CFS-WB-CH20

UNIT 7 CHAPTER 20 

Transforming 

Suffering through 

Faith and Prayer 

396

Chapter 20 Overview 

The goal of the Christian life is to become like God, and Jesus’ most defining act of self-revelation was His 

offering of Himself as a sacrifice on the Cross. Among all religions of the world, Christianity alone places 

self-giving love above all else. Christianity alone teaches that an all-powerful God chose to enter the world 

humbly, offering empathy and compassion to all. And Christianity alone shows us that suffering (which will 

happen to us all if it has not already) is a way we can participate in the work of redemption. We can unite our 

suffering with Jesus’ suffering on the Cross and make a gift of it for the good of others, just like Jesus’ gift of 

unconditional love. 

At the conclusion of this chapter, you will have completed this course on Apologetics. If you were not impressed 

or persuaded by the content, it does not mean your faith is weak, or that you should close yourself 

off from believing in the future. Faith is a gift from God who ultimately respects your freedom and hopes you 

will freely choose to accept His invitation to follow Him. If you do, it may mean you have some measure of 

happiness in this life, and you will be assured of perfect happiness for eternity. 

In this chapter you will learn that … 

■ By uniting our suffering with Jesus’ on the Cross, suffering takes on an entirely new meaning and 

significance by becoming redemptive for the sufferer and for others. 

■ Among world religions, Christianity alone has made love central. 

■ Suffering helps move us towards agapē, increasing empathy, humility, forgiveness, and compassion, in 

imitation of the highest expression of agapē, Christ’s self-sacrifice on the Cross. 

■ If we have faith, we too can imitate Christ by offering our suffering to the Father as self-sacrifice to help 

in the work of redemption. 

■ When suffering comes, we can respond by praying, using prudence and reason, and by reshaping our 

expectation of happiness. 

Bible Basics 

“Behold, I make all things new.” 

—Revelation 21:5 

If one member suffers, all suffer together; if 

one member is honored, all rejoice together. 

— 1 Corinthians 12:26 

Connections to the Catechism 

■ CCC 418 

■ CCC 618 

■ CCC 1500–1501 

■ CCC 1503–1506 

© Sophia Institute for Teachers 

397

Chapter 20 

Suffering Transformed 

Christianity 

alone has made 

love central, 

giving it greater 

emphasis 

than any other 

religion or 

philosophy. 

From our study of suffering and the Christian understanding of it in the 

last two chapters, we can conclude that suffering is permitted by God 

to allow us to play a role in His work of salvation as part of the Body of 

Christ. Another way of looking at it is this: God the Father allowed His 

only begotten Son to suffer for our benefit; why wouldn’t He allow it for 

us if it contributes to the same benefit? There is no greater benefit for 

us than eternal life. 

By uniting our suffering with Jesus’ on the Cross, suffering takes 

on an entirely new meaning and significance. As Christ says in the Book 

of Revelation, “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). 

Suffering, too, is made new by Christ’s suffering and Death on the 

Cross. United with His redemptive suffering, the faithful’s suffering becomes 

redemptive for the sufferer and others. With this consequence 

comes peace and consolation to the sufferer as an effect of grace. 

God loves us so much that He became one of us. Because Jesus 

was fully human, He experienced all that we experience (except for sin). 

His suffering was real. Anything that Jesus did — from being baptized to 

suffering in death — was made new and made holy. So, if Jesus voluntarily 

did something, it must be good. Because He suffered so terribly, 

we can connect our suffering to His Passion on the Cross. In this way, 

we can participate in the redemptive quality of suffering for ourselves 

and for others. 

St. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote, “What has not been assumed has 

not been healed.” Christ healed humanity because He assumed humanity. 

Christ redeemed suffering because He suffered. Christ won victory 

over death because He died. And, as we reflected on in the first chapter 

of this unit, Christ will glorify man’s body because He rose in glory. 

In the last two chapters, we discussed how suffering gives us the 

chance to develop our natural virtues. We now move from the natural 

virtues to the religious virtue of agapē (love). Christianity alone has 

made love central, giving it greater definition and emphasis than any 

other religion or philosophy. As we learned in Chapter 6, agapē is the 

love of God for human beings and the love we are called to offer to 

God and one another. As we wrap up this unit on why God would allow 

suffering, let us consider the question: how does suffering lead us closer 

to agapē? Is it perhaps even necessary for agapē? 

