The Healing Journey

July 20, 2025

How often are we told when we are suffering to “offer it up”? It’s something that the nuns taught every Catholic school student for decades, based on the belief that uniting our suffering with Christ’s will bring us closer to him and produce untold graces that will lead not only us but others to salvation. Easier said than done, especially when you’re suffering from the death of someone you love.

St. Paul said in his letter to the Colossians 1:24: “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s.”

That means as Catholics, we play a role in the redemption of humanity when Christ invites us to offer our suffering in union with his. Then, our suffering becomes more than mere suffering. It achieves a redemptive power. That doesn’t make it any easier to endure, but it gives it a meaning and purpose that others don’t have.

Equally important, we should never forget in our lonely moments that Jesus completely understands what we’re going through and is there with us, carrying the burdens of life and death. That, too, is something that non-believers don’t have, and should be a consolation for us in our pain.

Offering up our suffering doesn’t make it any easier, but it ensures that a much greater good — which we may never witness in this life — will come from it.
©J Pisani

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