Suffering, the Catholic Answer: The Cross of Christ and Its Meaning for You (Revised)

This book is a primer for beginning to realize and apply some very basic, extremely important facts of redemption and for beginning to apply them to the sufferings that inevitably enter all of our lives. This book should be required reading for all Christians. (and even non-Christians) Don't wait until you're mired in heavy suffering! These principles can (and should) also be practiced with the everyday minor sufferings and frustrations encountered in daily life. While the problem of suffering is universal, few religions have any good handle on it beyond "Just trust in God. He knows what He is doing." While this is a fine example of Faith and a virtue if practiced, it is a bit dissatisfying intellectually as an explanation. It also can be hard to internalize and practice when undergoing severe trials of your own. While God never wills evil, He also generally won't interfere with our Free Will. This means that evil (and its companion, suffering) will enter into everyone's lives at some point. He also never allows more suffering than a person can handle, IF a person accepts and corresponds the Grace and strength that He always offers us in our times of strife. As some of my Protestant brethren have wisely put it, "If He brings you TO it, He'll bring you THROUGH it!" However, there is more. When God allows suffering to come into a person's life, He WILL draw a greater good from it. The crux of the Catholic take on suffering is that suffering can be a means by which the sufferer can bring down actual Grace on the world, to help Christ's body, which is The Church. Your suffering can MEAN something, and can bring down real benefits to your Faith journey as well as to others in The Church. If one accepts one's suffering with Grace and unites one's suffering to Jesus Christ on the Cross, one can actually help to make up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. (If this statement bothers you, realize that your argument is not with me, it's with The Bible: cf. Col. 1:24. Explanation follows.) Colossians 1:24 does NOT mean that what Jesus did was in any way inadequate. Of course it was not! Jesus was and IS God. He could never have been inadequate in ANYTHING He ever said or did. What it DOES mean is that Jesus ALLOWS us to help with the work of redemption. God could have redeemed an infinity of worlds with less effort that it takes to snap our fingers, and it would have been fully adequate. Yet He CHOSE to be born, struggle, live, grow up, and die horribly with great suffering for our redemption. The question is clear: WHY? The answer, given to us by The Church, is that He came to give our suffering meaning, and in the process to allow us to help each other in the struggle for redemption. God takes joy in our helping each other in redemption the way a parent takes joy in allowing their little ones to help with simple chores--even though it would often be easier for the parent if they didn't allow the little one

Very good and thought provoking book. Written in plain English and applicable to daily life but deep nonetheless.