398 Apologetics I: The Catholic Faith and Science 

© Magis Center

Agapē Begins with Empathy 

Agapē, the highest form of love, is a gift of self, which is frequently expressed 

in self-sacrifice. It is grounded in empathy with the other — we 

recognize the unique and intrinsic goodness, worthiness, and lovability 

of that other. This intrinsic goodness does not depend on any specific 

ability or trait the person might have (like their talents or usefulness 

for society). Furthermore, agapē seeks no reward, it does not seek its 

own interests. Agapē seeks only the goodness and lovability of others 

in themselves. 

Agapē begins with empathy and produces a sense of unity. This 

unity with the other breaks down interpersonal barriers rising out of 

self-interest. When self-centeredness closes us off, suffering can open 

us up. When we encounter weakness and vulnerability in another, it can 

prompt us to reach out in empathy and compassion. Just as important, 

however, our own suffering prompts us to be open enough to receive 

empathy. Our own weaknesses and vulnerability can break us out of our 

illusion of self-sufficiency and lead us to reach out to receive the help, 

compassion, and empathy of others. 

Our own suffering can lead 

us to receive the help and 

compassion of others. 

The Sick Child, by Edvard Munch. 


Unit 7, Chapter 20: Transforming Suffering through Faith and Prayer 

399

Often, we have difficulty accepting help because we judge ourselves 

by our accomplishments, rather than our intrinsic dignity. We 

think that needing help means we are weak, and therefore less valuable 

and more of a burden. If we are to be drawn by suffering into the richness 

of empathy and compassion, we will have to let go of the notion 

that weakness and vulnerability are essentially negative and invest ourselves 

in Jesus’ revelation of the positivity of suffering — its invitation to 

eternal love and joy. 

Love has vulnerability built into it. It opens itself to being completed 

by the other; it reveals an openness to complementarity by the other. 

But there is a deep suspicion of and aversion to vulnerability in our 

St. Veronica comforted Jesus 

on His way to the Cross. She 

reminds us to see the face 

of Christ in every suffering 

person. 

St. Veronica with the Veil, by Mattia Preti. 


© Magis Center

culture. We put up a façade of being purely self-sufficient because we 

do not want to be needy. This façade, however, forces us to be dishonest 

in how we present ourselves, because even if we avoid being needy, 

we ultimately cannot avoid being interdependent. 

Weakness Reveals the Truth of Our 

Interdependency 

Here is where the opportunity and efficacy of suffering comes into 

play. Our personal weakness and our inability to perfectly fulfill others’ 

needs forces us to confront the myth of perfect autonomy, which in 

turn points to the truth about ourselves — that we are interdependent 

beings and possess the ability to complement, be complemented by, 

serve, and be served by others. 

As Jesus and virtually every saint recognized, humility is necessary 

for the possibility of agapē. Christian teaching has always acknowledged 

that the wisdom and goodness of humility is not easy because 

it is contrary to our desire for popularity and power, by which we want 

our friends to love us because we are so great or we want God to love 

us because we are good enough and have earned His love. We are 

afraid to recognize that our friends, our family, and our heavenly Father 

all love us for ourselves and not for our illusory greatness. Once again, 

suffering can play an important role in opening us up to the proper perspective. 

We often need to experience weakness, failure, and humiliation 

to force us to let go of our concern with success. For many of us, it 

is only then that we can discover the boundless agapē love of the heart 

of Christ. When we can accept Christ’s love and forgiveness in humility, 

instead of desperately trying to prove we have earned it through pride, 

we will discover a new freedom. 

Aa 

VOCABULARY 

Forgiveness: The act of 

granting pardon to another 

for an offense committed and 

to no longer hold that wrong 

against them. 

