Don't Ask Why God Allows Suffering

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:06]So in this short passage we hear something profound.

[00:00:12]We know from a Catholic perspective.

[00:00:17]Suffering is one of the deepest mysteries of human life.

[00:00:23]Why and how could a a good and loving and merciful God allow such suffering?

[00:00:29]Well, we're gonna go back to seminary with you and or take you back to seminary because I think this is important to constantly remind ourselves. Now, the church does not teach that suffering is good. That's a fallacy. Oh, you Catholics, you love suffering. The Catholic guilt. No, we don't teach that suffering is good in and of itself or that God delights in pain. I remember reading some of the YouTube comments that said, "How can we belong to some kind of religion that your god is a massochist, that your god wants to torture you?" No, that's not it at all. The way that suffering entered into the world was sin.

[00:01:14]Okay? We say suffering entered the world through sin. But Christ transformed suffering through his cross into something that now is redemptive, purifying, and salvific when united to him. Now, this is the key. How do we carry our crosses? All right. Suffering was not part of God's original plan. Was not.

[00:01:45]God created the world good.

[00:01:48]We know this but death as a result of sin, disorder, suffering that entered the world through the fall through us.

[00:01:58]So human suffering is therefore connected to brokenness of creation caused by sin. So in the ancient times they believe that it was God's punishment that you did something bad.

[00:02:11]No, it's right now just a condition connected to brokenness of creation that co was caused by sin.

[00:02:21]Now, our catechism teaches us that suffering and death are among the consequences of original sin.

[00:02:30]Okay? So, yet God did not abandon us in our suffering. Instead, he entered into suffering itself. And that's the part we seem to forget.

[00:02:43]We talk about Christ became man to teach us and to start his church and to heal.

[00:02:49]And that's all true, but we forgot or we forget often that how did he not abandon us? He had he did not abandon us because he entered into suffering himself.

[00:03:04]Don't you feel something special when somebody instead of just telling you how to handle your problems, they jump into it with you? Like like for me buried in the administrative purgatory that papers stacked up on my desk this high and it's just monumental.

[00:03:26]And yet when sometimes a brother like Father Michael or one of the employees like Jackie will come in and say or some of our people who help us in the leoty forms um we we see people who come forward and say how can I help you? How can I dive into it with you? Not just oh you need to delegate. No that actually dive into it that actually enter into it and say okay I'll do this. I'll do this.

[00:03:55]so you can be freed up to do that.

[00:03:57]That's what Christ did. He entered into our suffering. He just didn't tell us, "I'm with you. I'll pray for you." He entered into it. That's the Catholic belief. And so Jesus changed the meaning of suffering. All right? The center of the Catholic understanding of suffering is the cross. That's per perfectly understandable. Before Christ, suffering appeared meaningless really without any meaning. Um, it even appeared as a punishment.

[00:04:32]And so Jesus then freely accepting suffering and death out of love for salvation. Why? Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Because the penalty for sin is death and the consequence of our own sins is we suffer because of it. So he freely accepted that on our behalf. So now through his passion, Christ united suffering to love.

[00:05:02]So love is only shown in the amount it's willing to suffer. Father James Harden, I say, one of the um great great men of our times, priests of our times, talked about that suffering, the meaning of love can only be shown in how much you're willing to suffer for someone. Again, we can say all day long, we love you. But when the chips are down and the suffering is happening, are you there with them? Are they there with you? So Christ united suffering to love.

[00:05:37]Next, pain became a way of redemption.

[00:05:42]Suffering can atone for sin. Christ did it and set the example. Death then became the way to life because Christ conquered the last enemy, death. And then by resurrecting, dying, you destroyed our death. Rising, you restored our life. And so this is why we shouldn't ask why do we suffer?

[00:06:06]We shouldn't ask that. We should ask what can suffering become when united to Christ.

[00:06:14]So when somebody says to you, "How could your God allow such suffering? Why do we suffer?" Say, "Well, let's ask, what can suffering become when it's united to Christ and his cross?" Jesus didn't remove all suffering from the world. No, instead he transformed it from within.

[00:06:34]We know this. If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. We know this from the Bible. So in Catholic spirituality, the cross means a lot. You can have any one of these crosses or all of them. burdens, trials, humiliations, illnesses, losses, persecutions, disappointments, and sacrifices that you have to make.

[00:07:02]And the biggest one, I think, your children, your spouse, your loved ones. They provide the biggest crosses of all.

[00:07:13]Children that are not in the faith anymore, spouses that refuse to be spiritual leaders in the family.

[00:07:20]And so a Christian is asked to respond to this, not seek suffering for its own sake. That is masochistic. No, we are called to seek God through it. Now, we are called to carry unavoidable suffering, but carry it with faith, hope, love, and patience in union with Christ. Then suffering is redemptive.

