The Many Graces of Suffering
Popes:
Pope St. Gregory the Great, 6th century: “In the suffering of the righteous, there is a great mystery; it is a means of grace that leads others to salvation.”
Pope Leo X, 16th century: “The cross is our path; through suffering, we find the way to salvation, for in the embrace of the cross, we are united with Christ’s own suffering.”
Pope Clement XI, 1713: “Suffering is a companion of virtue, leading the soul to divine grace and deeper union with God.”
Pope Benedict XIV, 1756: “The trials and tribulations of life can serve a higher purpose, sanctifying the soul and drawing one closer to the Passion of Christ.”
Pope Leo XIII, 1879: “Suffering is a purifying fire, a crucible through which the soul is refined and made more like unto Christ.”
Pope Benedict XV, 1914: “In the suffering of the faithful lies a power that can contribute to the salvation of souls, making their pain a participation in the redemptive work of Christ.”
Pope Pius XI, 1937: “The sufferings of men, when borne with patience, can be transformed into a means of salvation for themselves and for others. They become a participation in the redemptive suffering of Christ.”
Pope Pius XII, 1950: “Your suffering can be united with the Passion of Christ; in this way, it becomes a source of grace for the Church and for the world.”
The many spiritual blessings of patiently enduring suffering and uniting it to Our Lord’s Passion:
Tests our faith:
"In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Pt 1:6-7)
Helps the Church:
"And I glory in tribulations if I have been counted worthy to endure any for the sake of the Church. This, truly, is my glory and the lifting up of my head: the triumph of the Church. For if we have been sharers of her troubles, we shall be also of her consolation. We must work and suffer with our mother." (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church)
"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church" (Col 1:24)
Purifies & tries us:
"A true Christian is proved in the fire of tribulation." (St. Robert Southwell)
"One and the same violence of affliction proves, purifies and melts the good, and condemns, wastes and casts out the bad." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"But different kinds of sufferings are imposed on us to test and prove us, and many forms of temptations are inflicted upon us by loss of wealth, burning fevers, torments of wounds, by the death of dear ones. Nothing else distinguishes the unjust and the just more than this, that in adversities the unjust man complains and blasphemes because of impatience, while the just man is proved by patience, as it is written: 'I thy sorrow endure and in thy humiliation keep patience, for gold and silver are tried in fire.'" (St. Cyprian of Carthage)
"Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2-4)
Expiates our sins (and those of others):
"Shall we base worms, who have nothing to boast of before men only our having concealed from them our baseness and ignominy, and to whom the most cruel outrages from creatures would be too mild a treatment, considering our sins, shall we, I say, complain of injuries which we ought to receive with patience and joy as the easy means of canceling our own sins, and procuring for ourselves the greatest graces and mercy?" (Butler)
Proves our love for God:
"The truly loving heart loves God's good pleasure not in consolations only, but, and especially, in afflictions also." (St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church)
"What a weakness it is to love Jesus Christ only when He caresses us, and to be cold immediately when He afflicts us. This is not true love. Those who love thus, love themselves too much to love God with all their heart." (St. Margaret Mary Alacoque)
Strengthens us:
"This, in short, is the difference between us and others who know not God, that in misfortune they complain and murmur, while adversity does not call us away from the truth of virtue and faith, but strengthens us by its suffering." (St. Cyprian)
Gives us endurance:
"St. Paul, an able wrestler, urges us on in the struggle for immortality, so that we may receive a crown, and so that we may regard as a precious crown that which we acquire by our own struggle, and which does not grow on us spontaneously. And because it comes to us in a struggle, it is therefore the more precious; and as it is the more precious, let us love it always the more. Those things which come to us spontaneously are not loved as much as those which are obtained by anxious care." (St. Irenaeus)
"Let them not, however, lose heart; to face bitter combats is a mark of Christians, and to endure grave labors to the end is a mark of them who, as good soldiers of Christ, follow Him closely." (Pope Pius XI, "Quadragesimo Anno", 1931)
"The crown of victory is promised only to those who engage in the struggle." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"Without the battle there is no victory." (St. John of Avila)
Increases our merit before God:
"Nothing, how little whatsoever, that is suffered for God's sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God." (Kempis)
"As this life is checkered by many and various afflictions, the faithful are to be particularly reminded that those who patiently bear all the trials and afflictions coming from the hand of God acquire abundant satisfaction and merit; whereas those who suffer with reluctance and impatience deprive themselves of all the fruits of satisfaction, merely enduring the punishment which the just judgment of God inflicts upon their sins." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"Though abstinence and prayer be of great merit, yet sickness, suffered with patience, is of much greater." (St. Pachomius)
"The jewels which give the greatest splendor to the crown of the saints in Heaven, are the tribulations which they bore with patience, as coming from the hands the Lord." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church)
"Jesus Christ, when He redeemed us with plentiful redemption, took not away the pains and sorrows which in such large proportion are woven together in the web of our mortal life. He transformed them into motives of virtue and occasions of merit; and no man can hope for eternal reward unless he follow in the blood-stained footprints of his Savior. 'If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.' Christ's labors and sufferings, accepted of His own free will, have marvelously sweetened all suffering and all labor. And not only by His example, but by His grace and by the hope held forth of everlasting recompense, has He made pain and grief more easy to endure; 'for that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.'" (Pope Leo XIII, "Rerum Novarum", 1891)
