Explaining the Faith - Suffering: Why Does God Allow It?

welcome to the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy here in Stockbridge Massachusetts again I am father Chris LR one of the Marian priests of the Immaculate Conception and we are continuing our Saturday morning series every Saturday at 11 o'clock some of you probably been with us before some of you are new but we're continuing the series of talks that I have put together on a DVD called explaining the faith and this is a DVD collection of 13 of my favorite talks covering everything from suffering which we're going to talk about today today's topic is why would a good and loving God allow such suffering hope after suicide Mary divine mercy confession the Eucharist at teaching Mass these are all things that I think are critical to understanding our faith and this whole series on DVD is available as you saw on your screen on shop Mercy org or you can go to our web page the Divine Mercy org slash explaining the faith and so all you hear today this is kind of a preview of it kind of a summary of it but if you can't get the DVD you could at least pick up I think a lot today and we're going to show you at the end of the talk today my subject matters or topics for the next several Saturdays so welcome and thank you for joining us okay so what are we going to talk about today today is probably the most applicable topic of all which you saw on the title slide was why would a good and loving God allow such suffering so as you see on the screen this is a question why does God allow us to go through this to suffer so much why if he's merciful if he's all good well this is what we're going to explore today all right surveys that they have done on many many atheists for people who claim that they don't believe in God have stressed the fact that the main cause that people do not believe in God is just that why would he allow us to suffer like this there can't be a merciful or a good God in fact there can't even be a God at all if he allows this kind of evil unrest suffering and turmoil in this age of what's going on right now between the coronavirus and the social unrest I think you could say wow father Chris I'm gonna stay with you this morning because I really want to try to understand this better and I'm gonna give you the church teaching all right many religions even the Jewish believe that suffering is evil what did you do remember job and the book of Job all this friends said man what the heck did you do what sins did you commit to cause all of this misfortune to fall upon you and so this is a common belief outside of our Catholic faith our Catholic faith is unique because the Saints say that suffering has inestimable redemptive Worth that nothing else equals it that's a powerful statement that if the suffering is that kind of power let's find out why now jesus said to Saint Faustina quote you will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through all of his teachings and sermons but talk about a blow to a priest right like me sitting up here trying to teach and preach and our Lord comes in and tell st. Faustina that your sufferings are gonna save way more than some priest like father Chris sitting up there trying to teach and preach I I think that's why all of you watching this have more power than I do believe it or not than an ordained priest because your sufferings have that much redemptive power and we're going to show you why you know a demon sometimes God makes demons tell the truth right and a demon once told John Vianney that eighty thousand souls avoided hell due to his sufferings and prayers alone this is amazing again ghosts go back to Saint Faustina in one of the paragraphs of the diary 1804 that I always quote she said that Jesus told her that if angels were capable of envy they would only Envy man for two things one is that they can receive Holy Communion meaning they being man us so the angels would only end the us mankind for two reasons one is that we can receive Holy Communion remember they can't they are spirit only we are body soul composite well anyway the other reason is that we can suffer and it's the angels who cannot suffer you would think gee that's great I want to be an angel I wouldn't have to suffer well actually the angels and the us that we can suffer why because we most imitate Jesus they want to be like Jesus and yet suffering is the way that we share and can be like Christ on the cross I know that's so hard to believe right now just stay with me stay with me and we're gonna try to explain this all right a great Jesuit priest who I've quoted often named father John Hardin God rest his soul said quote it is when we offer our suffering the one thing most disagreeable to our human nature back to God back to the Creator that it becomes a gift of inestimable value drawing down from heaven listen to this drawing down from heaven more grace than any other action we can pass we make now when I first read that I said come on father John I used to really like you but you're way off base on this one love is what draws down more from heaven more grace than anything else not suffering and then I read the next line of his book it said we love only to the degree that we are willing to suffer so they are united the defining moment he said of our redemption was not when our Lord preached or healed the sick as you can see on the next slide the defining moment was when love itself was nailed to a tree and drained of his blood love and suffering in this way love and suffering are inseparable Jesus showed that that was the the importance of that statement this is love and inseparable suffering how important is that now we can also look at right out of the Bible no greater love half a man than when he lays down his life for another and that's what Jesus did I like to say no greater love is there ever then when someone suffers and dies to save their very executioner's and that's what Jesus did alright let's go to the next slide you see John Paul - there this is a powerful absolutely powerful example he said look at your slide on your screen each man in his suffering can also become a Shearer in the redemptive suffering of Christ wow this is amazing now John Paul's apostolic letter Salva Viji Delores or the Christian meaning of humans frame which she did back in 1984 covers this I'm gonna summarize the