Paschal Mystery

3.2 Suffering illumined by the Paschal Mystery of Christ Pope John Paul II illustrates the meaning of human suffering in Salvifici Doloris and bases this meaning on the Paschal Mystery of Christ. The Paschal Mystery includes the sufferings, passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. According to Pope John Paul II, through this Pascal Mystery which Jesus entered into His earthly life, God’s salvific work has been accomplished. This Paschal Mystery conquers sin and suffering. Though this salvific and redemptive work, God manifested His love for mankind. God wanted to save everyone from all kinds of evil by giving His Only Begotten Son. Pope John Paul II in his words expresses as,

God gives his Son to “the world” to free man from evil, which

Does God really wants people to suffer? The answer is complex. God created man for happiness. The proper end of man is God, the one who is happiness. So God created man to be with Him, in His presence and to reach this happiness in the end of his life. But sometimes God allows suffering to test our faith in Him. For example in the Book of Genesis, Abraham is tested for his faith, by being asked to sacrifice Isaac his only son. Pope John Paul says “Suffering, in fact, is always a trial-at times a very hard one-to which humanity is subjected.” But sufferings are a very effective way for one to discover of himself and help to realize and to transform human being in his own existence here on earth. “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

To this grace many saints, […] owe their profound conversion. A result of such a conversion is not only that the individual discovers the salvific meaning of suffering but above all that he becomes a completely new person. He discovers a new dimension, as it were, of his entire life and vocation. This discovery is a particular confirmation of the spiritual greatness which in man surpasses the body in a way that is completely beyond compare.

So sufferings are a kind of refreshment that God allows to renew oneself and makes one interiorize the events with the Holy Spirit, the One who transforms the human hearts. In other words, God uses sufferings as powerful instruments to build up a new person by developing new characters. Through this endurance of suffering, God invites and leads towards interior maturity and draws close to Him. So it is the invitation to man which comes from God in order to express his