Will be rewarded:
"No suffering borne out of love for Christ, even poorly borne, will go unrewarded in eternal life. Trust and hope in the merits of Jesus and in this way even poor clay will become finest gold which will shine in the palace of the king of heaven." (Padre Pio of Pietrelcina)
"So great is the good which I expect that all pain is to me a delight." (St. Francis of Assisi)
"It is the reflection of St. Austin, that if, with the martyrs, we seriously considered the rewards that await us, we should account all trouble and pains in this life as nothing; and should be astonished that the divine bounty gives so great a salary for so little labor. To obtain eternal rest, should require, if it had been possible, eternal labor; to purchase a happiness without bounds, a man should be willing to suffer for a whole eternity. That indeed is impossible; but our trials might have been very long. What are a thousand years, or ten hundred thousand ages, in comparison to eternity? There can be no proportion between what is finite, and that which is infinite. Yet God in his great mercy does not bid us suffer so long. He says, not a million, or a thousand years, or even five hundred, but only labor the few years that you live; and in these the dew of my consolations shall not be wanting; and I will recompense your patience for all with a glory that has no end. Though we were to be loaded with miseries, pain, and grief our whole life, the thoughts of heaven alone ought to make us bear its sharpest trials with cheerfulness and joy." (Butler)
Can help both ourselves and others:
"With the heart of a father We exhort all those who from whatever cause are plunged in grief and anguish to lift their eyes trustfully to heaven and to offer their sorrows to Him who will one day reward them abundantly. Let them all remember that their sufferings are not in vain, but that they will turn to their own immense gain and that of the Church, if to this end they bear them with patience." (Pope Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis Christi", 1943)
Keeps us focused on the true purpose of our lives and detaches us from the world:
"Seeing therefore that all our troubles, penalties, restraints, and afflictions are but means to remind us of our state and the dangers of our profession, and but seeds of eternal glory, how much soever they may seem covered and corrupted here on earth, let us solace ourselves in hope of our joyful harvest. We are but pilgrims here; we have no place of abode, but seek a future place of rest. If the way had been filled with pleasures, with true delights, we should easily have been drawn aside in our journey towards heaven, attracted and withheld by the pleasant view and desire of these allurements. God hath therefore made our journey tedious, uncomfortable and distressing, that we may hasten to our repose, and swiftly run over the course of this life." (St. Robert Southwell)
"All the joys of this life are accompanied by sorrows: if they were not, we would grow too much absorbed in them." (St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church)
Makes us more Christ-like:
"As in Heaven, nothing will be sweeter than to resemble Him in His glory, so here on earth, nothing is more to our advantage than to be like Him in His Passion." (St. Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church)
"Can we say that we are walking in His footsteps if we are not on the road to Calvary?" (The Liturgical Year, Volume 11, 1900)
Pleases God:
"And how can a person who seeks to please God, enjoy greater happiness than that which arises from cheerfully embracing the cross which God sends him, and from the conviction that, in embracing it, he pleases God in the highest degree?" (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church)
Keeps us from becoming arrogant:
"If things always went wrong, no one could endure it; if things always went well, everyone would become arrogant." (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church)
Teaches us to trust God:
"But God in His good Providence allows so many terrors, sorrows, and dangers to be put in our way by our enemy that He may break down our spirit, give us lowly hearts, and train us to submissiveness of mind and humility, so that we may never in the future feel any trust in our own prudence, but all entire trust in His Divine Protection." (St. Francis Xavier)
Reminds us of our dependence on Christ and heals us:
"Pain and sorrow are the almost necessary medicines of the impetuosity of nature. Without these, men though men, are like spoilt children; they act as if they considered everything must give way to their own wishes and conveniences." (Cardinal Newman)
"In the same way that a powerful medicine cures an illness, so illness itself is a medicine to cure passion. And there is much profit of soul in bearing illness quietly and giving thanks to God." (St. Syncletice)
"O my God, how good thou art. Thou does use the very sickness of man's body to heal the soul." (St. Anthony Mary Claret)
"Sorrow is given us on purpose to cure us of sin." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)
Brings out the good in us:
"Suffering born patiently brings out all that is good in us." (Fr. O'Sullivan)
Helps convert sinners:
"It is only by sacrifice and suffering, offered as penance, that you will be able, by the grace of God, to convert sinners." (St. John Vianney)
Is necessary to gain heaven:
"Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me." (Our Lord Jesus Christ, Matt 10:38)
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.'" (Matt 16:24)
"Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, 'Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.'" (Mk 8:34)
"Then Jesus said to all, 'If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Lk 9:23)
"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." (Our Lord Jesus Christ, Lk 14:27)
"Alas! O my God, if they are so few to bear the cross, there will only be few to adore thee in eternity." (St. John Vianney)
