Suffering?!

For a long time, I have tried to understand suffering. The phrase 'offer it up' - what does it mean and why is it necessary. I am in a class called Mystery of Salvation that attempts to go through all the foundational ideas of Catholocism by going through most of the Catchecism and select areas of the Bible. Today we talked about prayer in the midst of which suffering came up. I finally have an understanding of the theology of it.

Paul writes to the Colossians in 1:24 "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church."

I've read this before, wondering what it meant. Didn't Christ do all for us when he suffered and died on the cross? What is lacking in Christ's affliction, and how can I do anything about it? The answer is that he did do everything for us, saving us from our sins, by subjecting his body to the suffering we deserved. However, we are part of Christ's body! Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:27 "Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." He chose to allow us, Christ's mystical body, to share in his suffering. And this, of course, is a great blessing; it is through this suffering that we are further sanctified. We not only grow in virtue by way of practice, (mortification) but in holiness by way of grace poured out by our Heavenly Father!

This explains how 'wheat' works, why we do penance after reconciliation, as well as how the deceased members of the body in purgatory benfit from our offerings of sacrifice. This is what it means to 'offer it up'. This is why Mary told the children of Fatima that many people were going to Hell who could be saved by graces attainable by personal penance.

I cut this entry short for the sake of your time - some theological questions are still in the air, and if you want the rest of it, just email me and I'd be happy to fill you in!

St. Sebastian, pray for us!