Suffering...

[Neithan]

Suffering is taught by the Church to have redemptive value for Christians; it joins us to Christ’s eternal Passion, it is penitential and even meritorious if done for God in His Grace or fellow brothers and sisters in Christ either here on earth or in purgatory; it is an objective evil, but is used for a greater good. Given this teaching, why should we as Catholics avoid suffering at all, if we can help ourselves and others’ spiritual welfare? Shouldn’t we actively seek it out? Shouldn’t we try to live with as much pain and suffering every day as we possibly can, and offer it up to God as spiritual sacrifice?
The trickiest question: why should we alleviate the suffering of other Christians here on earth? It’s good for their soul! It helps them avoid purgatory! Aren’t we all called by Baptism to suffer? Rather than help each other avoid pain with pleasurable ‘acts of mercy’ shouldn’t we just join one another to Christ in our suffering and pain? Aren’t we called to be complete anti-hedonists, pursuing pain rather than pleasure? Meritorious practices such as mortification are strongly encouraged by the Church to forsake the pleasures of the body, replaced with pain, and such heroic saints as St. Rose of Lima clearly exemplify this in practice. The long line of holy Martyrs exemplify the ultimate consequence of pain and suffering–death, as the greatest glory unto God and the Church.

It’s confusing because no Catholic theologian/philosopher will argue that pain and suffering are the goals of humanity, but rather pleasure and happiness, which the world also clearly tells us. God wants us to be happy. In this present life however, our disordered desires seek out pleasures which will lead us to sin and unhappiness, whereas when we seek out pain and suffering we gain spiritual satisfactions unto salvation–ours and other members of Christ’s Mystical Body on earth or in purgatory–as well as spiritual merit unto glorification. Christ’s Passion took all the evil affects of Original Sin and turned them upside down–now pain and suffering are used for greater good, which will be realised in heaven. If our lives here are abolute misery, but we undergo all this misery in faith, hope and charity for love of God and the Church, then we will please God and He will reward us in heaven.

A quick reference to elaborate: in Protagoras, Socrates explains (in terms pertaining purely to the pagan, earthly life) that ‘good’ is that which leads to the greatest ultimate pleasure, and ‘evil’ is that which leads to the greatest ultimate pain. Sometimes pain is undertaken–such as strenuous exercise–to experience a greater good–health, energy etc. Sometimes pleasure, which seems good at the moment–like taking illicit drugs–can lead to greater evil–sickness, addiction etc. Greater pain now can lead to greater pleasure later and vice versa–more exercise, better health/pleasure overall; or more drugs, worse health/pain overall.
So it is in the Christian life with pleasure and sin, pain and merit, viewed from eternity. If we seek out pleasures in this life, we are missing opportunities to increase our pleasures in the next (heaven), which is far greater. Or worse, indulging in pleasures in this life will wallow us in sin where we will ultimately undergo greater pain for all of eternity (hell). If we live this life in the greatest amount of pain possible, suffered out of a burning love for God and the Church, we will ultimately experience the greatest amount of pleasures (glory) possible for us in heaven! What’s more, our unselfishness will increase the greatest ultimate pleasures of those souls for whom we have suffered!

Should we as the Catholics not constantly strive, to the greatest limits of our ability, for pain and suffering in fervent humility and charity as our ultimate goal in this life on earth? Is it not our ideal–Christ–that we forsake all our own pleasure and happiness in this life to:

**1.) **spread the Gospel to those outside the Church (i.e. suffering to increase the members of Christ’s Mystical Body on earth–the Church Militant)
**2.) **strengthen the Church Militant (suffering to resist our own temptations to avoid falling from Grace, and suffering for others to intercede for Graces)
3.) alleviate the punishment of the Church Suffering in purgatory (suffering for indulgences, penances etc. on behalf of the dead in Christ)

Is this not the very meaning of Christ’s Cross, to follow Him into willing all selfless **pain **and suffering? Even unto death? To truly deny this life on earth to save it for the life to come?

Matt. 10:38, 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23, 17:33; John 12:25

 

[springbreeze]

Dear friend

Simply, God loves you, He desires no-one to suffer, Jesus is sorrowful and sorry for every suffering on the earth and is the Healer of Humanity. But because of our broken nature (concupisence) which in this life has not been restored, not until the next life should we go to heaven, we suffer all forms of ills and pains mentally and physically. We shouldn’t go looking for them, God desires each person to be well and safe, but if suffering comes our way then we can be sure God has allowed it for a reason. We should always reach out to those who are suffering to our knowledge, and help in any way possible to ease their suffering even if it may cause us to suffer ourselves, this is the Love of Christ Jesus Who reached out to those suffering in all manner of ways and healed them.

You know, without any hardship whatsoever we are not tried and tested. Most people never think of Christ Jesus and they especially do not think of Him when the going is good, but they do leap quickly to hating and blaming Him when things do not go their way and hardship of any kind happens in their lives, instead of clinging to His Cross and asking for the strength to bear it, or to be healed and offering everything to Him for His will.

