Christ Has Redeemed All Suffering

[nathanael]

This idea, fundamental to John Paul II's teaching on suffering has seldom if ever seen the light. The world is filled with suffering. Don't worry, says John Paul II: "suffering when attached to the Cross of Christ, redeems." And not only that: the Pope means all suffering in all religions! All suffering is priceless since Christ bestowed upon this and no other means of Redemption the highest dignity. All suffering has now been made precious, dignified beyond all imagination! Even people of other religions should now see suffering in a different light. Even people who died in the Holocaust did not suffer in vain! Why? Because Christ, being Love Itself, took upon Himself all human suffering, even theirs, for the salvation of the world! Amazing, this Polish Pope! Even atheists should listen carefully to his words!

[uncltim]

As gold is refined in the furnace, so too are we refined in the world through pain, suffering, and loss.

[nathanael]

Aug 16, 2008 15:46:40 GMT -7 uncltim said:

As gold is refined in the furnace, so too are we refined in the world through pain, suffering, and loss.

This is very true, but only a partial truth. Pope John Paul II goes far beyond this affirmation in ways spectacular. What he is saying, is that not only we are refined by suffering, but that "every suffering of ours, attached to the Cross of Christ, refines and redeems humanity"! He even goes as much as to say, that every hospital bed "is an altar of offering" and the suffering human beings, the patients, are co-redeemers"!