Chapter 1

A Study Guide for the Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II on the
Christian Meaning of Human Suffering (Salvifici Doloris)
DID YOU KNOW?

Have you ever thought that life would be perfect if only there were no wars These statistics do not include
suicide attempts which occur
or natural disasters? Does it ever seem unfair to you that babies die of hunger, up to 20 times more frequently
that young children suffer from abuse or incurable illnesses, or that millions than completed suicide. Mental
disorders, especially depression
of men and women live in desperate conditions of destitution and extreme and substance abuse, are
poverty? associated with 90% of suicides;
socioeconomic, family, and
individual crisis situations are
Have you ever experienced suffering in your life? Have you cared for a sick or other factors.1
dying child or tended an elderly or dying parent? Have you ever experienced
Karol Józef Wojtyła is the birth
a deep sense of betrayal at the hands of someone you love? Perhaps you have name of Pope John Paul II. He
was elected the 264th Pope of the
been seriously ill or injured in an accident and consequently been unable to Catholic Church on October 16,
work or to help those who you love. Regardless of the varied circumstances 1978; he reigned for 27 years until
his death on April 2, 2005. His was
of our lives, it is inevitable that each one of us will be plunged into the world the second longest pontificate
of human suffering at some point on our life’s journey whether as a result of in modern times; Pius IX reigned
for 32 years. He is the only Polish
our own personal misfortune or illness, through the hands of others, or due to Pope and the first non-Italian
unforeseen events over which we have no control. Pope to be elected since the early
16th century.

Suffering, when it is endured for love of Jesus Christ, can be a source of in- John Paul II’s mother, Emilia
numerable graces and blessings; it can be a powerful means through which we Kaczorowska Wojtyła, died on
April 13, 1929 of kidney failure
grow in virtue and holiness. However, purposeless suffering can be agonizing and congenital heart disease. She
was 45 years old.
and at times overwhelming; it can lead to feelings of hopelessness, depression,
and despair. Many people are unable to find meaning in their life when it does On December 5, 1932, Dr. Edmund
Wojtyła died at the age of 26, a
not meet their preconceived expectations of happiness or success; their despair few days after contracting scarlet
is reflected in our soaring suicide rates. According to the World Health Orga- fever from one of his patients.

nization, suicide has increased by 60% worldwide in the last 45 years. It is now The elder Karol Wojtyła had been
among the three leading causes of death for those between the ages of 15 and bedridden, weak and in poor
health since Christmas, 1940. The
441; there is one death by suicide every 40 seconds. It is clear that the world younger Karol found him dead
that we live in is experiencing a crisis of hope. when he returned from work at
the Solvay quarry in Zakrzówek on
February 18, 1941.
It is to this world, a world in search of purpose and hope, that the author of
Salvifici Doloris, Pope John Paul II, addressed this letter. Born in Wadowice, 1. Information accessed at the
Poland, on May 18, 1920, Karol Wojtyła was no stranger to suffering. Having World Health Organization web
site: http://www.who.int/men-
lost his mother at the age of eight and his older brother, Edmund, four years tal_health/prevention/suicide/
later, the final blow came when the only remaining member of his immediate suicideprevent/en/.
family, his father, died at the age of 62. Only 20 years old at the time of his
father’s death, Karol was left to live out the remaining four years of World
War II without the love and emotional support of
those closest to him. Later, he recalled that for Salvifici Doloris means “Salvific Suffering” or “Redemptive Suffering.”

those who lived through that War, it was a time of

1. This information was accessed at the World Health Organization web site: http://www.who.int/mental_health/
prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/.

