With all my gratitude to Our Lord Jesus,
for His Passion of
love, and to the Holy
Father John Paul II, who loved as Christ loved us, on the twentieth
anniversary of the Apostolic Letter
Salvifici Doloris.
During Lent and especially at the
beginning of Holy Week, we are called to contemplate the mystery of the
Redemption, and how our redemption has been
fulfilled by
means of the Cross of Christ, that is to say, by means of His suffering.
Particularly in this liturgical time, we should
approach the
theme
of the value of human suffering. I would like us to approach this
subject
by entering into the vision that the Holy Father John Paul II has wanted
to present to the Church and the world throughout his pontificate.
On February 11, 1984, upon completing the
Year of Our Redemption, the Holy Father John Paul II issued an Apostolic
Letter Salvifici Dolores in which he called us to discover the
salvific value of suffering – a
meaning
to which he has witnessed, not only in his words and through his
Magisterium, but also through his own life, by becoming into a living
witness of the redemptive Gospel of Suffering.
The Pope has reminded us so many times
that the redemption fulfilled in Christ, at the
cost of His
Passion and death on the cross, is a decisive and determinate event in
the history of humanity, not only because it fulfills the divine designs
of justice and mercy in which He takes on our sins and pays for them and
thus attains for us our salvation, but also because the suffering of
God-made-man reveals to man a new meaning of suffering. This is a
meaning
that the human heart has incessantly
sought to understand – why has suffering accompanied man for so long and
so extensively throughout all history and in all places? Suffering, in
its double dimension, physical and moral, is almost inseparable to man’s
earthly existence. As a result, it is necessary to reflect on its
meaning and mystery (cf. Salvifici Dolores, hereafter SD, 2-3).
THE TRUE MEANING OF SUFFERING
Sacred Scripture tells us clearly that
suffering is the consequence of the sin committed by our first parents.
Before it, Adam and Eve lived in an earthly paradise without suffering,
struggle or illness. Because of sin, suffering was introduced into
human history, and we see how man has tried in many ways to evade
suffering and escape from it.
In the Old Testament suffering was
considered a punishment or grief inflicted by God because of man’s
sinfulness. Suffering and evil were identified one with the other.
Nevertheless, the book of Job, without
distorting the foundation of this moral
order founded
in justice (culpa-pena), demonstrates with clarity that the
principles of this order should not be applied in an exclusive manner
and superficially. “While
it is true that suffering has a meaning as punishment, when it is
connected with a fault, it is not true that all suffering is a
consequence of a fault and has the nature of a punishment”
(SD, 11).
In the figure of the just Job, we see how
suffering also has
the characteristic of a trial. Just as
the sufferings endured by the people of God are an invitation to
conversion – that is to say, they have an educational purpose – these
are also acts of God’s mercy that seek the education and conversion of
his people: “these chastisements were meant not for the ruin but for
the correction of our nation” (2 Mac 6:12). That is to say, suffering
has the purpose of building up
the goodness of
the person who suffers, allowing him to overcome the evil that, in
various ways, is latent in the hearts of men and manifests itself in
their relationships with God and with others.
The life of Job, in a certain way,
prefigures Christ, serving as an announcement of His passion. That the
Messiah would suffer was very clear in the messianic witnesses of the
Old Testament. An example is in the fourth poem of the Suffering
Servant in the book of the Prophet Isaiah 53:2-6: “There was in him no
stately bearing or appearance…a man of suffering accustomed to
infirmities…yet it was our infirmities that he bore…our sufferings that
he endured…pierced for our iniquities…crushed for our sins…upon him was
the chastisement that makes us whole…by his stripes we were healed.”
In this scripture we are invited to
contemplate suffering as a means of revelation of divine love – love
that is salvific: “he bore our sins…endured our sufferings…was pierced
for our iniquities.” It reveals a divine love that always saves, always
frees and always redeems. It is the love that gives to the extreme
“without sparing anything” (words of the Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret
Mary).