Forgiveness 

Forgiveness is mentioned more often than any other aspect of God’s 

love in the New Testament. Forgiveness requires both humility and empathy 

because it entails letting go of a just grievance against another. If 

someone hurts us without meaning to, it can be excused. But if someone 

hurts us intentionally, forgiveness is required because we must give 

up our just claim to recompense. We must also give up any desire we 

might have for revenge, which only begets further revenge, just as violence 

begets violence. If we are to interrupt this ever-expanding cycle 

and allow the parties to begin the long process of healing, we will have 

to let go of our just claims against the other. 



401

Compassion: Sympathetic 

concern for the sufferings of 

others. From the Latin for “to 

suffer with”. 

Sometimes we gain the power to forgive through a special kind of 

suffering — the suffering that comes with realizing that we have hurt 

others through mistakes or immaturity in our past and even by our deliberate 

sinful actions. As memories come rushing back in a new light, 

we suddenly grieve at the injuries we have caused. We discover a desire 

both for forgiveness and for God to somehow heal the injuries. 

Confronting our own need to be forgiven can help teach us the value 

in forgiving others. Empathy enables us to feel the need others had 

for forgiveness, and humility enables us to see that others’ need to be 

freed from past burdens was just as great or greater than our own. 

Compassion 

Confronting our own need 

for forgiveness enables us to 

forgive others more easily. 

Compassion is yet another gift that suffering helps to bring about in 

us. The word compassion means literally “to suffer with.” In the Parable 

of the Good Samaritan, Jesus showed how compassion — a feeling of 

St. Peter Weeping before the Virgin, by Guercino. 


© Magis Center

profound identification with the suffering of another human being — 

moves us to merciful action. 

Comfort sometimes takes the form of doing something beneficial 

such as giving medical treatment or providing housing. But frequently, 

we cannot do anything but give our time, presence, and attention; we 

can only be with the other to give comfort. Yet this seemingly small act 

imparts dignity. Spending time with another proves to the other that he 

is valuable, because most everyone intuitively recognizes the preciousness 

of time. There is only one hitch. We must be suffering in order to 

receive compassion. This is one of the most paradoxical aspects of the 

human condition: if we are to receive the deep affirmation of our belovedness 

that leads to our deepest moments of dignity and joy, we must 

be in a state of weakness, pain, or need. 

This giving and receiving of love can lead us to discover the positive 

cycle that comes from accepting the help of others. Showing and 

accepting compassion is complementary; accepting compassion can 

make us more aware of the genuine goodness of people. This awareness 

in turn calls us to imitate that goodness in them, inspiring us to 

greater compassion. Not surprisingly, humbly receiving love with an 

open heart makes us more loving. 

Suffering not only helps us to be more compassionate, but it can 

also lead to an increased awareness of the sufferings of Jesus. The 

price He paid to sacrifice Himself completely to create an unconditional 

act of love for the salvation of the world becomes less abstract and 

more personal. Ultimately, the example of His suffering shows us how 

to use our suffering as a self-offering for others. Suffering is a way we 

can participate in Jesus’ gift of unconditional love. 

Redemptive Suffering: 

Uniting our own suffering to 

Jesus’ Passion and offering 

it as a self-sacrifice for the 

sake of our salvation or the 

salvation of others, in imitation 

of Jesus. 

Suffering as Self-Sacrificial Redemptive Love 

Jesus did many things to bring the Kingdom of God to us — showing 

us God’s unconditional love, healings, miracles, raising the dead, His 

ministry of exorcism, proclaiming the Good News to sinners and the 

poor, and bestowing on us the gifts of the Resurrection and the Holy 

Spirit. Yet none of these extraordinary gifts seems to be more central 

to His mission of redemption and salvation than His unconditional gift 

of self, in letting Himself be unjustly accused, ridiculed, crucified, and 

put to death. 

Jesus’ priority here points to the intrinsic value of suffering for 

our redemption, and for the redemption of others. The Church calls 

this redemptive suffering. Of course, we need faith in Jesus, and 



403

ecognition of love as our highest calling, to understand this supreme 

value of suffering. If we do have this faith, we too can offer our suffering 

to the Father as self-sacrifice to help in the work of redemption. 

