Thoughts from His Holiness Pope John Paul II

On the death of Pope John Paul II, I turned to his chapter in Transforming Suffering, "The Meaning of Suffering." Here are selections from that chapter that I thought were particularly apt both for this time and for our group:

"Even though personal suffering seems almost inexpressible and not transferable, perhaps at the same time, nothing else requires as much to be dealt with, meditated upon, and conceived as an explicit problem. Human suffering is multidimensional. People suffer in different ways that are wider than sickness and more deeply rooted in humanity itself. . . .

It can be said that these experiences of suffering are connected to a kind of evil. Evil is a certain lack, limitation, or distortion of good. We could say that people suffer because of a good in which they do not share, from which in a certain sense they are cut off or of which they have deprived themselves. People particularly suffer when they 'ought' to have a share in a good and do not have it.

Within each form of suffering endured by people, there inevitably arises the question: Why? . . . Yet as with Job, innocent suffering must be accepted as a mystery . . .

Jesus Christ entered the world of human suffering. In his public activity, he experienced fatigue, homelessness, misunderstanding, and became progressively more and more isolated and encircled by hostility. In his passion, he experienced arrest, humiliation, blows and spitting, contempt for the prisoner, an unjust sentence, scourging, crowning with thorns, mocking, carrying the cross, crucifixion, and agony. . . .

Christ gives the answer to the question about suffering and the meaning of suffering not only by his teachings but most of all by his own suffering. . . . precisely through this suffering, he accomplishes the redemption. Human suffering has reached its culmination in the passion of Christ. At the same time, it has entered into a completely new dimension and a new order: It has been linked to love. . . .

So, people can rediscover Christ's suffering in their own sufferings, giving them new meaning. Suffering, in fact, is always a trial---at times a very hard one---to which humanity is subjected. . . . .

The interior process in which a person discovers the meaning of suffering often begins and is set in motion with great difficulty. Nevertheless, it takes time, even a long time, for the answer to be interiorly perceived. . . . The answer that comes in this way is something more than the mere abstract answer to the question of the meaning of suffering. For it is above all a call: 'Follow me!' . . . Gradually, as the individual takes up his or her cross, spiritually uniting himself or herself to the cross of Christ, the salvific meaning of suffering is revealed. It is then that a person finds in his or her suffering, interior peace and even spiritual joy. . . .

The parable of the Good Samaritan belongs to the gospel of suffering. For it indicates what the relationship of each of us must be toward our suffering neighbor. Therefore, one must cultivate a sensitivity of heart, which bears witness to compassion toward a suffering person. Nevertheless, the Good Samaritan of Christ's parable does not stop at sympathy and compassion alone. They become for him an incentive to actions aimed at bringing help to the injured person. Unselfish love stirs the heart and actions. The value of Christian love of neighbor forms a framework to combat various forms of hatred, violence, cruelty, or insensitivity toward one's neighbor and his or her suffering.

Christ's revelation of the salvific meaning of suffering is in no way identified with an attitude of passivity. Completely the reverse is true. . . .

Christ himself is present in every suffering person without exception, since his salvific suffering has been opened once and for all to every human suffering. Suffering in the world is the opportunity to release love, to give birth to works of love toward neighbor, in order to transform the whole human civilization into a 'civilization of love.' In this love the salvific meaning of suffering is completely accomplished and reaches its definitive dimension. At one and the same time, Christ has taught us to do good by our suffering and to do good to those who suffer. In this double aspect, he has completely revealed the meaning of suffering."

From "The Meaning of Suffering" by His Holiness Pope John Paul II in Transforming Suffering: Reflections on Finding Peace in Troubled Times (Mitchell & Wiseman, 2003).