[00:07:51]One of the most unique Catholic teachings is redemptive suffering.

[00:07:57]Many people can't grasp it and it's hard.

[00:08:02]Paul the famous most misunderstood line in scripture I call it Colossians 1:24.

[00:08:08]I must complete what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the church.

[00:08:17]This is where the Protestant and the Catholic roads meet.

[00:08:24]Because if you are Catholic and you're constantly challenged in your Catholic faith, Jesus did it all on the cross.

[00:08:30]Jesus did it all on the cross. Yes, for our redemption, but we have to do the part for our salvation.

[00:08:39]So ask when that question is posed to you, ask, "Well, then what about Colossians 1:24 where Paul says,"I must complete what is lacking."

[00:08:51]No, Jesus did it all. Well, Paul just said something's lacking. No, Jesus did it all. Jesus did it all. Paul said something's lacking. What is lacking?

[00:09:02]Our sufferings, united to his. His work is complete in redemption. Ours for sanctification needs to be nailed to that cross.

[00:09:14]Catholics do not believe Christ's sacrifice was insufficient.

[00:09:19]That's not what I mean here.

[00:09:21]His was perfect. What's lacking is ours.

[00:09:27]His sacrifice is perfect and complete.

[00:09:30]What's missing or what's lacking is our participation in it. We deny that cross.

[00:09:36]We shudder from the cross. Euthanasia because we don't want anybody suffering.

[00:09:41]Mercy killing by the way. There's no such thing.

[00:09:45]And we deny. So St. Fina talked about she saw three groups of people and they were identified by God how they carried their cross.

[00:09:54]One group totally rejected it.

[00:09:59]The other group carried it but dragged it unwillingly but by obligation.

[00:10:07]And the third group embraced it. Those were the ones who shined with the light of Christ. So because Christians are members of Christ's body, our sufferings can be spiritually united to his.

[00:10:21]Well, Christ did it, not me.

[00:10:24]No, you're part of the body of Christ.

[00:10:27]Christ suffered in his body.

[00:10:30]This is why you will suffer. And we can offer I used to hate that term. My mom would say offered up when I would ask for Jiffy Pop popcorn. I always laugh for for 10 years. I used to go to the grocery store. 15 years with my mom. For 15 years I asked for Jiffy Jiffy Pop popcorn. Never once got it.

[00:10:52]Never once. And my mom would say I'd say, "Why can't we get it?" My mom would and I think she knew something we didn't that it was full of just garbage or something. No offense to the makers of Just We Pop Popcorn, but but my mom would never allow it. And I would say, "Why?" And she would say, "Because I said so." And I would say, "But why are you saying so?" And she'd say, "Offer it up." And I never understood. I just knew I didn't like the term because it meant I didn't get what I wanted. But when we offer up our suffering united to the cross of Christ, we can give it for sinners, souls in purgatory, for the church, for our loved ones, for our fallen away family, for the conversion of sinners, and the reparation for your own sins. It's the most perfect tool.

[00:11:42]This is why Catholics often speak of offering it up. This means cons consciously joining your suffering to Jesus on the cross.

[00:11:53]He suffered in his body. You are part of that body.

[00:11:58]So you take from that the grace. So suffering purifies the soul. In our Catholic tradition, we compare suffering to fire that purifies gold. Why?

[00:12:14]Because trials, the trials that you go through, it's like it's it's it's like you become better. That's why athletes go through resistance training.

[00:12:23]Something contrary to what your body wants. Rather just lay on the couch, but pushing it, pushing it, pushing it. when I started wrestling in third grade.

[00:12:36]Third grade I started wrestling and and was already learning from the coaches about what it meant to endure and to go through this kind of training.

[00:12:47]Trials can detach us from pride.

[00:12:52]Trials can deepen humility.

[00:12:55]Trials can increase our trust in God.

[00:12:58]Trials can strengthen our compassion for others. Wow. Now I see what you're going through. Oh my.

[00:13:07]Trials can purify selfishness.

[00:13:10]You know, I had to go without. Now I want to help those who have to go without.

[00:13:17]They can teach dependence on God. I could never have gotten through that without God's help. So saints say suffering strips away this self-sufficiency and teaches us to rely only on God. And God can bring good from suffering. This is one of the key things for me. You know, Catholicism never says every suffering is directly willed by God.

[00:13:45]It's not. That's a falsehood I hear from a lot of Catholics. No, much suffering comes from us. We bring it on ourselves through our sins, our free will, human evil, natural disasters which come from disharmony in God's universe caused by our sins. A sickness and death cause suffering which are consequences of our sins. And so God in his providence can bring immense good out of suffering.

[00:14:16]What's the greatest example? the crucifixion.

[00:14:20]No greater evil has there ever been than when man nailed his very creator to the cross and drained him of his blood. No greater evil ever existed, no worse evil, yet God brought from it salvation.

