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1. Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, SALVIFICI DOLORISLetter of Pope John Paul II February 11, 1984.
2. The witnesses
of the cross and resurrection
of Christ present to us a
4. 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."
5. reveals
the salvific
purpose of suffering
in Christ's mission,
in the Church’s mission
and, in our mission This Gospel of Suffering
6. 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.
7. "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 9:23)
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 7:13-14)
8. "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 21:12-19)
9. The Gospel speaks of this suffering and persecution being
"for Christ,"
"for the sake of Christ"
11. This
Gospel of Suffering,
which speaks of persecutions,
experienced
because of Christ,
contains in itself
a special call
to
courage and fortitude
12.
Christ has overcome the world definitively by His resurrection.
He has at the same time overcome the world by His suffering.
13.
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 3:12)
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
18. 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.
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. It is He Himself
who acts at the heart of human sufferings through His
Spirit of truth,
through
the consoling Spirit.
23. It is He
who transforms,
the very substance of the spiritual life,
indicating for the person who suffers a place close to Himself.
24. 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.
26. 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.
27. 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.
29. so that every individual,
during the pilgrimage of faith,
might remain,
together with her,
closely united to Him unto the cross,
and
30. 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.
31. 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?"
32. 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.
33. 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!
34. 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.
35. 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.
36. 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.
37. 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.
38. 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.
39. And so the Church sees
in all Christ's suffering brothers and sisters
as it were a multiple subject of His supernatural power.
40. 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.
41. 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.
42. 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."
43. Jesus reigns from the crossTo bear our cross with love is the greatest means of our sanctification
44. 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.