested otherwise?* Every* decent person who lives experiences suffering in one way or another.It’s an automatic result of the Fall of man. How well we suffer is the true “litmus test” of the spiritual life.And there are those generous " victim souls" who merely desire to gain more graces for those who do not pray for themselves.
“Pray and offer sacrifices for poor sinners, who fall into Hell everyday because they have no one to pray for them…” (Our Lady of Fatima)

 

[ez3714]

As hell is the separation from God by willful rejection, the rejection of suffering and sacrifice that is God’s plan for the individual is that which is opposed to God and is rejection of God Himself.

Ok, I need help with this one. Perhaps my eyes glazed over, and it was covered in a previous post. It is my understanding that good can come from suffering. It is also my understanding that Christ predicted we would suffer. However, Christ also predicted that many would fall away. As it is God’s will that none should perish, but that many indeed do, there is therefore a big difference between what God wills for our lives and what God sees as inevitable in our lives.

Please help me understand how I am to believe God is gleefully plotting disaster for my life.

 

[brkn1]

“Piling On” is a 15-yard penalty, so I don’t want to do that to you. However, we apparently have some common background; perhaps we can help each other make sense of these doctrines.

One thing that makes me pause and gives the Catholic position additional credence is the concept of “heavenly heirarchy,” to coin a phrase. While it is true we are “joint heirs with Christ,” (Romans 8:17) it doesn’t appear we are equal heirs. In the Sermon on the Mount, Our Lord speaks of those who are greater and lesser. Then His answer to the question of how to become great in Heaven (Matthew 18:1) suggests our hosts might have a point.

Salvation is the gift freely given. But would you agree there are costs involved in accepting the gift, and further costs incurred in getting the “upgrade”?

I agree that there are costs involved in accepting the gift of salvation. Jesus said that it would involve persecution and suffering to be one of His followers.
I also agree that the suffering, which results from being a follower of Christ, will work towards our good and possibly others too.
There still must be a balance on how we go about mortifying the flesh, as some have explained in this thread. Paul made an effort to remove the thorn in his flesh by asking God to remove it several times. This shows that we are to supposed to make an effort to alleviate our own suffering and other’s suffering when we can within reason. When our suffering is in God’s Will, then we must accept His Will, as Paul had to. There is great benefit and blessing in accepting such suffering.
I think my main problem would be with the idea of mortifying the flesh in a manner that could be said to disrespect the normal common sense care of the body. There seems to be a point where some go too far and we are told by Paul to do things in moderation.

 

[ElizabethPH]

I think my main problem would be with the idea of mortifying the flesh in a manner that could be said to disrespect the normal common sense care of the body. There seems to be a point where some go too far and we are told by Paul to do things in moderation.

I realize that there was an age where people indeed whipped themselves till they bled or at least leaving welts, in an act of mortification, probably mostly religious. And perhaps there are still some today. No Catholic I know does it even moderately. I thought when you all talk about redemptive suffering it is in respect to any number of human suffering we will experience in our life time meaning that is the cross we bear and lift up with Jesus on his cross.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

The cooperative work that you claim contributes to a person’s actual salvation is an idea that makes Christ’s redeeming Sacrifice less than the Bible describes, since we then still must add our imperfect works to Christ’s already Perfect (Complete) Work of Redemption. This cooperative-work addition denies Christ’s Work as a sufficient redemption for our salvation, which I strongly disagree with. Your idea is that Christ only provided grace by His Sacrifice, so that you can then work out your own salvation. The Bible clearly says that our own works can not do this in Romans.
Protestants do not “condemn” the works that result from being born again by true faith in what Christ did to save us. Those works are not what saves us though and those, who die depending on such works to save them, will end up being condemned as boastful workers of iniquity, no matter how ‘nice’ those works appeared to mankind.

Your highlighted last three sentences present a criteria that makes it impossible for continued discussion, so I leave the last word to you. The subtitle under Non-Catholic Religion has “Comparing and contrasting beliefs”, which would seem to allow opposition to Catholic theology on this site.

