In the Spirit: Suffering [5]--Conclusion, Summary, & Books

In conclusion, suffering is and will always be a mystery to man.  We can understand that it has meaning, and through God's grace we can super-naturalize our suffering into an efficacious sacrifice.  However, our limited intelligence can never fully grasp God's purposes and plan in which He permits evil, that lack of a good that He desires for His Creation.

To Summarize
Suffering apart from love is often divisive and isolating and nearly meaningless.  However, when one can learn to see that difficulties and pain can be offered as a profound gift of self for the sake of something or someone valued, that suffering is transformed into a joyful, willing sacrifice of love.  Rather than focusing on the good negated, twisted, or lacking; the focus is on the good being done, the affirmation of that which is worthy of value, and the perfection of the giver through detachment from self.  In fact, each sacrifice increases our capacity to love.  This model is given to us by Christ, and our sufferings take on an eschatological dimension and value when united with His.  His Resurrection following His death and passion opened the doors to our own resurrection from the dead and life in joy with Him forever.  This is the hope that stems from suffering rightly considered; this is the great good that God brought out of the Fall of Man and advent of evil in the world.

Book Recommendations
My reflections on suffering barely skim the surface of this element of human existence.  I encourage you to read some or all of the books below for eloquent and profound explorations of this topic that have inspired me throughout the years.

Theology:
Pope John Paul II's encyclical Savifici Doloris: The Christian Meaning of Suffering
C. S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain [and his Mere Christianity for a discussion on why the claims of Christianity are rational in the first place]
Dietrich von Hildebrand's Man, Woman, and the Meaning of Love: God's Plan for Love, Marriage, Intimacy, and the Family [He has several with similar titles; this one talks about love as a value judgment rather than just an emotion or just a willed choice]

Biography & Fiction:
Fr. Walter Ciszek's With God in Russia [a priest's ability to endure many years in Soviet camps]
Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime & Punishment [a story about the redemptive power of love and suffering]
Leo Tolstoy's Death of Ivan Illych [a story about the ability of suffering to bring about personal reflection and clarity]

I'm not sure why my mind is gravitating to all Russian books right now . . . 

My prayers are with you, my readers, as you grapple with the sufferings of your life.  May Our Lord give you the strength you need to embrace your Cross with a heart burning with love for the God who loves you infinitely.  I leave you with the words of St. Paul to the Romans (Rom 12:1-2):

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Image: http://staff.bcc.edu/jyantz/Pieta.jpg