Chapter 1 Salvifici Doloris 2

 DID YOU KNOW? intense hardship and suffering:
The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima marks the Half a century later, individuals, families, and peoples still retain memo-
occasion of apparitions by the Blessed Virgin
ries of those six terrible years: memories of fear, violence, extreme pov-
Mary to three Portuguese children, Francisco
(age 9), Jacinta (age 7), and Lucia (age 10). erty, death; tragic experiences of painful separation, endured in the ab-
They received monthly apparitions of the sence of all security and freedom; recurring traumas brought about by
Blessed Virgin Mary at Cova da Iria, near
the incessant bloodshed.2
Fatima between May 13 and October 13,
1917. Mary asked the children to pray the
rosary for world peace, for the end of World Despite the fact that his early life had been marked by sorrow and adversity,
War I, for sinners, and for the conversion of
Russia. Mary also gave the children three
the Holy Father’s journey of suffering was far from over. Years later, on May
secrets. Lucia, who later became a Carmelite 13, 1981, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, Pope John Paul II was shot and
nun, revealed the first secret in 1927; it
concerned devotion to the Immaculate nearly killed in St. Peter’s Square by Mehmet Ali Agca. The Pope’s first words
Heart of Mary. The second secret was a to the faithful, while he was still lying in the hospital in critical condition, were
vision of hell. Pope John Paul II directed the
Holy See's Secretary of State to reveal the words of forgiveness:
third secret in 2000; it spoke of a “bishop in
white” who was shot by a group of soldiers “I pray for that brother of ours who shot me, and whom I have sincerely
who fired bullets and arrows into him. Many
pardoned. United with Christ, Priest and Victim, I offer my sufferings
people linked this to the assassination
attempt against Pope John Paul II in St. for the Church and for the world. To you, Mary, I repeat: Totus tuus
Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. ego sum [I am entirely yours].” 3
Mehmet Ali Agca was a professional Turkish
assassin. He was tried and sentenced to life Later, he asked about Agca’s welfare and even visited him in the Rebibbia Prison.
imprisonment for the shooting of the Holy
Father in July, 1981. He was pardoned by The Holy Father suffered greatly as a result of the attack; his health, which
Italian president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in
June, 2000 and was extradited to Turkey. had been so robust and strong up until that point, was never the same. We
remember his suffering because he did not try to hide it from us; like Christ,
Rebibbia prison is located in Rome, Italy.
Agca was incarcerated there during the he invited us to accompany him on his way of the cross. Who can forget those
time of his imprisonment. The visit which
Pope John Paul II made to Ali Agca took
poignant images of his last days: his physical weakness, his movements marked
place on December 27, 1983. by visible pain, the trembling associated with the affliction of Parkinson’s dis-
The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to
ease, his difficulty in walking, and at times his inability to even speak?
a poor, peasant girl named Bernadette
Soubirous at Lourdes, France in 1858. The From the very beginning of his priestly ministry, John Paul II identified him-
first apparition occurred on February 11 of
that year, and this date has been set aside self with the sick and the suffering, entrusting the important intentions of the
as the Feast Day of “Our Lady of Lourdes.” Church and the world to their prayers and sacrifice. For him, all human suffer-
ing had meaning, value, and purpose, “a great redemptive value capable of
enriching the entire community of the Church.”4 It was his great love for us,
his desire to share the mes-
Apolostolic letters were originally letters written by the sage of joy and hope in suf-
apostles to Christian communities or those in authority
(e.g. The Letter of Paul to the Romans, The Letters to the fering, which inspired the
Corinthians etc.) Our present-day Popes have continued
this tradition of writing to the faithful. Next to encyclicals, Pope to write his apostolic
apostolic letters are the most important papal documents. letter, Salvifici Doloris. It was
Mulieris Dignitatem, which you may have already studied,
is another example of an apostolic letter. released on February 11,
1984, the Feast of Our Lady
of Lourdes, a date that indicated his great devotion to Our Blessed Mother and
which was to continue to be an auspicious date throughout his pontificate. A

2. Pope John Paul II, Message on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the End of the Second World War in Europe, May 17,
1995. Accessed at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1995/may/documents/hf_jp-
ii_mes_08051995_50th-end-war-europe_en.html, 1.
3. Pope John Paul II, “Regina Coeli Address,” May 17, 1981 as it appeared in L’Osservatore Romano (English
Weekly Edition), May 18, 1981, 6; quoted in Weigel, George, Witness to Hope, the Biography of Pope John
Paul II (New York: First Cliff Street Books, 2001), 414.
4. Dziwisz, Stanislaw and Drazek, Czeslaw, “Suffering in the Life and Teaching of John Paul II” in Let Me
Go to the Father’s House (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 2006), 9.