whole thing for you right now I read it in seminary and I'm gonna summarize it for you in just a minute in just a couple minutes Christ he said sanctified suffering making it salvific meaning it can give us salvation by his love we he said can be partners in Christ's Redemption we can be he said many co-redeemer s' boy that scares people doesn't it wait a minute father there's only one Redeemer that's Jesus Christ yes but when he called us a coal Redeemer which scares every non-catholic in the world to death but it shouldn't he points out that co-ceo in Latin is Combe see um which means with not equal to we are not equal to Christ the Redeemer but we are with him and when we unite our sufferings of ourselves and our lives with him on the cross we become John Paul said many Co Redeemers by offering these sufferings again I go back to st. Faustina the Diary 1072 paragraph number 10 I'm sorry paragraph 1032 listen to this I thirst Jesus told st. Faustina I desire the salvation of souls help me to save souls join your suffering that's what a mini co-redeemer is right join how do you do this join your sufferings to my passion and offer them to the Heavenly Father for the salvation of sinners I read that I'm like whoa wait a minute she's not God she's not a redeemer but that's co-redeemer that means that with Christ we can unite with him on the cross and help save souls this is how God set it up how do we know this Paul tells us in scripture st. Faustina's dead on Paul tells us in Scripture when the most confusing scripture passages he says I must complete what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body the church now what possibly could be lacking from the sufferings of Christ you know what is lacking our sufferings United to Christ so when you get a headache when you have a backache or your children are absolutely driving you crazy or your husband is driving you up the wall whatever it might be you can offer up those sufferings never let a single suffering go by be it a headache or a backache or this pain from watching the news offer up these sufferings United with the cross of Christ and say lord I give these to you or Mary I place them in your hands and I ask that these sufferings be offered in atonement for my sins and the sins of the whole world and you can actually save souls yes Christ saves the souls but he uses that the tools he uses us as tools to help him in that endeavor all right let's finish here Pope John Paul then explained that it is precisely in the church that the suffering of Christ is completed just what Paul was talking about since it is in the church that we unite our human sufferings with the sufferings of Christ that's why when you come to every Mass just don't sit in the back smacking on your gum come to Mass you have the cross of Christ in every church there's a crucifix with Jesus nailed to the cross and you sit down and you reflect and you pray and you offer all of your sufferings and I can guarantee you if I sat down with every single one of you watching this broadcast today this live stream we can come up with some sufferings either mentally physically emotionally spiritually and you can offer those up you know with Christ when you walk into this church when you walk into Mass that's what you should be doing now this also highlights the divine and the human nature of the church because the human nature were offering our sufferings and the divine nature Christ you're offering to his cross are united this is why we have scandals because the church is human and divine in her divine nature she won't fail she teaches the truth but in her human nature we have some stupid acts that should never have happened that doesn't mean the church isn't the truth all right john paul ii said quote this one blows me away you want to you want to like I said show this as a Catholic this this white Rises a lot of eyebrows the saving work of Jesus is not finished father that's heretical that's heretical oh I'll tell you that's what john paul ii said the saving work of jesus is not finished quote he needs us to cooperate now technically doesn't need anything but this is how we set it up he needs us to cooperate with his work of redemption and bring his mercy to this generation this kind of partnership involves a sharing in his sufferings in order to share in his saving work of mercy john paul ii said this is the meaning of suffering it is salvific it is precious don't waste it you know it breaks my heart when i go to nursing homes and unfortunate because the coronavirus i haven't been able to in a couple months and i my heart is desiring to go back and go to the nursing homes but it's always so sad when i see so many people there that are letting these sufferings be wasted it's it's so hard to see a soul these precious precious people that are the last moments of their life and the racked and physical pain or spiritual or emotional pain and and and I've been asked before like father what's the church teaching on assisted suicide I'm nothing but a burden to my family I'm a burden to the staff I'm a burden to society I offer nothing I do no good and I'm thinking whoa timeout do you realize that there's more power in the suffering you are going through right now than any atomic bomb in the world you have more power in what you have to offer to Christ on that cross for the salvation of all your loved ones your children bother you because they're not going to church offer up that suffering your grandchildren bother you because they don't even come visit you offer it up for the salvation of your grandchildren don't let it be wasted John Paul said all right the next slide all right you look after the next slide up that we have up on the screen and there's a picture of me all right sitting there I well let me start with the two people who are above me there one is Marie Roman Yano a registered RN god bless her she's the reason in many ways I'm still alive because I called her the medical pit ball she when I had some heart problems she wouldn't let the doctors rest until they found what it was that saved my life I started with blood clots it started in my legs from flying those blood clots went up through my system into my lungs I got pulmonary embolisms I think the good Lord they they lodged off-center a little bit so that it didn't kill me but then the pain continued even