Redemptive suffering question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Binary
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Binary

Guest
I’ve been told that one’s humble acceptance of suffering can be a source of grace, and that we can ask God to give that grace to others instead of ourselves. Is that correct?
 
Many years ago I was at mass and an older fellow came up to the front. The priest explained that this man had decided to consecrate his life to Christ as a “victim soul”. He said a prayer and gave the man a blessing. At the time I was a bit confused at the meaning and significance of this ceremony. I think your statement above explains it. It describes in a nutshell what Christ did for us (if you hugely magnify the words “suffering” and “grace” to account for the fact that Christ is God and man). We are called to imitate Christ in all things, so in our feeble human fashion we too can suffer to deliver grace to others. There are several passages in St. Faustina’s diary where she does exactly this. In her case she mystically “sees” the person in need, endures some kind of suffering, and then mystically “sees” how her sacrifice has benefited the patient. Most of us do not have this kind of prescience, yet it seems plausible that our humble sufferings, if offered to God, will benefit others according to God’s plan.
 
Binary said:
I’ve been told that one’s humble acceptance of suffering can be a source of grace, and that we can ask God to give that grace to others instead of ourselves. Is that correct?
Click to expand...
I have heard about victim souls who accept their suffering and offer it up for others. I can’t imagine God not giving grace to the victim soul for doing this. It seems right that they would benefit from such an act of unselfishness. even though they are not seeking the grace for themselves.
 
Yes, this is correct. The theology behind it sometimes referred to as the “economy of salvation” or “economy of souls.” God allows suffering, a product of sin, so that he may bring good from it. Christ as the model, all suffering essentially has merit and can be efficacious in meriting grace not only for ourselves, but for other souls, too: for the Church Militant on earth and the Church Expectant in Purgatory. (One must bear in mind that Christ’s suffering, seeing as he is divine, is unique in that the single act of his passion and death merits an eternity of graces which are eternally efficacious for the salvation of souls.)

The faithful are encouraged to pray that their suffering be united to that of Christ’s on the cross.
 
You encounter a lot on the subject when you read private revelations. There was another thread about books about victim souls not too long ago where I’m sure you’d find a wealth of information, but you also encounter it frequently when it comes to private revelations about Purgatory, etc.

In Maria Simma’s book, for example, you hear how her loving acceptance of three hours’ worth of suffering saved a particular individual twenty years’ worth of Purgatory. Whether that twenty years is a literal twenty years or not, it shows the relative value of embracing your sufferings while alive versus suffering after death. While alive, suffering and sacrifice can help you grow in love and grace; after death, suffering only purifies.

Likewise, you read about a series of avalanches that struck one village with deadly results, but the neighboring village was miraculously spared due to a woman who had suffered terribly from illness for thirty years before dying. It says:
…sufferings borne with patience can save more souls than prayer (but prayer helps us to bear our sufferings).
Click to expand...
I can definitely understand that… how often are our prayers pretty superficial until something terrible or tragic occurs that helps us put our hearts into it? Whereas with suffering, it’s pretty difficult to keep our hearts out if it. 🙂

From St. Gertrude and the value of uniting all our actions-- including suffering-- with Christ’s suffering:
He next considers the practices of devotion which she saw proposes, especially that of uniting all our actions, however trifling, to those of Our Divine Lord: “Oh, the bargain!” he exclaims; “would he not be considered a fool who would not give a piece of copper for a heap of gold, or a flint for a pearl?” Thus are all our good actions turned to immense account, and become of great value to us, inasmuch as by our intention of uniting them with the oblation of Christ, they become part and parcel of His merits. Further, if we do all this not merely for ourselves but for others, and above all for Holy Church, our gain is increased, God is more glorified and the Church is strengthened and supported: “for all property, the more common it becomes, the more heavenly it becomes” - words surely worth noting and treasuring in every stage of our spiritual life.
Click to expand...
and another segment about the relative values of different types of sufferings-- suffering alone vs. when you have others to help:
Gertrude received another plain testimony, although she did not understand it very well at first, that contradictions and privation of consolation in suffering greatly increase merit. On a certain day, about the Feast of Pentecost, as she suffered such severe pain in her side that those who were present feared her last hour had arrived, her Beloved, the true Consoler of her soul, retired from her, and this increased her suffering, although the cares and attentions of those who surrounded her were redoubled; whereas, when she was less carefully attended, this loving Lord remained near her, to solace the severity of her pain by His presence, thus making her understand, that when we are deprived of human consolation, the Divine Mercy regards us most favorably.
Click to expand...
Towards evening, as the Saint was worn out by acute suffering, she sought to obtain some mitigation of it from Our Lord, but He raised His right arm, and showed her the pain she had endured all day as a precious ornament on His bosom. As this ornament appeared so perfect and so complete in every part, she rejoiced, hoping that her suffering would now cease; but Our Lord replied: What you suffer after this will add brightness to this ornament. And certainly, although it was garnished with precious stones, the gold appeared dark and dull. What she suffered afterwards was not so grievous in itself, but she was more tried by being deprived of consolation, than by the acuteness of the pain.
Click to expand...
Regarding whether or not you profit when you offer your sufferings and graces for someone else, from when St. Gertrude interceded for one soul in Purgatory:
Then the soul besought Our Lord, by the love which had brought Him down from Heaven to die upon the Cross, that He would apply these remedies to his soul, and reward those who prayed for him abundantly; and Our Lord appeared to take a piece of gold from him, and lay it by to recompense those who had assisted him by their prayers.
Click to expand...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top