In today’s world, people are taught that pain and suffering are bad and should be avoided or ended through medicines, pain killers or even death (suicide & euthanasia).   Unfortunately, this attitude has led to addictions, despair and even anger at God for allowing this suffering.

We want to give hope and meaning to the suffering children of God.  God sent His son Jesus to show us how suffering can be used for good, and like Mary, we can offer our suffering to Christ at the foot of the Cross.  God wants to heal us, sometimes in body, but always in spirit, if we let Him.  “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16-17).

Through redemptive suffering, people can use their suffering for the good of others and the Church.  “In order to console a soul in its sufferings, point out to it all the good it still can do” (St. Padre Pio).  The Cross, and all those who are united to the Cross through their suffering, is the KEY to opening up the vaults of Heaven’s graces and mercies. When suffering is accepted for the love of God, it is a means of personal salvation, purifying our souls, deepening our love, and leading us to true happiness and joy in our souls.  Our personal suffering can also be used as a means of salvation for the Church and the world.

The suffering, having found the road to fulfillment in their pain, can then be encouraged to say, “I have a role to play in the Church and in the salvation of many.”  Through this, they can experience hope, joy and purpose of life in the midst of suffering.  Their prayers can bring down many graces and blessings on the Church, and convert many souls.  “One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer” (St. Teresa of Avila).