after the procedure for that and they lost a big chunk of my left lung and then they found that I had severe chest pain they thought it was related to the lungs it wasn't they found out that I had 99% blockage in my main artery of my heart which is coronary artery disease then I had to deal with that then they found cancerous tumor or polyps in my colon that they have cut out so hopefully that's all contained then I got the worst kidney stone you can imagine I mean I could go on and on but I won't why why did I put this up there all right we need to accept and offer our suffering in union with The Passion of Christ I know that is easier said than done I know some of you are looking at me and say father that's easy you to say you have no idea what health problems I'm going through I can show you as you saw on the screen I've gone through a lot of health problems I'm very susceptible and I got a lot of issues now we have to trust though that's why st. Faustina said we most resemble Christ when we forgive that's the subject of another topic our topic of another subject and when we accept our suffering now does that mean Father you're sitting here telling me father I should be praying to God and saying to him bring it on Laura bring me more father Chris said give me more suffering give me more pain no what did Jesus say in the garden jesus said father let this cup pass me by meaning the cup of suffering every day we should be praying and I pray for all my my brother's my relatives our benefactors our friends that the cup of suffering passes you by but then what did Jesus say in the garden but not my will be done your will be done and this is important all right if we do that if we accept our suffering this can remit mean take which means take away the just punishment for our sins or even the sins of our loved ones yes very powerful redemptive suffering meaning it can save salvation does not gain the individual forgiveness of sins you can only get that in confession all right if it's venial you can get it in the mass but mortal sins they can only be forgiven in confession don't that father Chris said I suffer a lot and therefore my sins are all forgiven no the sins have to be forgiven in confession but once your sins are forgiven did you know your sufferings can be offered up to take away the punishment that we are due for our sins and I use the word punishment loosely it's more loving discipline of our God all right so basically after our sins are forgiven our suffering can reduce that penalty for sin aka purgatory it can if we offer up suffering that's why I've known several great incredible people I think of Carly B of Monroe Michigan Tom EB of Monroe Michigan family friends that suffered tremendously before they died what little sins they had to atone for I believe were wiped away on this earth through their suffering or father Greg stop an incredible oblate father out of Massachusetts here that passed away his birthday was just the other day this man was a suffering servant he suffered tremendously before he died an incredible priest again I feel that that was what little tiny sins he may have had atone for that so those of us like myself who have more sins than those individuals the more suffering that we can offer up to atone for those sins is actually a mercy of God I know it sounds crazy and I know you keep saying father but you have no idea what I'm going through you're absolutely right when we get into things like losses of loved ones death or dying it changes everything and it's easy for me to say it's a lot harder to live but we're gonna get there okay hang in there all right now redemptive suffering as I said that is actually mercy isn't that kind of a paradox that's why I call jesus our lord of the paradox because we get punishment now instead of eternally this is important so this is this is incredible to me the worst Cross of all is to have no cross at all did you hear that the worst cross of all is to have no cross oh that's why I used to admire all those people that appear to have everything perfect perfect health perfect this perfect that actually as I learned more about God in the scriptures and Christ teaching it seemed to me a little bit more understandable that if God allows some crosses in my life those are for my own benefit to be able to help atone for those sins that I've committed and in all of us right all right let's look at the next slide how could a good God allow such suffering you could see it right there how could a good God allow such so much suffering this is now let's go on suffering I said is redemptive but there's more reasons why I keep asking the same question I'm going to keep giving you more different answers so if we just talked about its redemptive all right let's move on father I got that point let's move on to the next one yes it's redemptive but there's more reasons the Catechism in 1521 tells us that yes suffering in part is a consequence of sin I think a lot of that is what we see happening in the world right now all this talk about we need justice and we need this and with the setup as anybody saying that we should try to clean up our sin and try to bring God back into society that's the best answer to all of this the answer is that more laws or regulations or forced apologies what is what is really gonna make a difference or defunding police what's really gonna make a difference is saying all right we've been sinners we've rejected God we've pushed him out of society let's now try to change that that is the reason a lot of us are suffering is not just maybe your own personal sins but we're part of the body of Christ so my sins for you your sins hurt me when we sin we create a whole disruption to the harmony of God's universe and so this is what's going on seeing these sins that result in these sufferings caused many to doubt God and that's why God is allowing us to be tested tested in our faith in our perseverance as I said this sin causes a disharmony to God's universe and so we have a choice do we want to do virtue and put harmony back in God's universe or do we choose sin and try to get rid of this harmony that's in God's universe this is a crazy question to even think of asking but it's true based on what's going on all right next slide you see a slide up there right now I started my business in North Carolina one month before 9/11 and