Does good come out of suffering? The short answer is – it really depends. The Gospel reading for Palm Sunday is the account of the Passion of the Lord. Jesus entered Jerusalem in order to carry out the final phase of His mission on earth, where ultimately, He was to suffer and die on the Cross and in three days rise again. In Jesus’ case, God made something really bad and turned it to something immeasurably good. What was really bad is that Jesus was betrayed, He was unjustly condemned to death, He was abandoned by His friends, He suffered greatly and He died on the Cross. But what was really good is that Jesus’ death and resurrection brought about the redemption of mankind and life to the world.
What about the human experience? Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems faced in human life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations and his finitude. With grave illness, a person can have a glimpse of death; it can also lead to anguish, self-pity, despair and revolt against God. On the other hand, it can also deepen a person’s spiritual maturity and help him think about what is important in life. For some people, illness provokes a search for God and to return to Him. (CCC 1500-1501)
Therefore, in the human moral experience, good comes out of suffering if it leads a person to seek and find peace and consolation in God, but not if it leads a person to anguish or despair. But there is more to it than that.
St. Paul wrote about the human experience of suffering. The Letter to the Romans tell us that we are children of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him (cf. Romans 8:16-17). In other words, Christians enjoy a new life in Christ and a new relationship with God, by becoming God’s adopted children and heirs through Christ, whose sufferings and glory we share.
Elsewhere, St. Paul wrote to the Colossians: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his Body, which is the Church (Colossians 1:24).” This passage has been interpreted in many ways, but one thing is certain – it does not imply that the redemption brought about by Christ’s death on the Cross was in any way imperfect. Christ’s death on the Cross is the one perfect Sacrifice offered to the Father, and Paul expounds that Christians who suffer for the sake of the Church also share in the salvific suffering of Christ (see Salvifici Doloris #24).
Are you in need of healing and peace? Then perhaps you have heard people say to you: “Offer it up!” What most people mean to say is to offer it up as a sacrifice to God, but what is often overlooked is the disposition of the heart in which this sacrifice must to be offered up. The choice is ours – to turn bitter in our hearts or to offer it up to God with love?