Love is, therefore, the
richest fountain through
which to understand the
meaning of suffering, which is always a mystery. To discover this
mystery to the greatest possible extent, we need to contemplate the
Cross of Christ: the salvific love of Christ Who, through His wounds,
has healed us. “The cross of Christ – the Passion – sheds a totally new
light over this mystery, giving another meaning to human suffering in
general” (cf. John Paul II, General Audience, Nov. 9, 1988). That is to
say, in order to try to read the mystery of suffering, we should, from
the Cross of Christ, read it through the language of love.
SUFFERING IS CONQUERED BY LOVE
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son, so that all who believe in Him might
not perish
but have eternal life.” These words of Christ in
His conversation with Nicodemus introduce us to the same heart of the
salvific action of God. Salvation is freedom from evil – but not only
from temporal evil, but from all definitive evil: the loss of eternal
life, of eternal happiness. The first-born Son has been
given
to humanity to free it, first of all,
from this definitive evil and suffering. The Redeemer conquers evil
with good; He conquers sin by His obedience unto death – death on the
cross. He conquers death, resurrecting, coming back to life. He
conquers by giving His life for humanity, so it can have eternal life.
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s
friends” (Jn 15:13).
In Christ’s messianic mission, he came
incessantly near to the world of human suffering as we hear in Acts
10:38: “He went about doing good” – to the sick, the poor, the
afflicted, the hungry, those oppressed by the
devil, the blind, the
paralyzed, and even the dead. Jesus was sensitive to all human
suffering. At the same time, He instructed, placing in the center of His
teaching the eight Beatitudes, which are directed towards men tried by
various sufferings in their temporal life: the poor, those who mourn,
the meek, the pure, the hungry and thirsty, the persecuted, those
insulted, etc. He invited them to conquer these adversities with good.
He drew near to suffering
not only to touch it and heal it, but He also took it upon himself:
fatigue, exile, lack of a place to rest, being misunderstood, betrayal,
hostility, poverty, abandonment, defamation, calumnies, enemies,
beatings, humiliation, scourging, insults, disdain, even crucifixion.
And He made of it a means for salvation.
The Son of God, moved by
salvific love, consented to live and assume suffering fully and in the
most decisive and determined way. Not deserving it, He accepted it
voluntarily and freely (John 10:17: “I lay down my life…no one takes it
from me…I lay it down on my own”) because, these are the characteristics
of authentic love. Christ drew near and embraced the world of human
suffering; assuming it, He redeemed it, elevated it, and made it the
means of salvation and freedom.
Definitively,
suffering is a mystery that very few are able to discover…Only the
saints, who having profoundly contemplated the Cross of Christ and the
suffering face of the Savior, are able to understand its power and
efficacy. To his spiritual children Padre
Pio said, “Do not waste any sufferings; use them to bring about good.”
So we do not waste so many personal, family, social,
world-wide
sufferings, but instead convert them into fountains of salvation in
union with Christ – this is the
reason the Holy Father so
often calls us to contemplate the Gospel of suffering and its salvific
power…and in order for us to have a living witness of the power of this
Gospel, the Lord has given us a pontificate like that of John Paul II.
With His Cross, Christ radically changes
the meaning of suffering. It no longer is seen as a punishment or is
limited to only a trial or correction; it is now necessary to discover
the redemptive and salvific power of
love. The evil of suffering, in the
mystery of the Redemption of Christ, is raised and in all
ways
transformed: suffering is converted into a force for freedom from
evil, for the victory of good. A few days ago, I read testimonies
of priest and religious who ministered to the families of those who died
in the terrorist attacks in Madrid. Many truly edified me, but one in
particular moved me: a young husband, married for two years, lost his
wife and the baby she was carrying in her womb. This young man said, “I
do not understand this, but I offer it to Christ so that love can
triumph over hate.” Suffering received with love is victory over evil.
STRENGTH FOR LIBERATION FROM EVIL, FOR
THE VICTORY OF GOOD.
