Wisdom From Salvifici Doloris, By Pope St. John Paul II

“Declaring the power of salvific suffering”

St John Paul II’s teachings on suffering were profoundly prophetic, addressing one of the key problems of modern man; the rejection of all suffering.

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The topic picked me!

Suffering is universal; many types

We always ask why?

Profound implications for faith; either helps or destroys

The Logical Question (The Problem of Pain-CS Lewis)

If God is all powerful and all good and loves us perfectly and wills our good……..why do we suffer?

The St. Paul Question

Why would St. Paul “rejoice” in his sufferings?

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings” (Col 1:24)

3 Radical Catholic Principles on Suffering

RELIGION EXPLANATION OF EVIL SOLUTION

Dualism Equal & Opposing

Forces/Gods of Good & Evil.

Spirit good & material bad

Death-freedom from the

material world

Buddhism Human desires/passions Removal of all desire

Judaism The Fall-disobedience of

Adam & Eve. Ripple effect of

sin.

Obedience to the Law &

Prophets; Ritualistic sacrificial

offerings

“Suffering is a mystery inseparable from our human nature” St. John Paul II Salvifici Doloris

“The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the abode of the righteous.” Proverbs 3:33

The Book of Job: retribution theology turned upside down!

Chapter 38; God finally shows up!

Suffering is a mystery, we must be humble; we won’t understand everything but God knows what He is doing!

Job prefigures Christ!

God is all powerful and all good.

God desires our good

Yet we suffer; therefore either God is not all powerful or not good.

We need to redefine “good”

Ultimate good = union with God & divine life within us

Ultimate evil = separation from God

“For God so loved the world, that he

gave his only Son, that whoever believes

in him should not perish but have

eternal life. (John 3:16)

God used suffering to accomplish the

redemption; Sin & suffering is “undone”

by obedience and suffering of Christ

Therefore, suffering is forever associated with love, and is transformed into a sacred action.

In order to perceive the true answer to the "why" of

suffering, we must look to the revelation of divine love,

the ultimate source of the meaning of everything that

exists. (SD 13)

Colossians 1:24 “I complete what is lacking in Christs afflictions…”

Mystical participation in the sufferings of Christ and the redemption

Simon of Cyrene

“This chapter is written by all those who suffer together with Christ, uniting their human sufferings to his salvific suffering. In these people there is fulfilled what the first witnesses of the Passion and Resurrection said and wrote about sharing in the sufferings of Christ” St. John Paul II SD 26

Why would Paul say this?

Joy comes from the intimacy with Christ that we experience in suffering.

Simon of Cyrene in “The Passion of the Christ” movie.

We need to move from reluctant acceptance of suffering to embracing suffering with joy!

Conversion

Growth in virtues-learning from experience as opposed to learning by “infusion.” Humility

Wisdom

Patience

Compassion

Boethius: “bad fortune teaches, good fortune deceives.”

“There are some who wish to be humble, yet without being despised; to be content with their own, yet without suffering need; to be chaste, yet without mortification of the body; to be patient, yet without suffering. They want to acquire virtues yet avoid the sacrifices those virtues involve. They are like soldiers who flee the battlefield and try to win the war from the comfort of the city. Virtues cannot be had without effort and trials.”

“suffering is present in the world in order to release love, in order to give birth to works of love towards neighbor, in order to transform the whole of human civilization into a "civilization of love.“ SD, p30.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 2 Cor 1:3-5

“Do not let ourselves be troubled when we are sometimes beset by adversity, for we know that it is meant for our spiritual welfare and carefully proportioned to our needs, and that a limit has been set to it by the wisdom of the same God.”

“If you refused to accept these tribulations you would be acting against your best interests. You are like a block of marble in the hands of the sculptor. The sculptor must chip, hew and smooth it to make it into a statue that is a work of art. God wishes to make us the living image of Himself. All we need to think of is to keep still in His hands while He works on us, and we can rest assured that the chisel will never strike the slightest blow that is not needed for His purposes and our sanctification.”

Father Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure (1588-1657)

“Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.”

When we suffer we need to realize that;

“God is “treating you as His friend.”

Hebrews 12:7-11

God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 5:8-9

Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

“The thing the Devil hates the most is the cross.”

The devil understands that suffering draws us closer to Christ and increases grace within us.

Suffering also is a reminder to the devil of his ultimate defeat.

Rule 6: Increase spiritual practices

Prayer & Scripture

Rule 5: Avoid major decisions

Rules 12-14: Prepare for spiritual warfare

Have we solved the logical dilemma? Yes!

God is all powerful and all good. He always wills our good and uses suffering for our good; to impart grace to us, to draw us closer to Himself and to advance us in virtue.

Do we understand how St Paul could rejoice in his sufferings? Yes!

St. Paul was able to rejoice in his sufferings as he came to realize the tremendous good that God was accomplishing in his life and the intimacy that he experienced with Christ as he participated with Him in the redemption.

Accept & Embrace Suffering as a precious commodity

Enter into the Holy of Holies and draw near to the throne of Grace

Salvifici Doloris “On the Christian meaning of human suffering”

St. John Paul II; February 11, 1984

Other Sources

Peter Kreeft- Making Sense out of Suffering

C.S. Lewis- The Problem of Pain

The Bible

Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure & St. Claude de la Colombiere- Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence

Saints

Suffering is a “test” Deuteronomy 8

“God….who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you…”

Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him… ……you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?

C.S.Lewis, A Grief Observed.