#sspx #suffering #cross #catholic “The two persons in the world whom God loved best were Jesus and Mary, and the advantages which they possessed over all creatures on account of their virtue were that they suffered more than all. No two persons were ever so tried as they. Let us console ourselves then in sorrow, for the more of it we have, the more like shall we be to Jesus and to His Blessed Mother.” By this quotation from a saint, the Jesuit brother St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, we are taught the Catholic spirit in the face of suffering: suffering is the greatest and best way for us to imitate God and His holy Mother. Does this mean that we have to be unhappy our entire lives, if we want to live as good Catholics and become saints? No! The word “suffering” is different from the word “unhappiness”. We have many words to indicate unhappiness, such as “sadness”, “sorrow”, and “depression”, but none of these means the same thing as suffering. What this means is that while suffering can cause unhappiness, it can also be borne without unhappiness. You can suffer and be happy at the same time. You know that each person has a different measure of suffering in his life, but nobody is without suffering in this life. Everyone has suffering but suffering is not a condemnation to unhappiness. What our Catholic faith offers us is the possibility of enduring the sufferings of our life while at the same time being happy. How is this the case?