Brkn, contrary to what the poster told you, you ARE indeed entitled to your opinion about Catholic theology and can argue with it as well as not agree with us. We welcome debate, differing opinions, and different perspectives. I don’t think you’re being antagonistic but just expressing your point of view. I think you did so in a respectful tone.

 

[Earnest_Bunbury]

None of which answers my question.

The teaching of the Church and ones relationship with God is not defined specifically, it requires contemplation and study as well as asking God for spiritual insight.

I have yet to see something that is not personal opinion that directly states a good, decent Catholic doing everything he should is automatically condemning himself to Hell.

You don’t, obviously, need to make yourself suffer, that would be your own will if it isn’t part of God’s plan for you. Suffering does have a part in the Christians daily life as we are to pick up our cross daily and sacrifice that which is not holiness.

The spiritual aspects of the Church’s teaching precludes a direct answer for today’s “give me the Cliff’s note version”, “what’s the bottom-line” society. One must study, pray, and strive for pleasing God and since sin is so abhorrent to Him, someone who is not suffering trying to accomplish this may not be doing enough. Sometimes people don’t sacrifice because they are self centered and see their fulfillment in themselves and not God. This is what the Church teaches on accepting sacrifice and suffering:

From the Catechism:

1434 The interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many and various ways. Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others. Alongside the radical purification brought about by Baptism or martyrdom they cite as means of obtaining forgiveness of sins: effort at reconciliation with one’s neighbor, tears of repentance, concern for the salvation of one’s neighbor, the intercession of the saints, and the practice of charity “which covers a multitude of sins.”

1435 Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right, by the admission of faults to one’s brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one’s cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance.

1473 The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the “old man” and to put on the “new man.”

From Veritatis Splendor:

Although martyrdom represents the high point of the witness to moral truth, and one to which relatively few people are called, there is nonetheless a consistent witness which all Christians must daily be ready to make, even at the cost of suffering and grave sacrifice. Indeed, faced with the many difficulties which fidelity to the moral order can demand, even in the most ordinary circumstances, the Christian is called, with the grace of God invoked in prayer, to a sometimes heroic commitment. In this he or she is sustained by the virtue of fortitude, whereby — as Gregory the Great teaches — one can actually “love the difficulties of this world for the sake of eternal rewards”… The voice of conscience has always clearly recalled that there are truths and moral values for which one must be prepared to give up one’s life. In an individual’s words and above all in the sacrifice of his life for a moral value, the Church sees a single testimony to that truth which, already present in creation, shines forth in its fullness on the face of Christ. As Saint Justin put it, “the Stoics, at least in their teachings on ethics, demonstrated wisdom, thanks to the seed of the Word present in all peoples, and we know that those who followed their doctrines met with hatred and were killed”.

All this must be seen in light of the whole of Church teaching, doing the Will of God requires sacrifice, the sacrifice of ones human nature. We must take up our cross daily and dropping the cross is opposed to God’s Divine plan for us which is our greatest Good.

 

[Earnest_Bunbury]

Ok, I need help with this one. Perhaps my eyes glazed over, and it was covered in a previous post. It is my understanding that good can come from suffering. It is also my understanding that Christ predicted we would suffer. However, Christ also predicted that many would fall away. As it is God’s will that none should perish, but that many indeed do, there is therefore a big difference between what God wills for our lives and what God sees as inevitable in our lives.

Please help me understand how I am to believe God is gleefully plotting disaster for my life.

God may see your demise but your free will, your intellect moving your will freely by your own action, is what separates you from God if you choose that which is opposed to what God has revealed. This is known in the Church’s Magisterial teaching, the natural law which is our participation in God’s Divine law, and in Divine Revelation (Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition). Trust in God is important too. “Jesus I Trust in You”. Cooperation is working with God’s Grace. From the Catechism:

1993 Justification establishes cooperation between God’s grace and man’s freedom. On man’s part it is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent:

When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight.

The Holy Spirit is He Who leads the Church to all truth concerning the teaching of Christ given to the apostles. This is seen in the Magisterial teachings and in the faithful in union with the pope and bishops united with him.

