Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, SALVIFICI DOLORIS Letter of Pope John Paul II February 11,...
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Transcript of Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, SALVIFICI DOLORIS Letter of Pope John Paul II February 11,...
Christian Meaning of
Human Suffering,
SALVIFICI DOLORISLetter of
Pope John Paul II February 11, 1984.
The witnesses of the cross and
resurrection of Christ present
to us a
Gospel of Suffering
The Redeemer Himself wrote this Gospel,
by His own suffering accepted in love,
so that man "should not perish but
have eternal life." (John 3:16)
Christ tells us that
he came"to serve
and to give his life
as a ransom for many."
"Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."
reveals the salvific
purpose of suffering in Christ's mission,
in the Church’s mission and, in our mission
This Gospel of Suffering
The Love of Jesus transforms the cross,
a horrible instrument of torture, into the most effective means
for the glory of God and
the salvation of mankind.The cross of Jesus
is the greatest proof of His love for men.
"If any man would come after me . . .
let him take up his cross daily."
In order to satisfy His moral demands his disciples must
"deny themselves.“(Luke 9:23)
The way to the kingdom of heaven is
"hard and narrow." In contrast to the
"wide and easy" way that
"leads to destruction." (Cf Mt 7:13-14)
Christ did not conceal
from His listeners the
need for them to suffer.
"They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and
you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.
You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they
will put to death; you will be hated by all for my name
sake.
But not a hair of your head will perish.
By your endurance you will gain your lives."
(Lk 21:12-19)
The Gospel speaks of this suffering The Gospel speaks of this suffering and persecution being and persecution being
"for Christ," "for Christ," "for the sake of Christ" "for the sake of Christ"
"for his name's sake." "for his name's sake."
These persecutions
and tribulations
will be a particular proof
of likeness to Christ
and union
with Him.
This Gospel of Suffering,
which speaks of persecutions, experienced
because of Christ, contains in itself
a special call to
courage and fortitude
Christ has overcome the world definitively by His
resurrection.
He has at the same time overcome the
world by His suffering.
Christ retains in His risen body
the marks of the wounds of the cross
in His hands, feet and side.
Paul says: "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted. " (2 Tim 3:12)
Through his resurrection,
Christ makes known the victorious power
of suffering. He wishes to plant within the hearts of
those whom He chose as Apostles
and those whom He continually chooses
and sends forth an appreciation for this
power.
The Gospel of Suffering
continues to be written down through history even to the current day
by all those who suffer together
with Christ, uniting their human
sufferingsto His suffering
for our salvation.
The Gospel of suffering is fulfilled
in these people, and,
at the same time, it continues in a
certain sense to be written:
they write it and proclaim it
to the world, they announce it to the world in which they live and to the people of their time.
For in suffering there is concealed a particular
power that draws a person interiorly close to
Christ, a special grace.
A result of such grace is not only
that We may discover
the salvific meaning
of suffering, but above all that through suffering we may become a completely new
person.
We can discover a new dimension, as it were, of our entire life and
vocation. This discovery is
a particular confirmation of the spiritual
greatness which in mankind surpasses the body
in a way that is completely beyond
compare.
When our body is gravely ill,
totally incapacitated,
and we are almost incapable of living
and acting, all the more do
interior maturity and
spiritual greatness become evident,
constituting a touching lesson to
those who are healthy and normal.
This interior maturity and spiritual greatness This interior maturity and spiritual greatness in suffering are certainly the result of a in suffering are certainly the result of a
particular conversion and cooperation with particular conversion and cooperation with the grace of the crucified Redeemer. the grace of the crucified Redeemer.
It is He Himself
who acts at the heart of human sufferings
through His
Spirit of truth,
through
the consoling Spirit.
It is He
who transforms,
the very substance of the spiritual life,
indicating for the person who suffers a
place close to Himself.
It is He
-as the interior Master and Guide-
who reveals to the suffering brother
and sister this wonderful
interchange,
situated at the very heart of the
mystery of the Redemption.