so you see there the pictures the haunting pictures from those of you who can remember it from 19 years ago was 9/11 the terrorist attacks in New York City and that title says it all doesn't it where is God where is God all right now we've all felt this way at one time or another but another reason why God allows some things now he doesn't want them in God's ordained will he did not want the bombing of the Trade Center please let me make that clear please don't send a letter saying father you're saying that God wanted the terrorists to attack the center no he didn't he gave us free will and when God gave us free will the greatest gift we have he took a huge risk a giant risk that we would turn away from him and hurt our neighbor the perfect example is 9/11 so in God's ordained will he didn't want the bombing no he doesn't want the coronavirus he doesn't want a young child to die but we can't argue the fact that some mysterious way away we don't understand a way we can't fathom he allows it now that doesn't mean he wants it as I said to a brother yesterday I said it's kind of like a parent that loves their daughter and live next door she doesn't want her daughter to move across the country so she won't see her grandchildren anymore but she allows it because it's the best thing for that family maybe there's a better job out there a better opportunity or better schools or better churches whatever it might be and so in God's ordained well he doesn't want these things when in his permissive will he allows them why father Chris because God wants to bring a greater good out of even these worst evils well father what greater good could have come out of 9/11 all right yes was it 3000 people lost their lives that day horrible like 2998 or something horrible horrible horrible but believe it or not as much as God did not want that he brought a greater good out of it you know what that greater good was that following Sunday remember 9/11 happened on a Tuesday that following Sunday the churches were absolutely packed and some of the best parishioners I know at my old church down at st. Mark's Huntersville North Carolina were people who came back because the church on that day was packed and that's what brought him back and they've been with the church ever since 19 years ago there's still good parishioners and they came back because of 9/11 I'm not saying that saying God give us another 9/11 of course not but when these free will choices are done God can pick up the pieces right all right let's look at the next slide how do you explain something like this this is very difficult these are a rash of high school shootings remember we had so many shootings in the United States for the longest period of time and the people began to ask the question again where is God this this is another very difficult question to ask right and so look at that screen look at this this is the students running out of the schools another high school shooting right all right this all seems like a tremendous evil but I always like to ask the question and I want to ask it today does evil really exist is it a real created thing and surprisingly the answer is no wait a minute father weren't you talking about right know if it was real created thing that would mean God created it God can't create believe it or not something contrary to his nature God is all goodness he will not Ken create evil it goes against this very nature everything created is good wait a minute what about Satan father Satan was actually created good right he was the angel of light the highest of the Angels he chose to his free will to fall to be disobedient and turn away from God and so people don't understand us it's what evil is is actually a privation of the good that means a lack of the good so here's the point everybody when we God who is goodness itself when we pull God out of our courts out of our schools out of our families out of society when you pull out God who is goodness itself what is left is a privation of the good that is the definition of evil not that God created it but because we took God out of it that is what evil is this is the result the the school shootings are a perfect example you know when they had school in prayers in school there was never a shooting in the United States of America when they used to have prayer in schools and in 1963 they took prayer out and everything has been downhill since and violent crimes of increase on wetted pregnancies abortions everything has gone up since they took prayer out of schools in 1963 and so we have the effect now of our schools there are barely held together now our society because when we keep taking God out of it this is the result that's what evil is a lack of the good and God is goodness we pull him out what's left is evil you know I've told the story before I was going through the airport once and I saw a young lady with a t-shirt and it really caught my eye and this young lady was probably in her mid-20s attractive young lady and she has this shirt on that said Columbine Sandy Hook you know these are the school shootings and then it said God quote how can you let this been in our schools question mark and then below it it said God quote I'm not allowed in your schools and I was like why I mean I wanted to take a picture of her but I figured a priest following a girl around the around the airport wouldn't have looked too good but the you get the point here the point is that's what happens when we remove God you know in his permissive will God allows us to make our own decisions he'll never Trump your free will but when you do there are consequences this is what scares me every day I don't want to be servile fear to the Lord but a true fear of the Lord which is a gift of the Holy Spirit should kick in on our consciousness that when we choose to do something wrong as there are consequences it was once said that as I said before that God took the greatest risk of all than giving us our freewill out of love so that we could love him but it was a risk because then we could as I said turn against God away from out against him maybe but away from him and then against our neighbor and and and choose not to love him but again God wants to bring the greater good even when we do that that's how awesome and in infinitely loving God is even when we mess up and turn away from him he gives us a chance