New Apologetics Part 2
In our first response, we showed that it is Catholic teaching that suffering and death are evils. But God has *conquered* those evils by transforming their meaning through the redemption. Any meaning or purpose found in human suffering is not because of the suffering itself, but because of what Christ has accomplished by taking all of our suffering to himself. Through God’s union with every suffering person, the meaning of human destiny has been transformed, and the destructive power of suffering and death is overcome:
“When one says that Christ by his mission strikes at evil at its very roots, we have in mind not only evil and definitive, eschatological suffering (so that man “should not perish, but have eternal life”), but also — at least indirectly toil and suffering in their temporal and historical dimension.” (John Paul II)
“Only a God who loves us to the extent of taking upon himself our wounds and our pain, especially innocent suffering, is worthy of faith.” (Benedict XVI, Urbi et Orbi Message, Easter 2007).
“Because he is the Son, he sees with total clarity the whole foul flood of evil, all the power of lies and pride, all the wiles and cruelty of the evil that masks itself as life yet constantly serves to destroy, debase, and crush life. Because he is the Son, he experiences deeply all the horror, filth, and baseness that he must drink from the “chalice” prepared for him: the vast power of sin and death. All this he must take into himself, so that it can be disarmed and defeated in him.” (John Paul II)
“Thou didst send him from Heaven into the Virgin’s womb; he was conceived and was incarnate, and was shown to be thy Son, born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin; Who, fulfilling thy will and preparing for thee a holy people, stretched out his hands in suffering, that he might free from suffering them that believed on thee.” (Early Eucharistic Canon)
“One can say that with the Passion of Christ all human suffering has found itself in a new situation. And it is as though Job has foreseen this when he said: ‘I know that my Redeemer lives …’, and as though he had directed towards it his own suffering, which without the Redemption could not have revealed to him the fullness of its meaning.” (John Paul II)
“Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1521)
“Entrust to the Lord the discomfort and pain you have to face, and in His plan you will become means of purification and redemption for the entire world.” (Benedict XVI)
Please ask questions as they come to mind.
January 14, 2013 at 4:13pm · Like · 1