Thought for the Day – 7 January – The Problem of Suffering

Thought for the Day – 7 January – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Problem of Suffering

“There are some , unfortunately, who rebel under the lash of pain.
“God is not good,” they say. “If He were good, He would not permit suffering. God does not love me. If He loved me, He would not make me suffer.”

This is false, of course.
God did not create suffering.
It was man who brought it into being by his sins and excesses.
God, Who always draws good from evil, knows how to draw great good, even from suffering, in the way of expiation, redemption and propitiation for our sins.
Precisely because He loves us, God permits our sufferings.
He knows well, that they purify and refine us, as the fire purifies and refines gold.
They raise our thoughts to Heaven.

God permits suffering for our spiritual welfare.
But because it has this elevating and propitiatory power, we ought to receive it with an act of resignation and love, as Jesus did in Gethsamane.
We should unite our sufferings with those of our Redeemer, which have an infinite value before our Heavenly Father.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/01/07/thought-for-the-day-7-january-the-problem-of-suffering/