to get a greater good out of it this is what happened with Adam and Eve in the garden what what what mess up they did they're right by by the fall but what greater good came out of it God didn't waste a second soon as Adam and Eve fell in the garden go to genesis 3:15 what was what was the greater good that came out of the fall of Adam and Eve the promise of a savior and the gift of a mother that's what came out so as you can see this is a powerful example of just yet another reason why God doesn't want suffering but why allows it alright let's go to the next slide you see this picture this is White Castle now for some of you who are from Michigan or Chicago area like I am in the Midwest you'll recognize that White Castle right that's a little hamburger joint that you have in the Midwest that had like quarter hamburgers and stuff like that and I wanted to give a practical example of what I mean by God being able to bring a greater good out of even the worst suffering and tell you there is no worse suffering than the death of someone we love and so I want to tell this quick story because it gives a good example of that there was a mission that father now father Alan and me did when he was a brother and we were in Chicago area and we had done a talk at a parish and we hadn't eaten since lunch that day and we did a whole mission into the evening and then we had to drive an hour and a half back across the city of Chicago to get to our parish well anyway we had meat and so we're hungry and the middle of the night is about midnight we see this white castle and it was still open the the lobby was still open so we pull into this White Castle and father Alan and I walk in and we skit in line there's probably 50 60 maybe even 70 people in this large Lobby area cashiers are all going and people are mingling around and ordering their food and all of a sudden in walks this guy and you've been there before you see the guy that just has something in his face that shows he's angry he's upset he's hurt he's not having a good day and sure enough were there in our collars and this guy walks through the doors heads down and soon as he looks up he sees the two of us in our collars now I'm already a priest and so he looks and he is angry and he starts coming right at us now all of a sudden in my mind I'm starting to go through what's the church teaching on self-defense and all this kind of stuff and he comes up to the two of us and he zeroes is on me now father Alan is as a bigger guy so I felt like throwing father Alan in front but that was all right he came at me and the guy took his two fingers and he jammed it in I throw on my collar and he says you tell me how your god let my five-year-old niece died of leukemia you tell me how your God let that happen this is a good question this is a valid and a justifiable question this man was hurting how could this happen now I'm a freshly minted seminary and right out of seminary and I start given all the theology explanations that it's a result the disharmony in God's universe the result of original sin and a consequence of sin and he that didn't work he just got more angry and he looked at me he says she was five years old she didn't have any sin and I remember trying to justify it with all this theology and he wasn't ready for that god bless that man and here comes father Alan and he just shows me to the side and the first thing he did is he looks at this guy and he says sir what's your name and I remember thinking gee I should have thought that right and by this time everybody's looking right the whole restaurant came to a screeching halt dead silence this was one moment of a lifetime that you may never get to evangelize in one minute 270 probably people who've never walked into a church and you have one moment to reach well God chose father Alan that night and father Alan says sir do you believe in God and the guy says I don't know I just don't know he was hurting this is valid this is understandable and Alan says well sir I don't know you but I can tell you this right now there's a girl sitting on the lap of Jesus up in heaven because you're right sir she's only five years old she didn't have any sins and she's in heaven this is church teaching but right now there's a little girl sitting on the lap of Jesus and Harold she is praying for you now Harold if I was a bettin man I would tell you that right now those prayers are going to help you it may not be today it may not be tomorrow it may not be to the day you die but Harold I don't even know you but I am going to tell you that I strongly believe that those prayers are gonna get you to turn back to God and then eventually there will be two souls in heaven the little girls and yours whereas otherwise Harold we don't know only the mystery of God knows but otherwise if this tragic event wouldn't have happened there might have been two souls lost now does that mean that we should hope and that another little girl dies absolutely not God didn't want this in his ordained will he didn't want leukemia for this little girl sin and disease didn't exist in the garden until the fall and now these things are result of that sin you see here old she didn't die because of her sin she died because of my sins our sins permeate the universe and this is what's going on in our world today but God wants to bring a greater good out of it and the greater good is this little girl's in heaven she's praying for you Jesus hears those prayers and I believe that Jesus gonna take those prayers and help you get to heaven you see Harold that may sound crazy to believe right now but God didn't want this no no no but he can bring a greater good out of it he can pick up the pieces after we shatter the vase and he can glue them back together this is hard to understand impossible if this was the only world if this was the only world that existed and there was no afterlife you right this would not be possible to understand but because and this story wouldn't make any sense otherwise it only makes sense the based on there is something greater called heaven the supernatural the afterlife if you don't have faith this story would make no sense father I don't believe this this is crap that the death was a tragedy and I hate God for it see without faith to understand that God's not causing the death but he's just trying to pick up the pieces we can't