According to a popular saying, two things are inevitable”: death and taxes. A third could be added: suffering. Everyone must face the fact that suffering will come into their life. The time, the type, the intensity of individual suffering may vary but no one can escape or hide from suffering.
The fact of suffering places great demands on one’s faith. Why is suffering an inevitable part of human life? Why did God choose that our salvation be accomplished through the suffering and death of his son?
These are questions for which no satisfactory answer can be found on the level of human reasoning. Judged materially i.e. from a purely natural point of view the fact of suffering is daunting We face defeat at the hands of time and corrupting nature.
There is, however, a reasonable response… faith. It is reasonable to make an act of faith. Faith proposes there is a life lived in a new dimension, a life of faith and grace.
One of the greatest glories of the Christian is the belief that his suffering and that of Christ are bound up together. Jesus did not suffer and die that we might be freed of suffering and death. Jesus suffered and died so that by joining our suffering to that of Jesus we might also rise with him to eternal life. That knowledge can turn human sorrow into the highest supernatural sacrifice.
To submit consistently and generously to God’s will leads to true happiness. In contrast to choose one’s own will when it is in conflict with God’s will is to sin and ultimately leads to suffering. To put that a bit differently: suffering is the fruit of sin.
Original sin condemned man to suffering. After sinning by failing to respect God’s will Adan was told: “Accursed be the soil because of you! Painfully you will get your food from it as long as you live.” Gen. 3: 17)
Actual sin means mistaking pleasure for happiness. It represents man thinking he can make better rules for happiness than the rules laid down by God. Actual sin condemns a person to suffering beyond the fleeting pleasure sin may offer. The sinner suffers a blindness that prevents him from seeing where true happiness lies. The sinner suffers a hardening of heart which renders it impenetrable to grace.
There is, however, a suffering which mysteriously conquers sin. It is the suffering of Christ which has made grace always and everywhere available.