You might like to balance healing and suffering, by that I mean we use our common sense, if you have a toothache, take a pain killer and see a dentist, if you are ill see a doctor, God made your body for your soul to dwell in and for it to be a Holy Tabernacle for the Trinity to dwell in, you must exercise stewardship over your own body, however if we are to suffer and all people do come to that at some time or other, then we accept our cross trusting in Christ Jesus and if He wills He will heal us and if not it is for good reason and we unite it to His sufferings, but whatever the suffering we PRAY.

Read the Good Samaritan, read all of the miracles where Jesus cured people and then read the Passion of Christ and read the Acts where the Apostles suffered and died. Balance these two.

The Prudence is to know when there is nothing to be done by human means and then to suffer it for love of God and love of each other hopeful and trusting in the will of God; if humanity can act they should do so to ease suffering, the Lord will ask why we did not feed Him, clothe Him, visit Him sick and in prison etc there is merit in this also as well as merit in suffering well when medicine can do nothing and the Lord in His wisdom allows suffering. But no matter if human means cannot eleviate suffering we must show love and kindness to those who are suffering and be with them and always pray.

If you are struggling with suffering in life or if you are struggling to comprehend it, speak to your Priest.

In my prayers.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[Neithan]

Great reply Teresa, thanks

It’s not pain and suffering that we strive for in themselves, but to use it for redemptive value–satisfactions for those in purgatory or other Christians on earth, and merit in the process. It’s ultimately happiness that we seek–but in the next life, not in this one. So we can use all the pain and suffering we can muster in this life to help our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ–in purgatory or on earth–as well as self-sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel, to bring those outside of the Church into her fold.

Certainly we must exercise prudence, and not cause any suffering on others! I guess it’s a good rule to always strive to alleviate the suffering of others then, since this is what Jesus exemplified for us, but what about the suffering of ourselves? Should we do anything to alleviate any suffering that comes our way, or use it for penitential purposes? I ask this in the light of great saints such as St. Rose of Lima, who practiced such intense self-mortifications that it cost her life. It is a kind of ‘self-martyrdom’ for the glory of God, but differs from suicide in that selfish death itself is not the goal, but selfless suffering that can risk death, for the alleviation of suffering souls in purgatory and penance for others’ sins on earth.

Should we all not follow in the footstepts of great saints who have practiced intense self-suffering–mortifications–and unite these as ‘supererogative’ satisfactions, as ‘co-redemptive’ penances with Christ and the Church?

“In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church.” (Col. 1:24)

 

[gardenswithkids]

Neithan:

Shouldn’t we actively seek it out? Shouldn’t we try to live with as much pain and suffering every day as we possibly can, and offer it up to God as spiritual sacrifice?

Some saints felt called to do extreme penances and took those upon themselves UNDER SPIRITUAL DIRECTION. If you feel called to take some extra suffering upon yourself, I strongly suggest you consult a good confessor and discuss that with him.

As for the majority of us, beyond a few minor penances required by the Church, life offers plenty of opportunities to suffer. I don’t always handle those opportunities as gracefully as I should. But I believe that joyfully accepting the sufferings God provides for me aids in my santification and the santification of others far better than those I’d choose for myself.

The trickiest question: why should we alleviate the suffering of other Christians here on earth?

Because whatever we do to the least, we do for Christ. Perhaps one of the reasons God allows the innocent to suffer is to provide the rest of us with an opportunity to show our love for Jesus through acts of mercy to alleviate their sufferings. As you say suffering is redemptive, yet the spiritual benefit is not just for those who suffers but for the benefit of many.

Neithan:

Should we do anything to alleviate any suffering that comes our way, or use it for penitential purposes?

We can accept legitimate means to alleviate suffering, (not all means of relieving suffering is legitimate.) Let’s say you have a headache, and an aspirin sits in front of you that could relieve it. God provided a legitimate means to relieve your suffering, and it is perfectly acceptable to take it. You could decline the medicine and offer your suffering to God. But if while suffering you become unbearable to those around you, you’d probably have been better off alleviating you own headache in the first place.

 

[thistle]

Neithan:

Shouldn’t we actively seek it out? Shouldn’t we try to live with as much pain and suffering every day as we possibly can, and offer it up to God as spiritual sacrifice?

We should not seek out suffering but certainly accept it if it comes our way and offer it up as a sacrifice to God for a greater good.

 

[Neithan]

gardenswithkids:

I believe that joyfully accepting the sufferings God provides for me aids in my santification and the santification of others far better than those I’d choose for myself.

Well said!

You could decline the medicine and offer your suffering to God. But if while suffering you become unbearable to those around you, you’d probably have been better off alleviating you own headache in the first place.

