The priceless value of suffering
Nobody likes to suffer. He, too, did not “like” Jesus Christ. Yet she hugged him out of love. In the Garden of Olives he exclaimed: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, but not as I want, but as you want.” Matthew 26, 39. Here is the inestimable value of suffering: embrace it freely out of love, in union with Jesus Christ; Suffer to be faithful to the path of love.
There are many forms of suffering that affect the body. However, the greatest sufferings are those of the heart: family conflicts, disagreements between people who love each other… Sooner or later we all suffer, thus we all have the opportunity to offer ourselves to God in communion with Christ. That is why the brothers who are prostrated by illness can bear more fruit, save more souls and do more good than many others with numerous active apostolates but with less love.
Jesus Christ suffered to the extreme on the cross for love of us. This is the key: FOR LOVE. Everything, absolutely everything, we have to live it, to embrace it for love. This is how Jesus redeemed us. It is true that every word and action of Jesus is part of his saving work. But it was especially through his sufferings on the Cross that we were delivered from sin.
Suffering is an opportunity to join Christ and cooperate in the redemption of the world. Suffering by itself is worth nothing. What counts is the loving delivery that we make of it to God. That is why suffering is a great opportunity and it would be terrible to waste it.
The cross, the sign of the Christian, is a sign of our surrender to suffering for love. It reminds us of Christ, who gave himself for our redemption. We, being his Body, have to suffer in union with Him, who is our Head. We make the sign of the cross to remember this commitment. Everything we do must be “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” and all out of love, embracing our cross.
“From the cross the sky is better contemplated” -Mother Adela Galindo
Suffering has great value when we embrace it out of love. In the face of pain we can join the cross of Christ or react with rebellion and blame God. Suffering has great value: it atones for evil, it unites with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as an expression of love and trust in Him, and it offers God a sacrifice of praise. The suffering united to the sufferings of Christ makes us similar to Him, who freely embraced the cross out of love. Saint Paul says:
Now I rejoice for the sufferings that I endure for you, and I complete in my flesh what is lacking in the tribulations of Christ, in favor of his Body, which is the Church. -Colossians 1,24
Only in the light of faith can we trust God and grow in the midst of suffering. I invite you to meditate:
Sufferings embraced freely by love
Often the Christian is called to take the path that costs the most, the path where there is suffering. He is motivated by fidelity to love and commitment to the fulfillment of duty. Love always requires suffering. Jesus chose love unto death. We have the option to give up that demand but then we would stop loving. We can take the easy path of selfishness and pleasure, or we can choose the path of love that requires giving up sin and mediocrity. Suffering is then a free choice made out of love. The path of love is narrow and few go through it because they do not want to suffer. This is how the majority abandons Jesus.
“The love that cannot suffer is not worthy of that name” -Santa Clara.
unavoidable sufferings
There are also sufferings that cannot be avoided: illnesses, injustices against us… Also in these cases we can acquire merit because we are free to live it with love and unite ourselves to the sufferings of Christ. In the face of suffering we can cooperate with his redeeming work or we can rebel. We see the example of the two thieves crucified with Jesus. Neither of them could avoid the cross from him. But if they had to decide how to live it. For one, that agony was an opportunity to be filled with resentment and useless hatred. For the other, however, it was the moment to meet Jesus, open his heart and find his salvation.
Love moves us to sympathize with those who suffer and to do everything possible to eliminate the evils that cause suffering: injustice, poverty, illness… We will be judged according to our response to the suffering of our brothers.
Then the King will say to those on his right: “Come, blessed of my Father, receive the inheritance of the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink.” I was a stranger, and you welcomed me…” Matthew 25:34-35
The apostolate of suffering
Jesus teaches us to suffer for love. We help our neighbor in proportion as we do good to his soul, and there is no greater good for souls than the graces obtained through prayer united with freely offered sacrifice.
There is nothing more valuable and more fruitful than the suffering given to the Father together with that of Jesus. That is why cooperation with God in the salvation of humanity is within everyone’s reach. God does not need us to do great things according to our idea of what is great. What he does want from us is that we give him our hearts, our lives, with all the situations of joy but also of suffering. Why is suffering so valuable? Because it is the moment of greatest opportunity to trust and unite with Jesus for love. The greatest proof of love is given when one suffers for the loved one.
Saint John Paul II, speaking of suffering said:
The sick and the suffering are at the very center of the Gospel. We preach Christ crucified, which means that we preach a strength that arises from weakness. When the sick are united with Christ, the power of God enters their lives» until it touches the world.
Human suffering can show the goodness of God. It is possible, he acknowledged, that “the experience of suffering discourages and depresses many people, but in the lives of others it can create a new depth of humanity: it can bring new strength and new insight. The way to understand this mystery is our faith.
Saint John Paul II, October 30, 1998
That is why the Holy Father values the apostolate of suffering so much. We should not wait until a serious illness comes to exercise it. This apostolate is open to all who have faith and love. By faith we appreciate the nobility of suffering since Jesus Christ became man and saved us suffering to death. For love we make every suffering a sacrifice. What’s more, who loves a lot will come to enjoy suffering for the loved one.
It is true that the Blood of Christ is more than meritorious to achieve salvation. But He has willed that this salvation be received through the cooperation of sinners. That is why it is essential that we unite our personal cross with that of Our Lord.
We must say with Saint Paul “Now I rejoice because of the sufferings that I endure for you, and I complete in my flesh what is lacking in the tribulations of Christ, in favor of his Body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24)
Author: P. Jordi Rivero
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