3 Salvifici Doloris Chapter 1

year later, again on February 11th, he created “The Commission for Pastoral DID YOU KNOW?
Assistance to Health Workers,” an organization whose purpose is to coordi-
The duties of the Commission
nate all of the Catholic institutions, whether religious or lay, that are commit- for Pastoral Assistance to Health
Workers also include studying
ted to caring for the sick. Eleven years after that, he declared that February international and health care
11th would henceforth be set aside as a special World Day of the Sick, an event policies in order to assess their
relevance and implications for the
which has been observed annually throughout the world since that time. Church’s apostolate, as well as to
spread, explain, and defend the
At all times, the lived example of the Holy Father demonstrated his firm con- Church’s teachings on the subject
of health care.
viction in the indissoluble connection between suffering, salvation, and joy. In
his final book, Memory and Identity, he wrote: Inspired by compassion and
concern for the sick and the
suffering, Pope John Paul II
All human suffering, all pain, all infirmity contains within itself a prom- instituted the “World Day of the
ise of salvation, a promise of joy: “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings Sick” on May 13, 1992 (Feast Day
for your sake,” writes Saint Paul (Col. 1:24). This applies to all forms of Our Lady of Fatima). The World
Day of the Sick is celebrated each
of suffering, called forth by evil. It applies to that enormous social and year on February 11th, the Feast
political evil which divides and torments the world today: the evil of war, of Our Lady of Lourdes.
the evil of oppression afflicting individuals and peoples, the evil of social
“Are not two sparrows sold for a
injustice, of human dignity trodden underfoot, of racial and religious penny? And not one of them will
discrimination, the evil of violence, terrorism, the arms race—all this fall to the ground without your
evil is present in the world partly so as to awaken our love, our self-gift Father’s will. But even the hairs
of your head are all numbered.
in generous and disinterested service to those visited by suffering. In Fear not, therefore; you are of
the love that pours forth from the heart of Christ, we find hope for the more value than many sparrows”
future of the world. Christ has redeemed the world: “By his wounds we (Matthew 10: 29-31).
are healed” (Is. 53:5).5

“Be not afraid” are words that we particularly associate with the Holy Father,
who encouraged us time and time again to trust in God, our amazing God who
loves us so much that He has numbered even the hairs on our heads (see sidebar).
He is a personal God, a God who is interested in each one of us as individuals.
He is a God who came to us in the Person of His Son, Jesus, freely and inno-
cently entering into the human world of suffering in order to give His life for us
in His Passion and Death. It is true that God is greatly concerned with all of the
suffering in the world, but it is your personal, daily suffering, caused by sin, whether
great or seemingly insignificant, for which Christ died on the Cross and to which the
Pope addresses himself in this letter. The good news of suffering is that it does have
purpose: all human suffering holds within it a promise of salvation and joy.

Discussion Questions
1. What are some of the unique ways in which we as women
experience suffering?

2. What is your attitude towards suffering? Do you see it as a

normal part of life? Do you try to avoid it at all costs?

