I’m confused on how Mary still suffers for us. I heard that she tells in her apparitions how much she sorrows for mankind, etc. I know she does, but my question is…
if Mary is in Heaven, wouldn’t she be perfectly happy? Why would she still be suffering?
I would be a little more worried if I ***weren’t *** somewhat confused aball 1035
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Since God has revealed Himself and more particularly since Christ’s life, death and resurrection, there exists a mystical side to suffering which seems to elude explanation. Compounding the difficulty is the fact that as Eucharisted was saying, God is beyond time and space. We commonly run into complications while trying to express eternity using our limited human language.
My own thought is that the mystical dimension to suffering will remain as long as the Church militant and the Church suffering remain .
Your question, brought to the next level, is: “Does God suffer?”
It can be said that Christ suffers in His Mystical Body; in us - its members.If Christ is, as St. Paul says, the “head”, then He is very well connected to the members of His mystical body.
Ephesians 4:30 is definitely worth a look too:
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption"
I experienced a confusion similar to yours, the first few times I read the meditations for the novena to The Divine Mercy. Each meditation contains a quote of our beloved Lord Jesus to St. Faustina. After you read them, you’ll see that I can empathize with you:
First Day
“Today bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners,
and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me.”
Fifth Day"Today bring to Me the Souls of those who have separated themselves from My Church*,and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. During My bitter Passion they tore at My Body and Heart, that is, My Church. As they return to unity with the Church My wounds heal and in this way they alleviate My Passion."
Sixth Day
Today bring to Me the Meek and Humble Souls and the Souls of Little Children,
and immerse them in My mercy. These souls most closely resemble My Heart. They strengthened Me during My bitter agony. I saw them as earthly Angels, who will keep vigil at My altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. I favor humble souls with My confidence.
I always found it notable, that, while in the Day 6 quote taken from the meditations, clearly a link is established with Jesus’ agony , the Day 5 quote speaks of things we can do in the present which, “alleviate His Passion.”
The Day 1 quote leans even a little further - it is speaking in the present tense: “
In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me.”
…quite easy to become confused. What I prefer to do is rather than try to figure out so much, " Does God suffer", relating to the Day 1 quote, I would look at , “Why so much grief?” ; because the answer is Jesus’ own unspeakable love for us - a love so great that he would come and suffer that Passion and die again to save even one human soul.
In a similar manner, if I’m reading a message of Our Blessed Mother, rather than dwell too long on Her being saddened/sad, I would try to look at what the cause of the sadness is and pray that I would have the grace to do what she, as a most caring Mother, is exhorting us to do to remedy it. I’ve found personally that occasionally reflecting (when I’m willing to) on how something ( a type of sin) might sadden our Blessed Mother helps keep me from doing it.
A possible point of interest:
One of the four major effects of the sacrament of the
Anointing of the Sick is that the sick person’s sufferings become united to Christ’s Passion.