grasp that God permits evil and sin so that we may know his mercy is greater than sin and death here's that story I just told as a perfect example and you know what's funny that man after father Allen talked to him you could heard a pin drop in that restaurant everybody was listening and that man turned away and walked out and didn't even get his food that's how impactful that moment was so as I said God permits evil and sin so that we may know his mercy is greater than sin and death this gives God more glory than if we never sinned in the first place this is why the fall in the garden by saying agustin is called oh happy fault that God actually made a greater good out of something as tragic as the fall of Adam and Eve before the fall we had no sickness we didn't get the coronavirus we didn't you know have any sub diseases but after the fall God brought a greater good now yeah we have those those temporal sufferings not little they're big I understand that but now we share in the divine life of God we share in the divine life of God God brought a greater good than if that fall never happened I know that seems ironic that seems counterintuitive but this is what st. Augustine says oh happy fault powerful stuff the enemy will use it to cause us to despair we have to all go through these tests God wants to know is our faith with him the Lord wants to know will you trust him during suffering if we pass that test we will be perfected suffering is the best way to be perfected that's what purgatory is they're suffering so we're perfected and we're ready to go into heaven he will not give us more than we can handle I know it doesn't seem like that oh I know I can tell you I hear confessions I hear spiritual direction I know it doesn't seem like that Jesus will not give us more than we can handle but we do have to share in the cross Jesus never preached that we were going to be flawless in this life without a cross look at the next picture the next picture is what we call these megachurches right and there are some good ones I'm not I'm not at all doubting that there are some great pastors there's some great people beautiful services and no issues there whatsoever but I was flipping through TV one night looking for EWTN after a parish mission and I came across one of the probably the most Protestant excuse me prominent mega church biggest Church in the country type of person and I stopped just out of some curiosity and I heard this particular preacher say well we don't put God in a box you know he was definitely trying to get on the Catholic Church for our tabernacle and understanding of the the Eucharist he says some religions like to put God in a box we don't do that all right okay I understand you don't understand John 6 verse 52 at 2:58 but that's alright let's let's keep going here but then what he said in this particular preacher said next really bothered me because he said and now I'm not saying this was just a one-time event I've heard the same preacher on Sirius radio say this over and over and he said you love Jesus you'll get that new car you love Jesus you'll get that new house you love Jesus you'll get that beautiful new wife I'm sorry that is not the gospel of Jesus Christ that's called the gospel of prosperity and it's dangerously heretical please don't fall for that gospel of falsehood this is sweeping millions of Catholics away from our Catholic faith into these other religions that preach the gospel of prosperity read the next slide Jesus said there is no way to heaven except the way of the cross I followed it first you must learn that it is the shortest and surest way alright father that's easy for you to say you have no idea what suffer I'm go through I agree I don't I don't that's why I pray everyday that God will alleviate the sufferings of all our Marian helpers please consider being a part of our family the association of Marian helpers MMIC prayers calm and you can join and see that we pray for you that God heals you and blesses you and takes away this suffering but if for some reason he allows it we have to better understand it let's go to the next slide the scroll here st. Faustina wrote I do not ask Lord that you take me down from the cross but I implore you to give me the strength to remain steadfast upon it Wow that is the one that we should be listening to that is the saint that tells us the power of the Cross not that we should ask more of it just that we can remain on what little part God wants to give us alright now look at the next slide this is a quote by Bishop Fulton sheen many people love quote business or a Fulton sheen this is an amazing quote sometimes the only way the good Lord can get into some hearts is to break them Wow isn't that a powerful statement why because this breaks our self-centeredness a lot of times we are self focused you know we shouldn't love God for his consolations we shouldn't love God just because he's the god of consolations we should not love just that we should I'm sorry we should not I said that wrong let me rephrase we should love the God of consolations not just the consolations of God does that make sense let me say that again we should love the God of consolations not just the consolations of God basically God's not just Santa Claus we love him not just for the gifts he can give us because he can easily take those away that's what happens when we suffer let's go to the next slide these examples are in the Bible these these examples are in the Bible how do we know look at this why do bad things happen to good people all right let's look at this it's a reality good people have suffered I'm sure many of you listening our examples what about Abel and the Old Testament he was killed by Cain Jobe everything was wiped out his children his his livestock his home he lost everything what about the suffering of Joseph as he was sold into enslavement in Egypt by his own brother's talk about betrayal father I've been so betrayed my my niece said negative thing about me in a graduation party yeah this is terrible but Joseph was sold by his own brothers into slavery all right what about Paul he was stoned and whipped and beaten and chained and imprisoned all for the glory of God right and what about Jesus himself this is the perfect example now again I'm not trying to minimize our suffering we have to understand that we want God to take