5. Pope John Paul II, Memory and Identity (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2005), 168.

Chapter 1 Salvifici Doloris 4

 DID YOU KNOW? Introduction
As with any letter, the Pope has The first thing that we notice as we turn to the opening page of Salvifici Doloris
a specific audience to who he
speaks in his letters. For example, is that the Holy Father addresses his letter to the “Venerable Brothers in the
his encyclical letter, Redemptor Episcopate,” which is all of the bishops of the Church. His salutation also in-
hominis, is addressed to a
broader audience: “His Venerable cludes “dear brothers and sisters in Christ,” that is, anyone who is a Christian
Brothers in the Episcopate, the (see sidebar). He is writing this letter to each one of us; he is writing it to you.
Priests, the Religious Families,
the Sons and Daughters of the
Church, and to All Men and
Women of Good Will.” (Read Section I, Article 1)

Pope John Paul II opens his meditation on suffering by quoting the words of
the Apostle Paul: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh
I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for
Meditation is continued or extended thought, the contemplation of a the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians
religious concept or idea. When we meditate on something, we look at
it from many different perspectives. The Pope will return to reflect on 1:24). These are powerful words, words which af-
Colossians 1:24 many times during the course of this letter, reflecting
on it from different points of view. firm from the outset that there is a purpose in suffer-
ing. Furthermore, this purpose is a reason for joy.

At first we may imagine that suffering and joy have little in common with
each other; they appear to be completely contradictory states. The nature of
the relationship that exists between them is clarified by the Holy Father as he
highlights the purpose of suffering formulated by St. Paul in this verse, that is,
to complete Christ’s afflictions for the sake of the Church.

With these words, Paul establishes an intimate connection between his own
sufferings and those of Christ. The purpose of Christ’s suffering was to ac-
complish our redemption; because Paul completes
Redemption is the saving act of Christ accomplished by His Christ’s sufferings he, too, shares in this redemptive
Passion, Death, and Resurrection. purpose. He participates in Christ’s salvific work to
the degree that he completes Christ’s afflictions in
his own bodily sufferings.

As Paul has shared in the suffering of Christ, so he is also given a share in

Christ’s joy. This joy is the fruit of self-sacrificing love, a love so infinite that
it has the power to overcome evil. It is the joy of a transcendental purpose that
has the capacity to transform our earthly suffering from simple resignation or
grim endurance into a reason for peace and hope in the glory of eternity. Ca-
ryll Houselander, a prolific English author and mystic visionary writes:
He [Christ] took our humanity, just as it is, with all its wretchedness and
ugliness, and gave it back to us just as his humanity is, transfigured by
the beauty of his living, filled full of his joy. He came back from the long
journey through death, to give us his Risen Life to be our life, so that no
matter what suffering we meet, we can meet it with the whole power of
the love that has overcome the world. “I have said this to you, so that in
me you may find peace. In the world, you will only find tribulation; but
take courage, I have overcome the world” (John 26:33).6

The salvific nature of Paul’s suffering enabled him to contribute to his own
personal redemption as well as to cooperate with Christ in bringing about

6. Houselander, Caryll, The Risen Christ (New York: Sheed & Ward, Inc., 1958), 2-3.

5 Salvifici Doloris Chapter 1

the salvation of others. The logical outcome of Paul’s discovery, that there is DID YOU KNOW?
meaning in suffering, was his reason for joy; the hope of salvation was for him,
Letters written by the Pope are
as it is for us, the ultimate joy. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and often released officially by what
is referred to as “promulgation.”
not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has be- Promulgation means “to make
come my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” known by public declaration”
and it is the means by which the
(Isaiah 12:2-3). Paul’s joy is not exclusive; it is not just reserved for apostles and text of a law or other binding
saints. This joy in suffering is a grace that is available to each one of us. document is made known to
the community. When the Pope
enacts an Ecclesiastical law or
speaks ex cathedra (from the
chair), his words are intended to

Discussion Question be binding on all of the faithful.

An apostolic letter is not a
legal document as such, but it
certainly has more weight for us
3. What value do you place on salvation? What does it mean to than would an ordinary letter. As
Catholics, we read and reflect on
you? Is it a reason for joy in your life? these letters with respect
and reverence.