Since Jesus’ act of redemption was already perfect and complete, 

though, how is it possible that we can help? Well, in the First Letter to 

the Corinthians, St. Paul speaks about Christ’s spiritual body as the unifying 

bond of all its members. He then notes that “If one member suffers, 

all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” 

(1 Corinthians 12:26). The implication is clear: each individual 

member affects the whole body, and therefore, every member of it. If 

members are strong in their love, it will positively affect the whole body, 

and conversely, if members are weak in their love, it will weaken the 

whole body. Offering our suffering as self-sacrifice for the good of the 

Body of Christ is an act of love for the Church. So, when we offer our 

sufferings to the Lord as self-sacrifice, we strengthen the whole body, 

and therefore, every member of it. 

Truly, we cannot afford to waste our suffering as members of the 

Body of Christ. When we suffer, we need to remember to make it a 

self-sacrificial offering so that we can unify our sufferings to those of 

Jesus for the good of the body. We can make this offering through 

spontaneous prayers like “Lord Jesus, I want to unite my suffering with 

your sufferings as a self-sacrifice for the Church and the work of redemption.” 

We can also pray a morning offering that includes the desire 

to offer all our sufferings that day, and we can even pray that our suffering 

help specific people or intentions. We can also integrate prayers 

to offer our suffering into other prayers throughout the day. This has a 

double effect: it strengthens the Church as described above, and also 

transforms those making the prayer, for the more we can accept suffering 

in faith as our highest calling and dignity, the more we place ourselves 

in His hands, trusting in His loving will. 

So, is suffering really necessary for agapē (empathy, the acceptance 

of love’s vulnerability, humility, forgiveness, compassion, and the 

acceptance of compassion)? Not in all cases, certainly, but many of us 

need suffering to remove the barriers to love created by our egocentric 

desires, our belief in the cultural myth of self-sufficiency, and underestimation 

of the goodness and love of other people. God works 

through this suffering. He does not waste any of it. For those who are 

open to seeing the horizon of love embedded in it, there is a future, nay, 

an eternity for each of us to manifest our own unique brand of unconditional 

love within the symphony of love which is God’s kingdom. 


© Magis Center

What To Do When Suffering Comes 

Even if we feel that we may not be ready to face suffering when it 

comes, there are steps we can take to lessen the negative effects of 

suffering when it begins. First, we can immediately engage in spontaneous 

prayers, such as the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, or as simple a 

prayer as “Help me, Lord.” Second, we can lessen the effects of fear 

and anxiety through natural virtues. 

For example, we can use reason and prudence to confront fear and 

anxiety. For example, we can ask, “Can any part of this problem be averted 

or lessened?” and “If everything goes wrong, what are some backup 

plans I can live with?” and “Who can help me with advice or action?” We 

can seek the help of other people we trust. Some may be supportive by 

bringing comfort and helping us feel less alone, and some may give us 

specific, practical suggestions for overcoming problems. 

Prudence: “Right judgement.” 

A Cardinal Virtue that helps 

guide all of the other virtues 

because it helps us to discern 

the true good in every 

circumstance. It helps us to 

make the right decision at 

the right time and to find the 

best way to achieve a good 

outcome. 

We can rejoice even in 

suffering, as Christ has 

conquered death. 

Anastasis, Harrowing of Hell and Resurrection fresco from Chora Church, photograph by Gunnar Bach. 



405

Resignation: Acceptance 

of God’s will in our lives, 

especially in times of difficulty 

and suffering. 

We can also reshape our expectation of happiness. You may have 

heard it said that much of our happiness depends on what we think will 

make us happy. Even though we may believe we cannot be happy without 

a particular person, job, home, or good health, it probably is not true. 

Many people have learned to be happy after losses, sometimes finding 

whole new kinds of happiness. How do they do this? They change their 

expectation of what is required for happiness. They stop telling themselves 

they need the things they have lost, and tell themselves they 

can be happy without them. If we do the same, we will likely find a new 

way of life and may even be happier than before. Remember what we 

learned about the comparison game in Unit 6; the same wisdom applies 

here as well. One sure way to add anxiety to our moments of suffering 

is to compare ourselves to what we were like before the loss, or to others 

who have not experienced the loss. 

