Suffering 

   “If we accept good things from God, should we not be willing to accept sorrows as well?” (Job 2: 10) 

   Lord, why must we suffer?  This is a question that I believe all of us ask at some point in our lives.  Suffering is never easy, and it can be mistaken for punishment for some wrong though that is not the case.  Suffering, like joy and happiness, is a part of life that we will all experience, some more than others.

   If we must suffer, and certainly we must, should we not try to understand suffering in the light of God’s purpose and plan?  I don’t believe suffering is of God, but He allows us to suffer in this life.  The question is why, to what purpose is the suffering we are called to endure?

   I’ve spent a lot of time recently contemplating suffering, trying to understand why we must suffer.  I’ve come to some conclusions about it.   They don’t relieve the suffering, but they make accepting it and enduring it much easier.

   “Only by carrying the cross can one reach resurrection.” (Archbishop Fulton Sheen).  I look at the suffering of my Lord as He was betrayed, abandoned, brutally beaten, and nailed to a cross.  This was God’s chosen way to save me from my sins, so there was a tremendous good that came from this evil.  From the suffering of Christ there came redemption and forgiveness of my sins.

   If I am unwilling to join in the suffering of Jesus I have no right to expect resurrection and a heavenly reward.  It also occurs to me that I can transform my suffering into sacrifice, offering it for the salvation of others.   Can my suffering be joined to Jesus’ for the redemption of the world?  I believe it can.  So my suffering can also bring about good.

   Jesus said,  “Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14: 27).  If I wish to be His disciple, and I do, then I must reconcile myself to the suffering of the cross, whatever it may be.