SUFFERING

“…We have already alluded to the difficulty that some feel in seeing so many good and innocent people being made to suffer because of the evils that the guilty have brought upon the world and we have said that they are privileged to be co-victims with our Crucified Lord in His redemptive work for souls.

“To understand this we must remember that the whole Church is the Mystical Body of Christ and that each of its members must contribute to the well-being of the Body. Christ lives on in His Church and His Life is being reproduced in a greater or less degree in each and every one of her faithful members. As suffering was the chief means by which Christ wrought our redemption, so suffering, self-denial, and sacrifice are the means by which each one, according to the graces accorded to him, must cooperate with the great work of the Saviour. This is the meaning of the words of St Paul (Colossians 1:24): ‘I… now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the Church.'”
(Fr Wilmot)