Ultimately, we have two options: we can persist in resentment and 

bitterness and resolve to tough it out by ourselves, or we can practice 

Christian resignation by placing ourselves in the loving hands of God 

and move forward trusting that He knows what we need and how we 

can best become instruments for the good of others. 

Conclusion 

Our journey in this course has now reached its end. We have come a 

long way since we began by considering the medical evidence for our 

transphysical souls. We have shown that it is reasonable and responsible 

to conclude that God exists, first by examining the evidence presented 

to us by the sciences, then by considering the knowledge of God 

available to us by the use of human reason. We have contemplated how 

the Creator has revealed Himself to us, made known His unconditional 

love — agapē — and that He has dwelled among us as Emmanuel, “God 

with us” in the divine person of His Son, Jesus Christ. We have explored 

the historical evidence for Christ and demonstrated that His claim to 

be God is true. Equipped with all this evidence, we have gained greater 

confidence in the veracity of Jesus’ revelation of God and what it 

means for how we live our lives, pursue happiness in Him, and face the 

inevitable suffering that will come our way. 

In short, we have crafted a defense of the bedrock truths of the 

Christian Faith using the most compelling and convincing tools at our 

disposal, leaving but one question at this conclusion: “Will you choose 

to believe in and follow God and His Son?” All the best evidence in 

the world will not compel us to believe in and follow God and His Son, 


© Magis Center

Jesus. We must choose to do this through the help of God’s grace (for 

faith is a free gift of God), because God does not want to push us or 

overwhelm us into believing. Rather, He wants us to recognize that love 

(agapē) is the highest and most positive purpose of life, that He and 

His Son are perfect unconditional love, and that the way to actualize 

that life of love is through following the teaching of His Son. We do so 

by practicing the Faith and following His moral teaching. If we recognize 

these three truths of the heart, and choose to follow the Lord’s 

teaching, we will find ourselves happier (on all four levels), undaunted 

in suffering, solidly on the path to eternal salvation, leaving a legacy of 

contribution to this world and the Kingdom of God, and leading the culture 

and Church in the most grace-filled ways. All we need do is recognize 

Christ the Lord, choose Him, and follow Him in practice and His 

teachings. The rest will be the grace and fruit of the Holy Spirit working 

through our remarkable lives. 

If we chose to follow the Lord, 

we will find ourselves happier, 

undaunted in suffering, and 

solidly on the path to salvation. 

Pentecost, by Juan Bautista Maíno. 



407

Focus and Reflection Questions 

1 How does Christ’s suffering and Death on the Cross make suffering new? What comes with this 

renewal? 

2 What does it mean to say that agapē is grounded in empathy for the other? 

3 What are some reasons we may have trouble accepting help when we are suffering or otherwise in 

need? 

4 What good things may happen when weakness, failure, and humiliation force us to let go of our 

concern with success? 

5 Why does forgiveness require both humility and empathy? 

6 What does the word compassion mean? What does Jesus teach us about it in the Parable of the 

Good Samaritan? 

7 What is the positive cycle that can come about when we give and receive compassion? 

8 In what are we able to participate by our suffering? 

9 In what ways does Jesus’ ministry show us that suffering has the highest value for our redemption, 

and for the redemption of others? 

10 If Jesus’ act of redemption was already perfect and complete, how is it possible that we can help by 

offering up our own suffering? 

11 What are some ways that we can unify our sufferings to Jesus’ for the good of His Body, the Church? 

12 How can using our reason and prudence help us deal with suffering? 

13 Why can changing our expectations of happiness help us when we are suffering? 

14 Given all the evidence presented in this course supporting the veracity of Jesus’ revelation of God, 

what question remains at the conclusion of this course? 


© Magis Center

Straight to the Source 

ADDITIONAL READINGS FROM PRIMARY SOURCES 

The Story of a Soul, Selection from the Epilogue, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, 1898 

“When I suffer much,” she would say, “when something painful or disagreeable happens to me, instead 

of a melancholy look, I answer by a smile. At first I did not always succeed, but now it has become a habit 

which I am glad to have acquired.... No — [my sufferings] are not terrible: can a little Victim of Love find 

anything terrible that is sent by her Spouse? Each moment He sends me what I am able to bear, and 

nothing more, and if He increase the pain, my strength is increased as well. But I could never ask for 

greater sufferings — I am too little a soul. They would then be of my own choice. I should have to bear 

them all without Him, and I have never been able to do anything when left to myself. 