And slowly but effectively,
Christ leads into this mysterious world,
into this kingdom of the Father,
suffering mankind, in a certain sense
through the very heart of His suffering.
For suffering cannot be transformed and changed by the grace from outside,
but from within. Christ through His own suffering
is very much present in every human suffering,
and can act from within that suffering
by the powers
of His Spirit of truth.
His consoling Spirit.
The divine Redeemer wishes to
penetrate the soul
of every sufferer through the
heart of His holy Mother,
the first and the most exalted
of all the redeemed.
At the foot of the cross, the dying Christ,
conferred upon the ever Virgin Mary a new kind of
motherhood-spiritual and universal-
towards all human beings
so that every individual, during the
pilgrimage of faith, might remain,
together with her, closely united to
Him unto the cross, and
so that every form of suffering,
given fresh life by the power of this cross,
should become no longer the weakness of man but
the power of God.
We each react to suffering
in different ways. But in general
it can be said thatthe individual enters
suffering with a typically human
protest and with the question
“Why?"
How can this be?
We cannot help noticing that the One to whom we put the
question is Himself suffering and wishes to answer us from
the cross, from the heart of His own
suffering.
Why?
We hear Christ's saving answer as we ourselves gradually becomesharers in the sufferings of Christ.
The answer comes by way of interior encounter with the Master. It is in itself something more than the mere abstract answer to the
question about the meaning of suffering.
For it is above all a call. It is a vocation!
Christ says: "Follow me!"
Come! Take part through your suffering in this work of
saving the world, a salvation achieved through
my suffering! Through my cross!
Gradually, as we take up our cross, spiritually uniting ourselves
to the cross of Christ, the salvific meaning of suffering is
revealed before us.
We do not discover this meaning at our own human
level, but at the level of the suffering
of Christ. At the same time from this
level of Christ the saving meaning of suffering
descends to our level and becomes, in a sense,
our personal response. It is then that we find in his suffering interior peace and
even spiritual joy.
This source of joy is found in
the overcoming of our sense of the
uselessness of suffering, this sense not only
consumes us interiorly, but convinces us that we
have become a burden to others.
St. Paul speaks of such joy in
Col. 1:24: "I rejoice in
my sufferings for your sake."
The discovery of the saving purpose of suffering
in union with Christ transforms this depressing
feeling. Faith in sharing in the
suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty
that in the spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption
we are serving, like Christ,
the salvation of our brothers and sisters.
We are carrying out an irreplaceable service in the Body of Christ,
which is ceaselessly born of the cross of the Redeemer.
Suffering, more than anything else,
makes present in the history of humanity
the power of Redemption.
And so the Church sees
in all Christ's suffering
brothers and sisters
as it were a multiple
subject of His supernatural
power.
The Gospel of suffering is being written unceasingly, and it speaks unceasingly
with the words of this strange paradox:
the springs of divine power gush forth precisely in the midst of human weakness.
Those who share in the sufferings of Christ preserve in their own
sufferings a very special particle
of the infinite treasure of the world's redemption,
and can share this treasure with others.
The Cross Becomes a Sacrifice:
A ritual offering made to God by a priest on behalf of the
people, as a sign of
adoration, gratitude, supplication, and communion. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross is commemorated and
mysteriously made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the
Church.
The sacrifice of Jesus "for the sins of the
whole world" expresses his loving communion with the
Father. "The Father loves me, because I lay down my
life," "[for] I do as the Father
has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the
Father."
Jesus reigns from the cross
To bear our cross with love is the greatest means of our
sanctification
Only the way of the cross leads to union with GodOur sacrifices have value only inasmuch as they are
offered in union with the sacrifice of Jesus
In the light of the unmatchable example of
Christ, reflected with singular
clarity in the life of His Mother, the Gospel of suffering,
through the experience and words
of the Apostles, becomes an inexhaustible source for each generation that succeeds one another
in the history of the Church.