Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, SALVIFICI DOLORIS Letter of Pope John Paul II February 11, 1984.

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Christian Meaning of Human Suffering,
SALVIFICI DOLORISLetter of Pope John Paul II
February 11, 1984.
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• The witnesses
• of the cross and resurrection
• of Christ present to us a

Gospel of Suffering
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The Redeemer Himself wrote this Gospel, by His
own suffering accepted in love, so that man
"should not perish but have eternal life."
(John 316)
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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."

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This Gospel of Suffering

• reveals
• the salvific
• purpose of suffering
• in Christ's mission,
• in the Churchs mission
• and, in our mission

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• 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.

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• "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 923)
• 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 713-14)

Christ did not conceal from His listeners the
need for them to suffer.
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• "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 2112-19)

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"for his name's sake."

• The Gospel speaks of this suffering and
  persecution being
• "for Christ,"
• "for the sake of Christ"

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These persecutions and tribulations will be a
particular proof of likeness to Christ and
union with Him.
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• This
• Gospel of Suffering,
• which speaks of persecutions,
• experienced
• because of Christ,
• contains in itself
• a special call
• to
• courage and fortitude

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• Christ has overcome the world definitively by His
  resurrection.
• He has at the same time overcome the world by His
  suffering.

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• 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 312)

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• 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.

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• 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 sufferings
• to His suffering
• for our salvation.

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• 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.

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For in suffering there is concealed a particular
power that draws a person interiorly close to
Christ, a special grace.
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• 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.

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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.
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• 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.

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• This interior maturity and spiritual greatness in
  suffering are certainly the result of a
  particular conversion and cooperation with the
  grace of the crucified Redeemer.

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• It is He Himself
• who acts at the heart of human sufferings through
  His
• Spirit of truth,
• through
• the consoling Spirit.

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• It is He
• who transforms,
• the very substance of the spiritual life,
• indicating for the person who suffers a place
  close to Himself.

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• 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.

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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.
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• 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.

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• 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.

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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
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• so that every individual,
• during the pilgrimage of faith,
• might remain,
• together with her,
• closely united to Him unto the cross,
• and

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• 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.

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• We each react to
• suffering
• in different ways.
• But in general
• it can be said that
• the individual enters suffering with
• a typically human protest
• and with the question Why?"

How can this be?
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• 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?
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• We hear Christ's saving answer
• as we ourselves gradually become
• sharers 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!

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• 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.

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• 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.

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St. Paul speaks of such joy in Col. 124 "I
rejoice in my sufferings for your sake."

• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• And so the Church sees
• in all Christ's suffering brothers and sisters
• as it were a multiple subject of His supernatural
  power.

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• 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.

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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.

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• 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."

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Jesus reigns from the crossTo bear our cross
with love is the greatest means of our
sanctification
Only the way of the cross leads to union with
God Our sacrifices have value only inasmuch as
they are offered in union with the sacrifice of
Jesus
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• 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.