Salvifici Doloris

I started reading this tonite and although I don't think I will be able to finish this tonite, I am deeply grateful for what seems to me to be a courageous examination of the problem of suffering ... one that really looks very practical, God willing, for me ... for which I am in turn deeply grateful.

So much speaks to my heart so deeply ... here's what really struck me most ... so far ... starting with a quoted passage from the very beginning of Pope John Paul II the Great's extraordinary treatment of Suffering:

1. Declaring the power of salvific suffering, the Apostle Paul says: "In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church"(1).These words seem to be found at the end of the long road that winds through the suffering which forms part of the history of man and which is illuminated by the Word of God. These words have as it were the value of a final discovery, which is accompanied by joy. For this reason Saint Paul writes: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake"(2). The joy comes from the discovery of the meaning of suffering, and this discovery, even if it is most personally shared in by Paul of Tarsus who wrote these words, is at the same time valid for others. The Apostle shares his own discovery and rejoices in it because of all those whom it can help—just as it helped him—to understand the salvific meaning of suffering.

This follows the ongoing Catholic thesis that Pain and Suffering, far from being things to avoid at all costs, rather see in this something positive, something deeply meaningful, and in particular, something that is at the very core of what it means to be human.

In No. 2, the Pope goes on to say flatly that Suffering accompanies us all, everywhere, always; and is something that not only is at the heart of what it means to be human, it is a challenge and an appeal to go beyond the human, to transcend and pass into the divine, joined so mysteriously but unmistakably in the supreme suffering of the Crucifixion of Christ.

In No. 3, the Holy Father says that 'in Christ "every man becomes the way for the Church"(4). It can be said that man in a special fashion becomes the way for the Church when suffering enters his life.' There is, then, in my own suffering, not only *not* something that divides me from Christ and Christ's Church, but something that in a special way connects me to the Church of Christ. This is so moving as to bring tears to my eyes and an ache to my heart. I am not alone; I am not estranged; I am in a special way embraced by the Church precisely in so far as I am in suffering.

In No. 3 again, "suffering seems to be, and is, almost inseparable from man's earthly existence." This may be blunt, but it's the honest truth, isn't it? To be is to be in pain. To walk in this world is to walk the Way of the Cross in this world.

Salvifici Doloris goes on to consider the kinds and nature of suffering, and declares with an almost bland abandon, in No. 6, "Sacred Scripture is a great book about suffering." A catalog of the kinds of situations in which suffering is a tragic feature is provided, and this catalog includes death of one's children, as one species of bereavement.

Suffering in the Old Testament is discussed, and Job, in particular, is explored. And, to my delight, in No. 9, the question of Why? is explicitly raised, and explicitly endorsed, as an inevitable question arising from the whole world of suffering.

But it's time for me to go to bed. All this really does help me feel connected to Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who Is, of course, here and now; and to Our Lord's Church, His Body, which is, once again, Here and Now; and to the angels of God, who are, yet again, Here and Now.

Thank you so much, O Lord, for ... everything ... even, and perhaps especially, my own and everyone's sufferings that give us opportunities to participate in You, O Lord ... and to Fill Up waht is Lacking in Your Sufferings, O Lord.

Charles Delacroix
F of the Holy Archangels