Pain and suffering touch the hearts of all humanity. It is due to “the fall” of Adam and Eve.
Suffering, sinful inclinations and death entered the human condition because of their disobedience and the effects of original sin. (Gen 3:1-24)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16)
Our Heavenly Father had compassion on us poor sinners and He sent Jesus as our Lord and Savior to redeem us through His passion, crucifixion and death on the Cross.
In 1931, Jesus appeared to St. Faustina and revealed Himself as the Divine Mercy. He commanded her to let the whole world know He is a Merciful Savior and that the most hardened sinner has the rights to His mercy. The meaning to the mystery of suffering is found only in Jesus Crucified and in His Divine Mercy. Jesus established the Catholic Church from the depths of His Mercy and brought it to birth from the “blood and water” that flowed from His pierced Heart. (Jn 19:31-37) Water representing Baptism and
Reconciliation and Blood representing the Eucharist.
“The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for Blood which is the life
of souls…These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonizing Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. (Diary of Saint Faustina 299, page 139)
Pain and suffering can have a redeeming quality and supernatural power when we offer and unite our them to Jesus Crucified for the salvation of souls and for graces for ourselves or for others. This act of mercy is called Redemptive Suffering. We can learn from the “Conference on Sacrifice and Prayer” given by the Lord…
“My daughter, I want to instruct you on how you are to rescue souls through sacrifice and prayer. You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone. I want to see you as a sacrifice of living love, which only then carries weight before Me.”
Jesus let her know that she must be completely annihilated in the secret depths of her being, meaning that her self-will and self-love had to be completely destroyed so that Christ Himself would be acting as the sacrificial victim within her. He said, “great will be your power for whomever you intercede” in this state of total self-abasement, united in communion with Jesus and His life reigning within her.
“Outwardly, your sacrifice must look like this: silent, hidden, permeated with love, imbued with prayer. I demand, my daughter, that your sacrifice be pure and full of humility, that I may find pleasure in it.”
The Lord told her that He would provide the graces she needed to fulfill all that He demanded of her. Jesus then instructed her on what her holocaust (burnt offering) should look like in her everyday life.
“You shall accept all sufferings with love. Do not be afflicted if your heart often experiences repugnance and dislike for sacrifice. All its power rests in the will, and so these contrary feelings, far from lowering the value of the sacrifice in My eyes, will enhance it.”
He assured her that although she would not feel His presence on some occasions, “I will always be with you. Do not fear; My grace will be with you…” (Diary of Saint
Faustina 1767, page 627)