“Pain,” the Holy Father told us
on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, on the
day of the Annual World Day of the Sick, “is converted to
a font of life
for all humanity, when it is lived united to Christ.” During his visit
to the Czech Republic in 1997, the Pope addressed all those who suffer
saying, “You are a hidden force contributing powerfully to the life of
the Church: by your sufferings you have a share in the redemption of the
world. You too…have been placed by God as a pillar in the temple of the
Church so as to become one of its most powerful supports” (April 26).
Was this not what
St. Paul the Apostle referred to in Colossians1:24: “Now I rejoice in my
sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in
the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, that is the Church”?
These words of St. Paul are an invitation
to offer our sufferings generously to Christ and with Christ for the
good of all the Church. It is not that the sacrifice of Christ was left
incomplete, but that within history and throughout the generations, His
sacrifice is made
present with the loving
cooperation of the members of His Mystical Body. That cooperation,
comprised of suffering embraced with love, is a call to “love
heroically, as he loved us” (cf. Jn 13:34). “The Redemption,
accomplished through satisfactory love, remains always open to all
love expressed in human suffering. In this dimension—the
dimension of love—the Redemption which has already been completely
accomplished is, in a certain sense, constantly being accomplished” (SD
24). What the Holy Father is telling us with these words is that
through the sacrifice of Christ and His acceptance of suffering for love
of man, suffering has now been converted into a victorious expression of
love. Because of the Passion of Christ, suffering is now an excellent
way to grow in love and express love. “He loved us to the end” (cf.
Jn13:1). Now He makes us participants of this “love to the end,” a love
capable of giving one’s life for others and achieving the good of
others, despite oneself.
Did not the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fatima
invite the young shepherds to understand the depth of this redemptive
dimension of human suffering embraced and offered for love? This was Her
invitation: “Would you like to accept and offer to God all the suffering
that He desires to send you, as reparation for the sins by which He is
being offended and for the conversion of sinners?”
In the conclusion his Apostolic Letter
the Holy Father says, “We ask all you who suffer to support us.
We ask precisely you who are weak to become a source of strength
for the Church and humanity. In the terrible battle between the forces
of good and evil, revealed to our eyes by our modern world, may your
suffering in union with the Cross of Christ be victorious!” (no. 31).
This has been precisely the great message
that John Paul II has wanted to give the world and the Church. In a
time where human beings are constantly seeking to avoid suffering, but
are nevertheless more
immersed in
it, the Holy Father has wanted us to discover the value and meaning of
human suffering. Nevertheless, the gospel of suffering in the teachings
of John Paul II has not been simply an apostolic letter, a
chapter in an
official document, or the theme of a papal audience. It has been much
more: it is a living
magisterium
(teaching). In his concern, he has been continuously announcing this
gospel to the world – a world tormented by wars, threatened with nuclear
bombs and violence of all types; a world that
disregards the
person and human life; a world that suffers due to hunger, sickness, and
all types of injustices. In His Holiness, the gospel of suffering has
been integrated with his mission to live his own humanity; from the time
of his childhood, which was lived in
the midst of a great human crisis,
he has been formed in sorrow;
but he has allowed this great sorrow to bear much fruit in him and for
the good of the Church.
The gospel of suffering for John Paul II
is not just a lesson taught, but rather totally lived. I would like to
direct our gaze to the person of John Paul II so we can discover, not
only in his words, but in his life, the salvific value of suffering.
DISTINCTIVE MARK OF JOHN PAUL II:
SUFFERING
Suffering is essential in understanding
His Holiness John Paul II – on a personal level as well as on an ethnic,
historical and theological one. In his own life, from early on, he has
been a witness of tremendous personal suffering, which he felt for the
first time in an intense way with the premature death of his mother.
While still young, he later lived the death of his brother, the person
closest to him. A short time later, his father, who had been
crucial
in his religious formation, passed away. Beyond his personal losses, he
lived through the Second World War and poverty, as well as the
difficulties caused by the communism that dominated Poland. Karol
Wojtyla was formed in the school that the Blessed Virgin uses to form
souls particularly chosen
to become visible icons of Christ crucified. This is the “school of
sacrifice and of sorrow” (expression of Padre Pio). This school formed
him to be an austere man, sensitive to sorrow, and from an early age,
deprived him of
all supports and human attachments in order for him to grow in total
trust of God and Holy Mary. All this, furthermore, was increased by the
great sufferings of the Polish nation, which was, for 200 years, a
nation victimized by some occupation, oppression, war, abandonment, or
lack of total freedom, including religious.