Yeah I guess that’s the key–if we bear our suffering gracefully. If we take on voluntary pains which will only injure those around us than we are negating the whole redemptive value.
I guess it’s also always important to remember that, ultimately, suffering and pain will be done away with (Rev. 21:4), and they should never be seen as a necessary end in themselves, but only a possible means to a greater good. Not all penance needs to be painful suffering. I think that Christ’s example does call us to attend more to the sufferings of others, and neglect ourselves if it helps our neighbour. Always gracefully, in a spirit of charity or else it serves no good.

 

[puzzleannie]

The trickiest question: why should we alleviate the suffering of other Christians here on earth?

because Jesus explicitly commands us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked etc. in last Sunday’s gospel as a condition of our salvation.

 

[Neithan]

puzzleannie:

because Jesus explicitly commands us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked etc. in last Sunday’s gospel as a condition of our salvation.

Yes but I was wondering if fellow Christians should not focus these efforts on non-Christians, for evangelisation, since baptism calls us to deny ourselves and take up our cross–i.e. to suffer selflessly.
Then again Christ accepted the help of Veronica and Simon of Cyrene during His primeval act of eternally redemptive suffering, which shows us that we who join in it should never turn away kind acts offered to us, even if we are using our suffering for penance.

 

[springbreeze]

Neithan:

Yes but I was wondering if fellow Christians should not focus these efforts on non-Christians, for evangelisation, since baptism calls us to deny ourselves and take up our cross–i.e. to suffer selflessly.
Then again Christ accepted the help of Veronica and Simon of Cyrene during His primeval act of eternally redemptive suffering, which shows us that we who join in it should never turn away kind acts offered to us, even if we are using our suffering for penance.

Dear friend

We must see Christ Jesus in all people and that includes ourselves. When we recognise Christ Jesus in all people including ourselves then we gift God to each other in kindness and love.

In Sacred Scripture Christ Jesus asks us to love each other as we love ourselves, this is important, it teaches us to love ourselves and each other, firstly, of course, loving God. Unless we love God first we cannot adequately love ourselves or each other.

We must learn to love ourselves, that doesn’t mean love the sinful self, this means to love the ‘self’ made in the image and likeness of God and the human dignity of Christ Jesus within this ‘self’. If we truly love ourselves as God intended then there is no selfish motive within us, we treat ourselves with the same love and kindness as God loves us and God desires no single incident of harm to befall us, therefore we too must not desire this. Desire is a very dangerous thing, it is through the thought processes and internal desires that sin arises, every sin begins internally as a thought, a desire. Rather we desire nothing except Jesus and leave all of our foolish desires aside, because desires are nothing but the foolish thoughts of man and are not the ways of God.

I know full well that I should have died for my sins though I am not worthy to die on a cross, it is my guilt , my sin and my responsibility, but that is not the way Christ Jesus chose, He chose to die for me and for every human being and His one infinite salvific sacrifice is redemptive, there is nothing I can add to this that will perfect His suffering for my soul, I personally have nothing to offer God as all I have whether suffering or joy already belongs to Him. I offer this to Him because it is just and right I do so, it is His. However to withold my offering is unjust, because by doing so I deny God what is rightfully His. Everything is a gift from God. In the gift of suffering we are privaleged to share in the salvation of humanity by simply giving back to God what is rightfully His. This is what St Paul speaks of when he says he makes up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ Jesus, St Paul gives to God what is rightfully His but did not suffer Himself in His own sacred humanity.

We must love God, ourselves and each other and there is plenty of suffering in the world without purposefully creating it, to create suffering in my opinion is to act against the will of God. It is far more meritous to strive in faith to serve each other, this within it has a balance of suffering and joy. If we ourselves are suffering we must accept any kindness bestowed upon us, because it is the hand of Christ Jesus that brings that kindness to us in the Christ Jesus within the soul who aids us and we must not reject the Christ within others. (Man is capable of no good at all without God’s grace)

In this serving of each other is the Kingdom of God. In this serving of each other is the Love of God and the Love of God must be returned to the source, back to God as all proceeds from Him all must return back to Him.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[Neithan]

Thanks again Teresa, very enlightening.

I can see now that the thinking in the original post is somewhat skewed. Suffering is not the only way, nor necessarily the best way, to obtain satisfaction or merit. Our Lord taught us three ways, known in the Church as *fasting, almsgiving, *and prayer. These three perfectly emcompass the three relationships of man: with himself, with others, and with God.
Fasting, mortification etc. is suffering, and is directed upon ourselves for penitential purposes. Almsgiving, or acts of mercy, is directed upon our neighbour, and prayer is directed to God. All of these must be done in a spirit of humility and charity to be efficacious, and all of them are equally valuable for satisfactions and merit. This is explained succinctly by St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa.

Christ gave us the perfect example of course: He suffered and took suffering upon Himself, He alleviated the suffering of others and accepted the kind acts of others, He modelled for us a perfect life of prayer and devotion to God. In all these things He showed us perfect humility and charity.