Pope John Paul II declared that

the year 1984 would be set
(Read Section I, Articles 2, 3 and 4) aside as the “Holy Year of the
Redemption,” a special time of
There are several significant reasons that contributed to the Pope’s decision contemplation and reflection
to mark the 1950th anniversary
to promulgate his apostolic letter, Salvifici Doloris in the “Holy Year of the of the redeeming death of
Christ. A Holy Year, also called
Redemption.” In the first place, the Holy Year of the Redemption was an ex- a Jubilee Year, is an important
traordinary Jubilee of the Church. Jubilee years are periods of time specially religious event in the tradition
of the Catholic Church. The
set aside by the Church in order to encourage us to strive for greater holiness idea of a Holy Year originated in
in our lives. Suffering is a particularly efficacious means to holiness; it is an the Old Testament …“And you
shall hallow the fiftieth year, and
opportunity to draw closer to Christ and an invitation to share more deeply in proclaim liberty throughout the
His life. land to all its inhabitants; it shall
be a jubilee for you…” (Leviticus
25:10). Ordinary Jubilees are
Love for the Cross produces abundant fruit in the soul. In the first place those which fall after a set period
it brings us to discover Jesus immediately. He comes out to meet us and of years, generally every 25 years
bears on his own shoulders the most burdensome part of any trial we ex- (e.g. the year “2000”). The “Holy
Year of the Redemption” was an
perience. Our suffering, in union with the Master’s, is no longer an evil “extraordinary” Jubilee of the
that oppresses us. It becomes a means of union with God.7 Church in that it was proclaimed
for an outstanding event, not just
one of a cyclical nature.
The Holy Father notes that suffering is at all times a universal theme, a reality
that is present to man at every point in his life:
The reality of suffering is ever before our eyes and often in the body,
soul, and heart of each of us. Pain has always been a great riddle of hu-
man existence. However, ever since Jesus redeemed the world by His
passion and death, a new perspective has been opened: through suffering
one can grow in self-giving and attain the highest degree of love because
of Him who “loved us and gave himself up for us.”8

The Holy Father states that suffering seems to be particularly “essential to the
nature of man,”9 something that belongs to man’s transcendence and that calls
man to go beyond himself, to find new meaning in his experience outside the

7. Fernandez, Fr. Francis, In Conversation with God, vol. 7 (Madrid: Fomento de Fundaciones, 1991; trans.
London, Scepter U.K. Ltd, 1993; reprint London: Scepter U.K. Ltd., 2003), 143-144 (page citations are to
the reprint edition).
8. Pope John Paul II, Lessons for Living (Chicago: Loyola Press, 2004), #95.
9. SD, 2.

Chapter 1 Salvifici Doloris 6

 DID YOU KNOW? realm of the material world. Man’s nature is unique in all of creation, for he
has been created in the “image and likeness of God.”
Genesis 1:26-28 reads,
Then God said, “Let us make man
in our image, after our likeness; Of all visible creatures only man is “able to know and love his creator.”
and let them have dominion over He is “the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake,”
the fish of the sea, and over the and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God’s own life.
birds of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over It was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason
every creeping thing that creeps for his dignity.10
upon the earth.” So God created
man in his own image, in the image
of God he created him; male and
In man, both physical matter and spirit are united; however, God has no physi-
female he created them. And God cal being. Although God became man in the person of Jesus Christ, each of the
blessed them, and God said to
them, “Be fruitful and multiply, persons of the Holy Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are distinct from
and fill the earth and subdue it; one another. The Catechism of the Catholic Church writes:
and have dominion over the fish of
the sea and over the birds of the
air and over every living thing that The divine persons are really distinct from one another. “God is one but not
moves upon the earth.” solitary.” “Father,” “Son,” “Holy Spirit” are not simply names designat-
ing modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one
another: “He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who
is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son.”
They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: “It is the
Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who
proceeds.” The divine Unity is Triune.11

God, then, is Spirit, and it is to the likeness of His Spirit that we were created.
It is our spiritual nature that allows us to reason, to know God, and to freely
choose Him as our ultimate good.