How many times was he a witness to
violence and its heart-rending consequences? An example can be found in
the case of a fellow worker at the time of his hidden seminarian life
(that was how the seminary was in Poland then). He writes, “In order to
avoid deportation to do forced labor in Germany, I began in the autumn
of 1940 to work as a laborer in a stone quarry attached to the Solvay
chemical plant…I was present when, during the detonation of a dynamite
charge, some rocks struck a worker and killed him. The experience left
a profound impression on me: They took his body, and walked in a silent
line. Toil still lingered about him, a sense of wrong”
(Gift & Mystery,
p.9-10).
For the Holy Father, all the sufferings
of his childhood and youth were not only profound experiences, but they
also revealed the salvific power of suffering to generate life. “If a
grain of wheat dies, it will bear much fruit” (cf. Jn 12:24). It was
precisely on the subject of his priestly vocation that he expressed, “My
priesthood, even at its beginning, was in some way marked by the great
sacrifice of countless men and women of my generation. Providence
spared me the most difficult experiences; and so my sense of
indebtedness is all the greater, both to people whom I knew and to many
more whom I did not know; all of them, regardless of nationality or
language, by their sacrifice on the great altar of history, helped to
make my priestly vocation a reality. In a way these people guided me to
this path; by their sacrifice they showed me the most profound and
essential truth about the priesthood of Christ” (Gift and Mystery,
p.39).
The awareness that his vocation is the
fruit of the suffering of many is seen in his homily on February 11,
2000, on the Jubilee of the Sick: “Dear suffering brothers and sisters,
we are indebted to you. The Church is indebted to you, as is the Pope!”
With this he wants to stress a message very close to his heart, a
message that through his pontificate, he has constantly directed to all
humanity: suffering, along with prayers, are a powerful
force
of grace and salvation for the universal
Church. In his homily on May 13th, 2000 in Fatima during the
beatification of the shepherd children, he referred to them with tears
in his eyes and with deep gratitude, stating, “And once again I would
like to celebrate the Lord’s goodness to me when I was saved from death
after being gravely wounded on May 13, 1981. I also express my gratitude
to Bl. Jacinta for the sacrifices and prayers offered for the Holy
Father, whom she saw suffering greatly” (no.4).
I SHOULD
LEAD
THE CHURCH WITH SUFFERING
During the Angelus on May 29, 1994, upon
his return to the Vatican after having been hospitalized some weeks in
Gemelli de Roma Hospital, the Holy Father made an important reference to
suffering, recalling the painful moments and dismay that accompanied him
with the attempt on his life on May 13th, 1981: “Through
Mary I would like to express today my gratitude for this gift of
suffering, associated
once again with this Marian month of May. I
want to appreciate this gift. I understand that it is a necessary
gift. The Pope should be in the hospital Gemelli; he should be absent
from this window for four weeks; in the same way he suffered thirteen
years ago, he should suffer again this year.” (Three times he said,
“The Pope should.”) He continued, “I have meditated, I have
reflected over all of this during my hospitalization. And I have found
again at my side the great figure of Cardinal Wyszynski…At the start of
my Pontificate he told me, ‘If the Lord has called you, you should take
the Church of Christ to the Third Millennium’…And I have understood that
I should lead the Church of Christ to this Third Millennium with prayer,
with various initiatives, but I have seen that this is not enough: I
needed to lead it with suffering – with the attempt on my life thirteen
years ago and with this new suffering. Why now? Why this year? Why in
this year of the Family? Precisely now, because the family is being
threatened, because it is being attacked. The Pope should be attacked,
the Pope should suffer, so that all the families and the whole world can
see that there is a gospel – I could say, a superior gospel – the gospel
of suffering, with which we are to prepare the future, the Third
Millennium of families, of all families and of each family. I wanted to
add these reflections in my first
encounter with you…at the end of this
Marian month, because I owe this gift of suffering to the Blessed Virgin
Mary, and I thank her. I understand it was important to have this
debate
before the powerful of the world. I need to meet again with the
powerful of the world, and I have to speak up. With what arguments? I
am left with this argument of suffering. And I would like to tell them:
understand, understand why the Pope has returned to the hospital, why
has he suffered again; understand it, reflect on this one more time”
(cf. no.4).