From the Catechism on hell:

1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: “He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren. **To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self- exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called “hell.” **

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want “any to perish, but all to come to repentance”:

Father, accept this offering
from your whole family.
Grant us your peace in this life,
save us from final damnation,
and count us among those you have chosen

If someone doesn’t accept the authority of the Church, then I guess it is up to ones own interpretation. If one doesn’t like sacrifice then they could interpret the Bible sans sacrifice, sans the picking up their cross daily, and sans any effort on their own part, if they wanted.

 

[ez3714]

…but none of what you have posted (including passages from the Catechism) seems to suggest that it is God’s desire that I should suffer. He warns me that I will, and I take the warning seriously. But shouldn’t His will be made known plainly before dark accusations are made about people rejecting His will at their peril? That’s all I’m asking: Make it clear.

And please forgive me, but so far this has been a perfect website to observe Catholics misquote their own teachings, so please understand your answers will be subject to some scrutiny…

 

[Gabriella_San_S]

…but none of what you have posted (including passages from the Catechism) seems to suggest that it is God’s desire that I should suffer. He warns me that I will, and I take the warning seriously. But shouldn’t His will be made known plainly before dark accusations are made about people rejecting His will at their peril? That’s all I’m asking: Make it clear.

And please forgive me, but so far this has been a perfect website to observe Catholics misquote their own teachings, so please understand your answers will be subject to some scrutiny…

Perhaps the ‘narrow minded scrutiny’ is what needs examination. Arrogance is the fruit of disbelief. (did I misquote the unbelievers?)

 

[Shin]

…but none of what you have posted (including passages from the Catechism) seems to suggest that it is God’s desire that I should suffer. He warns me that I will, and I take the warning seriously. But shouldn’t His will be made known plainly before dark accusations are made about people rejecting His will at their peril? That’s all I’m asking: Make it clear.

And please forgive me, but so far this has been a perfect website to observe Catholics misquote their own teachings, so please understand your answers will be subject to some scrutiny…

We desire suffering, not for its own sake, but for the sake of God. That is first because it purges us from attachment to passions, carnal desires, and so forth – in this is necessary for cleaning the soul, and second because it is necessary as penance, that is, to pay the price of justice, the penalty for our sins, and third, because it gains us merit before God, that is we gain both a higher place in Heaven and the ability to pray and intercede for others more effectively on earth – if you ever wondered why a saint has a miraculous prayer answered immediately, and you do not, the answer is often merit, and fourthly and best and that which all other reasons are wrapped up in, suffering makes us like Christ, and those who love, love to resemble and be a part of who they love.

And so the more we bear the burden of suffering for the sake of others in Christ, the more we bear Christ and are like unto Him.

So, we do not desire suffering for its own sake, but for the sake of God.

And this, I know you are iffy on these matters, but you must not be so skeptical about saints, what they say you must always approach with deepest respect as these are the people who have spoken to God face to face. When you hear a few saints on a matter, that in almost all cases is the end of it. If you wish to enter into Heaven, theirs is the path that is to take. Not all Catholics achieve it.

The saints all agree on suffering, all the Church agrees on suffering, it is necessary and beneficial. The world hates it. It is hedonistic, pain is never gain unless it is for some worldly desire.

Why is suffering necessary? Because without it there is no true and full love of Christ. Why is there no love? Because we do not love what He did, why He did it, and so desire to bear it in Him. Instead you love your comfort more. And truly, if you think on it long enough and pray about it you will gain the grace to see the beauty of suffering with Him.

One can have peace and suffering at once, that is the way to bear it, with God.

The crucifixion is beautiful. Terrible and beautiful. God is this, many tremendous matters, and yet more, all at once.

Christ said that you must deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Him.

If you do not follow Him. . . you do not follow Him. . what more is there to say? So follow. And be courageous in Him in the face of all enemies inside and out. The yoke is easier to bear than one first thinks. Step by step one becomes capable of bearing with Him the cross.

 

[catholic-rcia]

I would highly suggest this writing on suffering. Love to hear comments on it.
In Christ
Rich
utahmission.com/pages/Why_suffering.html
www.utahmission.com