Although man shares some of the superficial manifestations of suffering with

the animal world, the depth of our capacity to reflect on our experience and to
grow in maturity as a result of that reflection is unique. Animals have a “soul”
which animates them and defines them as living beings; however, their souls,
unlike those of men, are not “spirits” because they are not created in God’s
image and likeness. Animals do suffer and know pain, but they can only react
to it; they have no ability to understand it or to learn from it. Animals may
become conditioned to avoid certain situations that are unpleasant, but they
have no means to understand why they act in this way. Animals cannot choose
to sacrifice themselves for the good of another. Man alone was created with
the capacity to understand suffering, to learn from it, and to unite himself
more fully to God through his patient acceptance of it. Only man was created
to know, to love, and to serve God. This, then, is our mysterious calling; this
is the vocation to which we have all been born. It is in this sense that we are
destined to go beyond ourselves, to rise above ourselves in order to be more
closely united to Christ.

The “Holy Year of the Redemption” was a particularly apt period of time in
which to reflect on the theme of suffering because of suffering’s indissoluble
connection with salvation: our redemption was accomplished by means of
Christ’s suffering.
The Scriptures had foretold this divine plan of salvation through the
10. CCC, 356.
11. CCC, 254.

7 Salvifici Doloris Chapter 1

 putting to death of “the righteous one, my Servant” as a mystery of DID YOU KNOW?
universal redemption, that is, as the ransom that would free men from
the slavery of sin.…In particular Jesus’ redemptive death fulfills Isaiah’s Redemptor missio (Redemptive
Mission), was John Paul II’s eighth
prophecy of the suffering Servant. Indeed Jesus himself explained the encyclical letter. Signed on
meaning of his life and death in the light of God’s suffering Servant.12 December 7, 1990, it was written
in order to celebrate the 25th
anniversary of the Second Vatican
It was the Church who was the first beneficiary of salvation: “Christ won Council’s Decree on the Church’s
the Church for himself at the price of his own blood and made the Church Missionary Activity, Ad Gentes (To
the Nations). An encyclical letter
his co-worker in the salvation of the world. Indeed, Christ dwells within the is considered the most important
Church.…He carries out his mission through her.”13 It is to the Church that communication given by the Pope
and it is generally addressed
Christ entrusted His work of teaching. It is in her that Christ lives; it is there to the bishops of the Church.
that we encounter Him in the sacraments. Pope John Paul II writes that… An apostolic letter is second in
importance.

The Church wishes to serve this single end: that each person may be Redemptor hominis means “The
able to find Christ, in order that Christ may walk with each person the Redeemer of Man.” It was the first
path of life, with the power of the truth about man and the world that is encyclical letter written by Pope
John Paul II. Redemptor hominis
contained in the mystery of the Incarnation and the Redemption and was given on the first Sunday of
with the power of the love that is radiated by that truth.14 Lent, March 4, 1979, in the first
year of his Pontificate.
The Church attempts to meet us in a special way on our path of suffering,
adhering to the example set by Jesus, who is the
Head of the Church. In His earthly ministry, Je- The term Incarnation refers to the conception of Jesus Christ in the
womb of the Virgin Mary through the miraculous intervention of the
sus at all times identified Himself with the poor Holy Spirit.
and the outcast, taking a particular interest in the
concerns of those who were sick and suffering. He, too, was human; He knows
intimately the frailty of our human natures. His heart is full of compassion for
us; He knows that we are vulnerable and liable to falter. Jesus does not
intend that anyone should bear their cross alone; He, too, needed the
help of Simon of Cyrene to carry His Cross as He walked towards
Calvary. In times of suffering, we see Jesus in the faces of individu-
als and in the community of the Church. It is through them that
He comes out to meet us, to walk with us and to help us carry our
burdens, to comfort and to console us, to bring us the light of
truth by which we will find meaning and purpose in our trials and
afflictions. Followers of Christ…
…are not only given the hands of Christ to work with, and the
heart of Christ to love with, but the mind of Christ to illuminate
the world with. His plan of love is consistent through and through;
through our personal lives we are to give his love to one another,
through the sacraments we are to give his life to one another, through
his light in us, we are to give his mind to one another.15

