On suffering

[Montie_Claunch]

My aunt and I were talking and she asked me somthing in regards to the faith and I would like to get some responses from ya’ll on what would be the best response. She stated that she sees that Catholics are obsessed with suffering and she doesn’t know why. She feels Jesus took care of it and there is no need for us to “Go out looking for suffering”. What should I tell her? Thanks and God bless.

 

[Della]

John Paul II wrote a lovely treatise on suffering in his encyclical SALVIFICI DOLORIS: ON THE CHRISTIAN MEANING OF HUMAN SUFFERING. He covers the biblical basis for the Church’s teaching on suffering, as well as explaining what it means in our lives.

 

[CollegeKid]

Tell her we don’t go looking for suffering, but when it comes our way, we take it as an opportunity to grow closer to God by offering up our suffering to Him; by enduring it and asking for His grace for our endurance. My priest once explicitly advised me: “Don’t go looking for crosses, they’ll come.”

 

[thistle]

Montie Claunch:

My aunt and I were talking and she asked me somthing in regards to the faith and I would like to get some responses from ya’ll on what would be the best response. She stated that she sees that Catholics are obsessed with suffering and she doesn’t know why. She feels Jesus took care of it and there is no need for us to “Go out looking for suffering”. What should I tell her? Thanks and God bless.

We don’t go out looking for it.
A Catholic should never seek suffering but should accept it if it comes their way.

 

[mrs_abbott]

Montie Claunch:

My aunt and I were talking and she asked me somthing in regards to the faith and I would like to get some responses from ya’ll on what would be the best response. She stated that she sees that Catholics are obsessed with suffering and she doesn’t know why. She feels Jesus took care of it and there is no need for us to “Go out looking for suffering”. What should I tell her? Thanks and God bless.

This is my take on it: you reep what you sow.
If you’re bad, you suffer for it. Maybe others think I’m wrong and I’m sure there’s a more detailed answer but I’m a simple thinker and that’s what I think.

 

[Veritas41]

I just taught on the subject of suffering a couple of weeks ago, and you may want to look up these passages in Scripture to share with your aunt:

Colossians 1:24
Philippians 1:29
Philippians 4:11
2 Corinthians 12:10
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
Philippians 3:7-11
1 Peter 4:12-13
1 Peter 5:9-10
Matthew 5:10-12
Hebrews 12

Like others have posted, we don’t seek out suffering, but Jesus said we *will *suffer, so the question is – how will we respond to suffering?

 

[Pryority7]

Peter Kreeft has a wonderful book called, Making Sense Our of Suffering . When I read that, I felt very much at peace.

 

[Della]

Montie Claunch:

My aunt and I were talking and she asked me somthing in regards to the faith and I would like to get some responses from ya’ll on what would be the best response. She stated that she sees that Catholics are obsessed with suffering and she doesn’t know why. She feels Jesus took care of it and there is no need for us to “Go out looking for suffering”. What should I tell her? Thanks and God bless.

I just wanted to address your aunt’s perception that Catholics go out looking for suffering. She probably got that idea from old movies that dealt with Catholic saints that emphasized their sufferings or from those who give themselves to God as “victims of his justice,” a devotion that seems to have died out in favor of the more positive approach of St. Therese of Lisieux of giving oneself as a “victim of God’s love,” which many misunderstand, including many Catholics, to mean that truly spiritual people want to suffer needlessly. It doesn’t mean that at all! But, you don’t want to get into such deep waters with your aunt. Just let her know that the Catholic idea of suffering is not about wanting to bring suffering on ourselves, but as others have stated it, to accept the sufferings of this life as opportunities to trust in God when there is no one else in whom we can trust.

 

[VociMike]

No Catholic I know of goes out and looks for suffering. They may go out and look to do the will of God, which might involve suffering. But mostly they will just accept suffering in the manner that Paul accepted that God would not cure his affliction.

I would say that, rather than Catholics being obsessed about suffering, that many Protestants are obsessed about the “opposite”, the health and wealth gospel. I watched a “Christian” televangelist recently who in his pleading for money, and in his connecting donations with great earthly rewards, was enough to gag a maggot.

 

[VociMike]

mrs_abbott:

This is my take on it: you reep what you sow.
If you’re bad, you suffer for it. Maybe others think I’m wrong and I’m sure there’s a more detailed answer but I’m a simple thinker and that’s what I think.

But it just doesn’t work that way. Look at all those who have suffered beyond anything they sowed. Start with Jesus, of course. But then look at babies and children. Look at the good people who have suffered throughout history. And then look at the evil persons who have lived in luxury and died a peaceful death in their old age.