"Can you expect to go to heaven for nothing? Did not our dear Savior track the whole way to it with His tears and blood? And yet you start at every little pain." (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton)
"All those who are willing to be saved through the cross will find salvation there. But those who desire to be saved without it will perish miserably. There is no salvation except in this cross." (St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church)
"The prototype, the example on which one should reflect and model one's self is Jesus Christ. But Jesus chose the cross as his standard, so he wants all his followers to tread the path to Calvary, carrying the cross and then dying stretched out on it. Only this way do we reach salvation." (Padre Pio of Pietrelcina)
Is for our good:
"We must remember that all incapacity and distress is sent to us by God. Life and death, health and sickness, are all ordered by Him; and in whatever form they come, it is always to help us and for our good." (St. Vincent de Paul)
"In sending us tribulations, God intends to make us saints." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church)
"For as the toils of the contests bring athletes their crowns, so the test which comes to Christians through their tribulations leads them on to perfection, if with fitting patience in all thanksgiving we accept the Lord's dispensations." (St. Basil)
"God sufferth not His servants to be afflicted save for their good." (St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church)
"He sends us crosses, not because he wishes evil to us, but because he desires our welfare, and because he knows that they are conducive to our salvation." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church)
Awakens faith:
"That illness has been your salvation. You have suffered, but your life has not been in danger. This is what the Lord has said; 'I will strike him, and I will cure him.' He has struck you, your illness has awakened your faith, and that has been your cure." (St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church)
"Faith grows brighter and stronger under trial." (Liturgical Year)
Corrects faults:
"Thank and sweetly kiss the hand of God that strikes you, because it is always the hand of a Father who strikes you because he loves you." (Padre Pio of Pietrelcina)
Teaches us humility:
"What do you think the bed of tribulation is? It is simply the school of humility." (St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church)
Punishes & helps us:
"It is better to be punished and cleansed now than to be sent to the torment to come, when it will be time for punishing only, and not for cleansing" (St. Gregory of Nazianz, Doctor of the Church)
"The punishments inflicted by God under the Christian dispensation are part of his justice and mercy, and have a moral purpose; they lead us to realize more vividly that life is an undeserved gift from God; they lead us to employ our lives in those activities by which the moral purpose of our existence is fulfilled; they lead us to become more helpful and compassionate to our neighbors; they allow us to expiate our sins and those of others." (Romano Amerio, Iota Unum)
"A Christian may reasonably take misfortune and treat it as an expiation, penalty or correction for his own sins or those of others, given the fact that he is in some sense a sinner, and that the attainment of true virtue is incomparably more important than any suffering." (Amerio)
Sanctifies us and helps ensure our salvation:
"Every illness and every trial is permitted by God as the means whereby we can best ensure our salvation and as the material most fitted for our sanctification." (Bl. Sebastian Valfre)
Makes us worthy to receive greater graces:
"God is touched by our sorrows and does not allow them to last forever. He takes pleasure in trying our love for a time because he sees that trials purify us and render us worthy to receive his greater graces." (St. Claude de la Colombiere)
Earns merit:
"It is in this life that the basis is laid on which a person deserves to have his condition in the afterlife alleviated or aggravated; and therefore let no one hope that what he neglected to do here he will merit with God when he dies." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
Assists in saving others:
"At the hour of your death you will see that you have saved more souls by your illness than by all the good works you might have accomplished in health." (St. John Vianney)
Helps to reduce purgatory time:
"Pain suffered in this life voluntarily cleanses much more than pain inflicted after death... the pain of martyrdom is of short duration in comparison with the pain endured in purgatory." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church)
2 Corinthians 1:5-7 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
2 Corinthians 4:8-15 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. So death is at work in us, but life in you… For it is all for your sake…
2 Corinthians 12:15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.
Philippians 2:17 Even if I am to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
2 Timothy 2:10-11 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus with its eternal glory. If we have died with him, we shall also live with him.
2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come.
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you.
1 Peter 4:1, 16, 19 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin… yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God… Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will do right and entrust their souls to a faithful Creator.
Romans 8:17 …fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
Galatians 6:17 Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks [Greek: stigma] of Jesus.
Philippians 3:10 That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
2 Corinthians 12:15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.
Philippians 2:17 Even if I am to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
“My spirit is in sacrificial service for the cross, which is a scandal to unbelievers… If we do not willingly embrace dying for his passion, neither is his life in us… Permit me to be an imitator of the sufferings of my God. If anyone possesses Christ in himself, let him consider what I want and let him suffer with me.” (St. Ignatius of Antioch)
“Accept as blessings the casualties that befall you, assured that nothing happens without God.” (Didache)