Because our redemption was born of his suffering, in Christ “every man be-
comes the way for the Church.”16 “For no man ever hates his own flesh, but
nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members
of his body” (Ephesians 5:29-30). “But God has so adjusted the body, giving the

12. CCC, 601.

13. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris missio (1990), 9.
14. Pope John Paul II, Redemptor hominis (1979), 13.
15. Houselander, Caryll, The Risen Christ, 93.
16. SD, 3.

Chapter 1 Salvifici Doloris 8

 greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body,
but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member
suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together”
(1 Corinthians 12:24-26). For Christians, our “way” is to love God, a God
(Christ) who we encounter in every person that we meet: “Truly, I say to
you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me”
(Matthew 25:40).

Suffering evokes our compassion and respect and moves us to action; at the same
time it is intimidating. Our human nature shrinks from it; we fear the intense
grief and pain that often accompany it. Such fear is incompatible with our faith
that assures us that God is a compassionate God, that He loves each one of us in-
dividually, that He is all-powerful and that He knows the deepest longings of our
hearts and will never leave us orphaned. Faith that is strong and unshakable is
the antidote to fear, the answer to all that threatens to overwhelm us.
Through faith, we discover that man only appears to be the protagonist
in the history of the world; in reality God is the main protagonist. The
presence of God throughout history affects equally the things that hap-
pen in the realm of politics, society and the economy, as well as in our
family or in professional matters. He is present everywhere and every-
thing depends on Him. In His hands lay the destinies of all of us as well
as the destinies of nations and of the world. We come to know all this
through faith, which brings about inner peace in us. This peace flows
from faith, which gives us the understanding that He, who is the eternal
might and eternal love, holds everything in His hands filled with mercy.
He guides everything with His eternal wisdom and total love. Faith gives
us the feeling of security and peace, and the confidence that we are always
immersed in God’s love. Faith is a different way of looking at the world, an-
other way of seeing that which is especially difficult. Faith allows us to come
to know God in the phenomena of nature, in which we can continually
discover the traces of His works and the traces of His concern for us and for
the world that surrounds us.17

The imperative of faith of which the Holy Father speaks, the command that is
inherent in the baptismal commitment of every person who has been configured
to Christ by means of this sacrament, is beautifully summed up in Jesus’ last words
to His disciples before ascending into heaven: “Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I
am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). This is our mis-
sion as individuals; this is the mission of the universal Church: to share our faith,
to spread the Good News of Salvation and to bring Christ to others so that they,
too, will experience “…the inflowing of the Spirit of God [that] gives joy to men
even in the midst of suffering and hardship: peace, patience, fortitude, wisdom,
understanding, joy itself!”18

17. Dajczer, Father Tadeusz, The Gift of Faith, 2d ed. (previously printed as Inquiring Faith; Ventura, CA:
In the Arms of Mary Foundation, 2001), 26-27.
18. Houselander, Caryll, The Risen Christ, 104.

9 Salvifici Doloris Chapter 1

 Discussion Questions
4. How does your faith influence your view of the world?

5. How does the Church attempt to meet us as women on our way

of suffering?