Is it not moving that the Pope – so
fruitful in his teachings, in his writings, and in his words – tells us
that he no longer has any argument to combat the “powerful of the world”
except the argument of suffering? As he well told us, “understand why
the Pope must suffer.”
SUFFERING: A MARIAN GIFT FOR THE POPE
“I owe this gift of suffering to the
Blessed Virgin Mary.” That is how the Pope sees all his sufferings.
Since childhood, with his deep devotion to the Virgin Mary, he has lived
in the Marian school of love and of sorrow. For the Pope, to see the
maternal hand of Mary in the midst of sorrow is
a reality throughout all his existence.
Could he possibly forget that when he was
22 years old he was struck
by a German military truck and his body, apparently lifeless, ended up
in a pit where a woman picked him up, found an ambulance, and took him
to a hospital? But no one was ever able to identify her, and this
unknown woman disappeared forever. He is convinced that woman was the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
The assassination attempt, of which he
was a victim in St. Peter’s Square, happened on May 13, 1981, at the
same hour in which the apparitions of Fatima had taken place. From this
experience, of which he could not help but note the Marian
sign,
as well as Her maternal protection, he
began his
deep analysis
of the message of Fatima, until he discovered in
the third part of the secret that he was the Pope revealed in these
apparitions. He is the Pope “that was to suffer for the good of the
Church.” For this reason, before all the sufferings he has endured
throughout his life and his Pontificate, all he can say is “I
am grateful to Blessed
Virgin Mary for this new gift of suffering.” He knows its salvific
value; he understands that St. Paul, and all who suffer, “for love
complete in their flesh what is lacking for the good of the Church” (cf.
Col 1:24). It was for them that only four days after his attempted
assassination, from his bedside in Gemelli Hospital, he said, “Priest
and victim, I offer my suffering for all the Church and world.”
WHY
A MARIAN GIFT? (according to Salvici
doloris, 25)
Before all, the Gospel of suffering was
written with Christ’s own suffering assumed out of love for us. This
suffering has been converted into a rich springtime for those who, with
Christ, have participated and participate in it. The Blessed Virgin
Mary, together with Christ, has been the first to live out, in a rare
and unique way, the Gospel of suffering. She is always together with
Him. And the Virgin Mary is the model witness of this gospel. She
participated and lived fully in the sufferings of Christ: “your son will
be a sign of contradiction…and you yourself a sword will pierce” (Luke
2:34-35). She will live the same destiny of Her Son, the Redeemer. The
sufferings of Christ are
totally Hers…and
they are lived in perfect union with Him.
The Magisterium of the Church teaches us
that the sufferings of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in being fully united to
Christ’s sufferings, were a real contribution to the redemption of all.
In the event of Calvary, the suffering of Mary, united with Christ’s,
reached a difficult
climax – unimaginably deep from a human perspective – but most certainly
mysterious and supernaturally fruitful for the final end of human
salvation.
Her being at the foot of the cross was a
participation in the redemptive death of Christ. She, together with
Jesus, is a living witness of the Gospel of redemptive suffering. She,
with St. John who was also at the foot of the cross, shows how suffering
with Christ is a participation in the redemptive fruits of the cross.
