Why suffering is salvific

By Fr Ralph De Hahn – Despite the incredible advances in medical science and psychotherapy all humanity suffers under the sentence of death. This suffering is woven into the very fabric of human experience.

Mourners in a graveyard in Lima, Peru. Our suffering on earth is a vital part in building up the Body of Christ, argues Fr Ralph de Hahn. (CNS photo/Enrique Castro-Mendivil, Reuters)

The universal question remains: Why do we still have to suffer so much when Jesus conquered all sin and death by his sacred passion, death and resurrection?

St Paul makes an amazing statement in saying: In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the suffering of Christ on behalf of his body which is the Church.

We believe that Christ the Son of God has fully paid the price of our redemption; then what did Paul mean by this lacking in the sufferings of Christ?

The Church is the Body of Christ. He is the head and it is as the head of this enormous body that Jesus takes upon himself the guilt of all its members, and in so doing he promises us a share in his ultimate victory.

But we are also invited to a sharing in his suffering. It is the entire body suffering the head with its members. It is the Church witnessing to our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection; the Church for which he gave his life. And it is in this extraordinary exposition of divine love that we Christians share in the graces and that new life proclaimed by the early apostles.

This is what Paul is saying when he teaches the Corinthians that wherever we go we carry death in our body, the death that Jesus dies, that in this body also life may reveal itself the life that Jesus lives (2 Cor 4:10).

St John Paul ll in his excellent apostolic letter Salvifici Doloris (1984) explains that redemption was fully accomplished in Christ but that he did not bring it to a close for it seems to be of the very essence of Christ’s redemptive suffering that suffering requires yet to be unceasingly completed.

Here we are invited to share in this redemptive suffering not only for our own spiritual growth but also for the sake of others a vital point we so easily bypass.

Our suffering is redemptive; it has a purpose.

Christianity makes little sense without the cross. It is certainly not fitting that the Lord should take the path of shame and we the path of honour. We are indeed faced with a puzzling mystery when we see the good and the innocent suffer, as in the story of Job; however, God wants our trust, not our understanding.

In his divine providence and supreme wisdom God is able to produce rich fruits even from what appears to us as evil.

The ugly cross of Calvary was just the beginning of an incredible victory. Our suffering with Christ will also prove victorious. It may be difficult to absorb this truth as we face the horrors and inhumane sufferings of our people on earth; it seems sheer folly to all unbelievers, but to us who believe in the unfathomable love of Jesus and his redemptive mission it is the power of God at work (1 Cor 1:18).

We should never suffer alone. Pain without purpose can lead to bitterness and despair, and so often has led to a rejection of a loving God.

What makes Christian suffering meaningful is the dimension of love, God’s love for us in Christ (Rom 8:38) which is far beyond our understanding  and so is the suffering of the young and the innocent. Our only response is a deep unfailing faith and total dependence on his strength and his promise, as in the canticle of Jeremiah

I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows (Rom 8:18). Our present suffering can never be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. And we all know that God will keep his promise.

St John Paul ll spoke of suffering as a gift. He referred to the compassion it evokes for and in our brothers and sisters; it has salvific meaning for those who believe in self-purification, keeps us mindful of our mortality in this passing world, moves us to unselfishly give time and love to the very sick and helpless. It can evoke a deeper respect and need of God and draw us closer to him, the source of all consolation and peace.

We suffer as Church. The Church and all creation is in agony as we grow painfully to maturity and fulfilment. And in acknowledging God’s superior wisdom we may yet come to realise the vital part played by our suffering in building up the Body of Christ.