it away but a reason he allows it let's keep going for these reasons as he gives us a means to understand our need for God this is powerful it is a blessing to be like Jesus Christ and one of the ways is suffering with him suffering servant is actually a vocation from God if you are severely suffering spiritually emotionally mentally physically it could be possible it could be ask God talk to your spiritual director it could be possible that you are a suffering servant he's God asking you to be a suffering servant at least sharing a piece of his cross right pray on that blessed enopp be alone hey she said quote if we understood the worth of our crosses we would be rendered speechless with happiness and joy upon receiving them now I can't say I'm at that level of spirituality yet but I'm trying did you hear that if we understood the value of our crosses we'd be speechless with happiness upon receiving these crosses okay if you're to that level you're a little bit farther in the spiritual life than I am some I do think God for I do but I'm not sure I'm totally elated and happy yet but I'm working on it right okay each mass and each morning we should offer up our sufferings along with the Son Jesus to God the Father remember I told you the other day that when we come to mass we are the spouse of Christ Christ is the groom who's the bride the church who's the church we are so we are the spouse of Christ as the church and listen to the court of st. Faustina from the diary Jesus was suddenly standing before me stripped of his clothes his body completely covered with wounds his eyes flooded with tears and blood his face disfigured and covered with spittle the Lord said the bride that's us must resemble her betrothed that's him I understood these words st. Faustina said to the very depth there is no room for doubt here my likeness to Jesus must be through suffering and humility whoa here's a perfect example of us seeing Christ's suffering as thus pride we as the bride Jesus is saying we have to imitate that again it doesn't mean we don't pray to take it away but these are the reasons all right now next slide suffering can get us to heaven that is what redemptive suffering means now read this quote with me you all love Padre Pio right this is a powerful quote of Padre Pio jesus said to me how many times would I have a would you have abandoned me my son if I had not crucified you whoa beneath the cross one learns love and I do not give this to everyone but only to those souls who are dearest to me gee thanks Jesus right you all know the story is Saints I think it was a series of avila right where and please I know somebody who can correct me on this I I'm just going on an old memory here but I think she was riding a horse or in a carriage or something and she fell or you know fell into the ditch and got full of mud or hurt herself or something and she stood up and she said Jesus why did you let this happen to me and jesus answered her and he said this is how I treat all of my friends and Teresa of ávila said no wonder you have so few of them so yes don't be afraid to tell God take this away Jesus take it away please I beg you but if he doesn't don't let the sufferings be wasted suffering is redemptive as its said on that slide if we unite it to the cross so is your suffering too much I bet it might be I am not doubting that at all I am NOT trying to claim that but when it happens that you think your suffering is too much contemplate his passion start thinking about what Jesus went through whenever I do that all the sudden my big worries and pains and sufferings seem to go away a little bit even something as severe as coronary artery disease and 99% blockage in my heart when I contemplate Christ in his passion that seems to go away now before I show you the next slide which is one of the most powerful slides and before I show it to you I want you to see pray a little bit about what our sufferings are then contemplate as I said the Passion of Christ and then you realize that your sufferings and I'm not minimizing I promise you anybody's sufferings here but I'm not sure any of us have ever suffered like this guy show the slide I came across this I was moved to tears when I first saw this this is a man I believe in the Philippines when I saw this I actually said to the Lord I'm sorry for complaining like I have now that doesn't mean God doesn't want us to complain he wants to hear from you but this gives a new perspective on what we go through compared to other people I'm sure there are many of you suffering horrendously but when I look at this guy I'm like I think this guy if he accepts the mercy of God is going straight to heaven I can't imagine more suffering than what you see there now this guy has every right in my opinion to complain as we all do but what I like to say to myself is come on father Chris yeah you got some sufferings but don't broadcast it to the whole world you know Jesus didn't get up on the cross and say hey I don't feel the love here no he didn't do that sometimes I have a problem of doing that saying gee do you know what I went through today and this happened to me and this happened to me sometimes we want to work on that a little bit but do you know that saying One blessed be God in the moments of these little trials is greater than saying it ten thousand times when everything is good so this is the power of suffering we grow most in difficult times and we are pressed beyond our limits look at an athlete an athlete is just it's unbelievable it's like the United States hockey team in 1980 there was no way that they could beat the mighty Soviet Union they were pressed by their coach pushed the very limit they were blown out in a preseason game against that same Russian team just a few weeks before the Olympics blasted 10:00 to 3:00 and nobody gave him any hope in the world to beat the mighty Soviet hockey team but coach Herb Brooks pushed them beyond their limit caused him to suffer and pain not not pain and that he was physically beating I know but but he pushed them beyond what they thought they were capable of doing and that 1980 USA Hockey team beat the mightiest hockey team in the world they were nothing but a ragtag bunch of college kids don't think that we can't be pushed beyond our limits like an athlete and then to be able to grow this is what God allows us to do