His Holiness John Paul II, who always has
had a particular spiritual sensitivity to the gift of Marian
co-redemption – of Her presence and singular cooperation of the event of
the cross – has also understood the necessity of embracing Her maternity
in order to be formed into a beloved disciple. The Pope has understood
that the first characteristic of that apostle called to testify to the
world about the redeeming love of the pierced Heart of Christ needed to
be with Mary at the foot of the cross in order to be a witness. He who
had to bring to awareness Christ’s extreme love for humanity, he who had
to reveal to the world how much it is loved and the high price of
salvation, needed to have been with Mary at the foot of the cross; he
needed to be formed in the Marian school of love and sorrow.
As a result,
this real witness of God’s redeeming love for humanity, this voice that
cries out, “Open the doors of your hearts to the redeemer,” also needed,
like St. John, to be in the Marian school of love and sorrow.
THE POWERFUL EVANGELIZER OF
SUFFERING: “I AM LEFT WITH THIS ARGUMENT OF SUFFERING"
This period in the life of John Paul II
is perhaps the most fruitful and splendid of his pontificate. Yes,
because His Holiness John Paul II, with an enlightened mind and such
particular wisdom, shows us a limited body, marked by pain; however, he
carries on the normal life of his pontificate, even with all his limited
capacities. He carries
on all his
pastoral labor with the weight of the cross on his shoulders. All he
achieves is accompanied by suffering – that is to say, by the power of a
suffering love that gives fruit to all labor. This is the power of the
gospel of suffering that can be converted into the most powerful
argument and the strongest evangelizer. “When I am lifted up (on the
cross) I will attract
all to Me” (cf. Jn 12:32).
In the person of the Vicar of Christ, we
can see gathered the sufferings of the Mystical Body, the Church; he
carries in his suffering face the painful stains and wrinkles with which
his members disfigure the face of the Church; the limitation of his legs
reveal the blocks which the Church faces in advancing the kingdom and
reveal her incapacity to move freely in so many nations of the world;
he endures the limitation of his voice like the many places the Church
is not allowed to openly proclaim the Gospel; he carries, in his weak
physical state, the battles of the Mystical Body; due to the weight of
the cross, he carries on his fallen shoulders so many men and women who
have been martyred for their faith or who suffer in prisons. The
increasing pain and anguish of all the men and women of our generation,
the sufferings of all the people, especially the poorest and weakest,
those most wounded
by violence – all are reflected in the visible head of the Church. The
pains of the Church accumulate in him; but he is also a witness to the
power of the Holy Spirit that sustains and fortifies.
In
reality,
contemplating the selfless and generous surrender of the Holy Father
should cause profound admiration and gratitude in us. He does not hide
his physical weakness, but rather makes it his most powerful argument
before the illusions
of this world; he knows how to show the power of weakness before a world
obsessed by power, before a culture generalized by death,
superficiality, vanity, pleasure, and
falsehood.
This challenge to desire to seek the most worthy and most suitable
dignity of each human person has always been a clear characteristic of
his human profile.
The Pope presents himself today before
people and cities with suffering, considering it to be a strong and
edifying recourse of evangelization. That is how John Paul II conducts
the Church and humanity in this third millennium: carrying the Cross of
Jesus.
In this way he resembles his Lord, the
Suffering Servant
more and more; in this way he presents His
same
physique. He is a Pope who, like Christ the Suffering Servant, is not
afraid to show suffering embraced by love; he is not afraid to show a
face not beautiful, a body not robust, a physique not strong…He is a
Pope who wants to demonstrate to us the redeeming face of suffering
embraced by love for the good of the Church. He wants to demonstrate to
us what
true love is, what
true freedom is…what the true face of man is: we are capable of God and
to love as He loves us.
Before this disoriented world, the Pope
is a living, prophetic icon of Christ crucified; and because of this,
his pontificate, marked by suffering in all its facets, ends up being
one of the greatest evangelizers. This is the great treasure that the
Church today has in its universal pastor – just like it had in its
Supreme Pastor.
For the Holy Father, in imitation of
Christ, to freely choose does not mean opting out of difficulties – but
rather it is opting for the most difficult. That is true freedom, for
it is the freedom of true love. That is why he has said so many times,
to those who insidiously invite him to abandon his mission of Pastor, “If
Christ did not come down from his cross, neither will I.”
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