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You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery;'                but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.                If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.                If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.                'It was also said, 'Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,'                but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.                'Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,'                but I tell you, don't swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;                nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.                Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can't make one hair white or black.                But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No' be 'No.' Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.                'You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'*                But I tell you, don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.                If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.                Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.                Give to him who asks you, and don't turn away him who desires to borrow from you.                'You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor,* and hate your enemy.*'                But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,                that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven.               
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Does Suffering Have Meaning?
   

By the Publisher
Love One Another! 3/2004 → Suffering and Love

Love One Another



Suffering and death – the wages of sin – would make no sense, were it not for the fact that God Himself became man and took upon Himself the sins and suffering of us all.

 

In His passion and death, Christ underwent the greatest suffering of all. At the same time, by rising from the tomb, He made it possible for the most senseless suffering, when united to Him, to become the way to salvation. In the mystery of His incarnation, passion, death and resurrection He united Himself with every man (Gaudium et Spes, 22), that He might bring men through suffering and death to the fullness of life. With great meekness His all-powerful love knocks at the door of men’s hearts (Rev 3:20). When we accept His love, it heals the most painful wounds, blots out the greatest sins, and gives sense to every suffering. Whenever man encounters suffering, Jesus is the first to bear its weight.
While watching the shocking images of Christ’s torments in The Passion of the Christ, let us be mindful that He is present and suffering in every one of the millions of human beings who live in poverty and hunger, suffer brutal oppression and persecution, undergo torture, or fall victim to acts of terrorism. Only with the “eyes” of faith can we see this shocking reality of a God who suffers along with mankind. Holy men and women have such eyes of faith, and that is why they always see Jesus present in suffering, derelict and dying souls. Edith Stein, the famous philosopher, now patron saint of Europe, knew the darkness of atheism. After discovering in Christ the greatest love of her life, she had this to say about the meaning of suffering: Human nature, which Christ assumed, enabled Him to suffer and die. Divine nature, which he enjoyed from eternity, bestowed on this suffering and death an infinite value and redemptive power. The passion and death of Christ is repeated in His Mystical Body and members. Everyone must suffer and die, but if he is a living member of the Mystical Body, his suffering and death take on a redemptive power thanks to the divinity of the One Who is its Head. This explains why every saint is so willing to embrace suffering.
 From the moment of conception, every person becomes a member of the human family and inherits the reality of good and evil that resides within it. Sin deforms and destroys the good in a person, his relations with God and with others. God stands powerless in the face of our sinful decisions. He respects our free will to the very end. Through original sin evil became the common lot of the entire human family. That is why it touches us all, causing suffering even when we are not personally at fault. Suffering is not a punishment meted out by God for sin, but the unavoidable experience of the results flowing from an objectively existing “sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).

In the Biblical story of Job, God teaches us that suffering is a great mystery and not always the consequence of personal sin (cf. Lk 13:1-4; Jn 9:2-3). If suffering springs from man’s personal sin, it cannot be seen as a punishment by God for sin (cf. Ga 6:8). By taking upon Himself the burden of our suffering, Jesus Christ radically changes its sense and meaning. Christ conquered and transformed the evil of sin. United with Him, suffering becomes our path to salvation. The parable of the prodigal son tells us that God is moved by fatherly love. He does not punish his son. He merely allows him to taste the consequences of his sins. He does this so that his son can come to his senses and repent. Thus, it is not God who punishes. The consequences of sin are punishment in themselves.

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The above article was published with permission from Miłujcie się! in November 2010


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