Case Study for Reflection:

Adversity and suffering often come upon us unexpectedly. While we can never
completely control the events of our life, we do have the freedom to choose how
we will respond. For example, two men were crucified next to Jesus and experi-
enced the same suffering, yet one became a saint
A reprobate is a person who has been rejected by God and is beyond
and the other became a reprobate. Consider this hope of salvation.
recent event that occurred in the United States…

On the morning of Monday, October 2, 2006, Marie Roberts was leading a prayer
group at the Middle Octorara Presbyterian Church in Georgetown, Pennsylva-
nia. She had gathered with a half dozen members of the local “Moms in Touch”
chapter to pray for school children in the area. Less than a mile away, her husband,
Charlie, was backing a borrowed pickup truck up to the front doors of the West
Nickel Mines Amish School, a tiny one-room schoolhouse. Armed with three guns
and 600 rounds of ammunition, he marched into the school and took 26 students
and four adults hostage. After setting the male students and adults free, he lined
up the remaining 10 young girls against a chalkboard. The oldest girl, 13 year old
Marian Fisher, appealed to Roberts to shoot her first, hoping that by sacrificing
her life she might be able to save the lives of the younger girls. Her younger sister,
Barbie, begged him to shoot her next. But by the time Charlie was finished and
had turned the gun on himself, five girls between the ages of 7 and 13 were dead
and those who had survived were in critical condition.

In the suicide note that he left for his wife, Charlie Roberts spoke of feeling tor-
mented by the loss of his infant daughter, Elise, who had died nine years ago, only
20 minutes after a premature birth. “I haven’t been the same since it affected me
in a way I never felt possible,” Roberts wrote. “I am filled with so much hate, hate
toward myself hate towards God and unimaginable emptiness [sic] it seems like
every time we do something fun I think about how Elise wasn’t here to share it
with us and I go right back to anger.”19

In contrast, the grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls offered a different
response to his experience of suffering: “We must not think evil of this man.”20
Jack Meyer, a member of the Brethren community living near the Amish in Lan-

19. Alberts, Sheldon, “Gunman Planned to Abuse Girls, Police Say,” The (Toronto) National Post, October
4, 2006, 12(A).
20. “Amish grandfather: ‘We must not think evil of this man’ ” (http:www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/04/amish.
shooting/index.html),” CNN, 2006-10-05.

Chapter 1 Salvifici Doloris 10

 caster County explained: “I don’t think there’s anybody here that wants to do any-
thing but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that
way but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts.”21 Many
of the families of the victims attended Charlie Roberts’ funeral, and the Amish
community has set up a charitable fund to provide for his family.

Discussion Question
6. Discuss the various responses of those involved in this tragedy.
What made it possible for the Amish community to respond to
this tragedy with love and forgiveness?

The World of Human Suffering

(Read Section II, Article 5)

Suffering is such a deeply personal experience that it seems to be inexpressible;

it transcends all words. It is an experience that is unique to each individual,
something that cannot be transferred to others or be experienced by them; it is
something that is unrepeatable. The subjective reality of suffering is “my”
personal experience; it is my own particular physical and psychological
response to the specific circumstance in which I find myself. Through
attentive listening and sensitive observation, others may empathize
with my suffering and identify with it to a certain extent. However, no
outside person is able to enter completely into my own experience of
suffering; it belongs exclusively to me.

By contrast, the objective reality of suffering is an explicit problem that

challenges us to meditate upon it as a reality, to question its nature and its
inevitability, to seek meaningful answers about its significance and purpose.
When we think of suffering, we often think of physical pain or illness, yet we
have come to realize that suffering goes far beyond this, that we suffer in ways
that are much more complex than previously imagined. Much of our suffering
is not physical at all, but is deeply rooted in our human natures.

The Holy Father distinguishes two categories of suffering: physical and moral.
Physical suffering is the suffering of the body, the pain or discomfort that is
caused by an injury or an illness. Moral suffering, on the other hand, is mental
anguish; it is pain of the soul, pain of a spiritual nature which can leave invis-
ible wounds deep within our hearts. Moral suffering may be caused by the ef-
fects of poverty or by the suffering and death of loved ones. It can be the result
of addictions, neuroses, or mental illnesses, or emerge due to the impact of
sexual abuse, prostitution, or abortion. It can be the consequence of any sort
of suffering of conscience, injustice, or self-esteem. Accompanying all of these

21. Ibid.

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