[00:14:37]God brought a greater good. Thus, we believe as Catholics that God can transform even tragedy into grace. The saints didn't love pain. They weren't, like I said, massochists. They loved Christ so much that suffering became a means of communion with him. And that's the short little passage we're going to read from Fstina. So to s to finish, how does this relate to divine mercy? How could a merciful God allow this from the perspective of divine mercy? This is important. suffering can become a place where souls encounter the mercy of God most profoundly. You know what I think it is? Why do I think divine mercy and suffering are so related? Because if you didn't perfectly be a disciple of God and you sinned and you didn't perfectly repent and you were selfish in any way and didn't perfectly love your brother, now most of us fit in this category. The point is most of us don't deserve heaven. Most of us other than the saints will not get there because of those faults I just mentioned. But because God is so merciful, he brings something to you that can purify that that can that can account for that that can atone for those bad things that we're guilty of.

[00:16:03]And it's called suffering. Suffering is the greatest gift because I watched my mom and dad suffer. They really didn't quite understand how to be the perfect disciple. None of us really do. And yet God allowed them both to suffer so greatly at the end of their life. And I was watching it and I was watching this and I was just sitting there thinking in one sense, Lord, how could you let them go through this? But then God filled my heart with such an a a consolation that this is how they are going to be allowed into heaven. Like why Lord? Why would suffering allow someone into heaven?

[00:16:42]Because it atones for the sin that they committed. It atones for the brokenness.

[00:16:47]It atone for the times that they didn't love as they should or that they weren't the perfect disciple or the perfect parent. It allows them to atone for it.

[00:16:55]The key is you got to accept it.

[00:16:58]You have to say, "Okay, Lord, I don't want this. Please take it away. But if this is allowed by you and your permissive will, let it purify me." And it breaks us of all those things I just said, attachments and selfishness. Jesus told Fostina that we most resemble him when we forgive and when we accept our suffering. Again, we most resemble Jesus when we forgive and when we accept our suffering. He told her that suffering united to him saves souls and draws down from heaven more mercy than anything else in the world. I thought it would have been love. I thought only love can draw down God's graces more than anything. And he said, "Uh-uh, it's suffering." And I'm like, "Why does that make sense?" Go back to Father John Harden. The way that we love is only in the amount we are willing to suffer.

[00:17:51]That's why suffering draws down from heaven more mercy and grace than anything else. And it's connected, I want to finish, to the mass.

[00:18:01]To the mass. Every mass makes present the suffering of Calvary. We are here on Calvary. This is why it is raised up.

[00:18:09]You are at the foot of the cross. As this suffering sacrifice is happening, Catholics place their suffering on that pallet on that patent to be offered back up to God the Father. That suffering of the sacrifice of Christ. We place our sufferings spiritually on this altar to be sacrificed with Christ. The Eucharist gives strength to endure that suffering.

[00:18:34]It's food for the suffering journey. Not just food for the journey because I'm going to get hungry. It's food for the suffering in that journey. This is important because suffering becomes not merely endured but offered in love. And so this is, you know, don't worry, we do pray for healing. Catholics aren't just saying, "Lord, give me more suffering."

[00:18:57]No, you are obligated to pray for healing and relief of suffering. Our Catholic faith does not teach suffering just to suffer. The church prays for healing. The church uses medicine. The church relieves pain. The church practices giving comfort to those who are suffering. Jesus himself healed the sick all the time. Compassion is essential to our faith. But when suffering cannot be removed like old age or terminal cancer, Catholics believe it can have meaning. It can help you get to heaven. If you are sick, your suffering may be redemptive. Like I said, so anyway, the final Christian hope, the Christian faith, our Catholic faith sees the suffering that we endure through the lens of the resurrection.

[00:19:54]The cross is never the final word. The resurrection is. And that resurrection means suffering is temporary.

[00:20:03]I'd much rather suffer on this earth than for all eternity. Death is conquered. Jesus rose from the dead. Now eternal life life awaits awaits us. And so suffering by itself, if you don't have any belief or you don't unite it to Christ, yeah, suffering is bad.

[00:20:25]Suffering without Christ is tragedy.

[00:20:29]But suffering united to Christ can be an act of love, a participation in redemption, a source of great grace, and a path to sanctity.

[00:20:44]That is amazing. And no other religion, all religions are the same. It doesn't matter what you are as long as you're spiritual.

[00:20:56]I'm spiritual. I'm not religious.

[00:20:59]Hogwash.

[00:21:01]Only the Catholic faith really truly understands the value of suffering. Even Judaism saw it as a punishment.

[00:21:14]And sometimes our own sins can choose and it brings their own consequences of of of negative effects. This is true.

[00:21:22]But only our Catholic faith truly not only understands suffering but embraces that cross when Jesus hands it to him to us just like Jesus embraced it when the father handed it to him.