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Embracing Suffering for Spiritual Growth
Suffering, often viewed as a negative experience, can take on profound meaning in the context of spirituality and faith.
Father Benson, an advocate of embracing self-imposed suffering, suggests that acts like fasting enable individuals to practice the teaching that “men cannot live by bread alone.” Through this, they can create space within themselves for God’s presence.
Within the Catholic tradition, St. Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, emphasized the significance of pain and suffering.
He encouraged people to bless, love, sanctify, and glorify pain in his writings. This perspective challenges the conventional view of suffering and highlights its spiritual value.
A Deeper Understanding of Blessing Pain
Father Robert Gahl, a professor at The Catholic University of America, interprets Escrivá’s call to “bless pain” not as a promotion of masochism but as an invitation to explore the profound connection between suffering and love.
Suffering becomes an opportunity to offer oneself to Christ as an act of love and freedom.
Elevating Suffering through Self-Gift
Gahl underscores the transformative power of suffering when it is offered to God as an act of self-gift. By uniting one’s activities and experiences with the Holy Eucharist, suffering can be sanctified and made holy.
Although suffering inherently lacks some good, it can be elevated when it is directed towards God and offered for the benefit of others.
Fasting as an Act of Charity
Self-imposed suffering, such as fasting, provides an opportunity for acts of charity.
Fasting allows individuals to forgo food and offer it to others in need. Through prayer and the communion of saints, the graces derived from fasting can be shared with those in different parts of the world, creating a connection of love and compassion.
Responding to the Suffering of Others
Witnessing the suffering of others serves as a call to action for believers. Gahl emphasizes that it prompts individuals to reach out, care for those in need, and discover the presence of Christ in both the suffering and those who endure it.
Suffering becomes a catalyst for selflessness, inspiring individuals to go beyond themselves and offer the gift of compassion and support to others.