1 Why did St. Thérèse believe her sufferings were not terrible? 

2 What did St. Thérèse see as the difference between the sufferings sent to her by Christ and suffering 

of her own creation, or that she would ask for? 

The City of God, Book 1, Ch. 29, St. Augustine, AD 426 

The whole family of God, most high and most true, has therefore a consolation of its own — a consolation 

which cannot deceive, and which has in it a surer hope than the tottering and falling affairs of earth 

can afford. They will not refuse the discipline of this temporal life, in which they are schooled for life 

eternal; nor will they lament their experience of it, for the good things of earth they use as pilgrims who 

are not detained by them, and its ills either prove or improve them. As for those who insult over them in 

their trials, and when ills befall them say, “Where is your God?”, we may ask them where their gods are 

when they suffer the very calamities for the sake of avoiding which they worship their gods, or maintain 

they ought to be worshipped; for the family of Christ is furnished with its reply: our God is everywhere 

present, wholly everywhere; not confined to any place. He can be present unperceived, and be absent 

without moving; when He exposes us to adversities, it is either to prove our perfections or correct our 

imperfections; and in return for our patient endurance of the sufferings of time, He reserves for us an 

everlasting reward. 

1 What is the consolation of Christians — the family of God? 

2 What reason does St. Augustine give for suffering, or adversity? What reward is there for enduring 

suffering? 

3 Do you think St. Augustine’s view of suffering is optimistic? Why or why not? 



409

Salvifici Doloris 26–27, an Encyclical Letter of Pope St. John Paul II, February 11, 1984 

26. …Christ does not explain in the abstract the reasons for suffering, but before all else he says: “Follow 

me!” Come! Take part through your suffering in this work of saving the world, a salvation achieved 

through my suffering! Through my Cross. Gradually, as the individual takes up his cross, spiritually uniting 

himself to the Cross of Christ, the salvific meaning of suffering is revealed before him. He does not 

discover this meaning at his own human level, but at the level of the suffering of Christ. At the same 

time, however, from this level of Christ the salvific meaning of suffering descends to man’s level and 

becomes, in a sense, the individual’s personal response. It is then that man finds in his suffering interior 

peace and even spiritual joy. 

27. Saint Paul speaks of such joy [in uniting our suffering to Christ’s] in the Letter to the Colossians: “I rejoice 

in my sufferings for your sake.” A source of joy is found in the overcoming of the sense of the uselessness 

of suffering, a feeling that is sometimes very strongly rooted in human suffering. This feeling 

not only consumes the person interiorly, but seems to make him a burden to others. The person feels 

condemned to receive help and assistance from others, and at the same time seems useless to himself. 

The discovery of the salvific meaning of suffering in union with Christ transforms this depressing feeling. 

Faith in sharing in the suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty that the suffering person 

“completes what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions;” the certainty that in the spiritual dimension of the 

work of Redemption he is serving, like Christ, the salvation of his brothers and sisters. Therefore, he is 

carrying out an irreplaceable service. In the Body of Christ, which is ceaselessly born of the Cross of the 

Redeemer, it is precisely suffering permeated by the spirit of Christ’s sacrifice that is the irreplaceable 

mediator and author of the good things which are indispensable for the world’s salvation. It is suffering, 

more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls. Suffering, 

more than anything else, makes present in the history of humanity the powers of the Redemption. 

…Those who share in the sufferings of Christ preserve in their own sufferings a very special particle of 

the infinite treasure of the world’s Redemption, and can share this treasure with others. The more a person 

is threatened by sin, the heavier the structures of sin which today’s world brings with it, the greater 

is the eloquence which human suffering possesses in itself. And the more the Church feels the need to 

have recourse to the value of human sufferings for the salvation of the world. 

1 What reason does the pope give for why Jesus does not explain in the abstract the reasons for 

suffering? 

2 How does responding to suffering with joy transform it? 

3 What are some practical ways you can find joy in your own sufferings? 


© Magis Center

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