in suffering we can be like the Good Thief when we suffer and ask for God's mercy and help or we can be like the bad thief and reject the cross all right I got just a couple slides to go all right what's this next slide here this is powerful read this quote praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ now remember this is right from second Corinthians the father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God you probably read this before and it blew right by you think about this another reason I'm giving you tons of them here today another reason why God may allow suffering is that you can help others after you suffered the very same thing what better help is there for a cancer patient than talking to a cancer survivor or tragically what better help to a family that's lost someone to suicide then the mother talking to a mother that's been through it that's why I love Sammy wood who's in my book I'll show you at the end of the talk today about devout God's divine mercy and Sammy and and in in suicide Sammy wood showed how you can't get over it but you can get through these sufferings you can't get over them but you can get through them you know to love means to sacrifice and deny ourselves that is what suffering is but sometimes again God allows it so that you can help others this is a priest this seems I think many priests like me see this in the confessional you know a young man comes to me says father I'm really struggling with this and I can look at him and say hey I've been there I'm a late vocation I am I had a life before I became a priest at a home and a business and a and a fiance I was engaged to be married I've I know what you're going through and man I see these young men they look at me they're like wow you you you can understand I think that's one of the reasons God had me as a leader vocation because all those things I went through including the sufferings I can help as a priest in the confessional with the young people or not young old to who are struggling with that all right as we're wrapping it up here this is powerful now the next slide here's a quote from st. Faustina I love this quote this comes from and boy I'm gonna guess a year I think paragraph 57 the diary but listen to what st. Faustina says when we suffer much we have a great chance to show God that we love him yet another reason why God allows this we have a chance to show God that we love him but when we suffer little we have less occasion to show God our love and when we do not suffer at all our love is then neither great nor pure by the grace of God we can attain a point where suffering will become a delight remember I just read blessed Dina below Jay I'm like oh man help me get there lord save us Dina said the same thing we can attain a point where suffering will become a delight to us for love can work such things in pure souls Wow and so this is what we got to understand if you're struggling let's say you're like me and you still have these issues like impatience okay I'm impatient many of you are impatient because we don't love enough and we don't want to suffer st. Faustina's giving us the remedy here she's saying if we can get through that by offering up our suffering sufferings the tool to teach you how to love it's yet another reason why God allows it because through it we can learn to love which lasts eternally this is powerful because we can either suffer temporally on this earth and enjoy our limited time here which is just a blip without any problems or and enjoy eternity I should say so let me rephrase this I'm sorry we can either have the choice to suffer on this earth for just a little time and enjoy all of eternity or we can reject that suffering choose to enjoy our temporal life here for but a blip and suffer in all eternity I don't know about you all but that choice is easy for me give me a little suffering in this world cleanse me of my sins Lord atone for my sins so that can have with you and in paradise for all eternity rather than reject eternity so I can live and do whatever I want temporarily these few years on earth no doesn't make any sense to me I think it's very clear what we need to do there all right last couple slides my next slide here what's going on there you see a guy kind of waving his head behind the picture this girl this is interesting because it's clear what's going on in that picture that guy's annoying that girl right well do you know who you will be most grateful for at the time of your death the Saints tell us annoying people and we all have those even in religious life our own brothers I Drive my brother's crazy some of them not all and some of my brothers not all drive me crazy but this is who the saints tell us we will be most grateful for at the moment of our death annoying people why for without the crosses they provide we would not be able to get to heaven that's really interesting only at our judgment will we see how beneficial these annoying people were and all the trials they imposed upon us because they can help to signify us and the suffering they caused us remember it was at saint torres or st. Faustina that that sister the nun fellow nun drove her crazy because she made a clicking sound in the chapel and it drove her crazy well that's an opportunity God said to grow in virtue in patience right only crosses I should say the crosses imposed by others are part of God's plan for our salvation so wives turn to your husbands and say you know I see you're annoying of me in a whole new light all right find a couple slides we are in the storms right now I love this painting right this is a painting of the Sea of Galilee and the big storm comes we are in storms right now but Jesus is with us just like he was in the boat Jesus is with us and he is in that boat now here's what's interesting our suffering is like a storm it comes out of nowhere and hits us ready to swamp us if we're not careful we could even drown but in every storm in the Bible Jesus was present every time a storm arose in the Bible Jesus was there so he can remove that storm if we trust or at least get us through it what we have to do is trust the problem isn't the storm the problem is our lack of trust and so this is what we want to see in God's message for us all right slide next once is a scroll and it says know that your body and soul will often be in the midst of fire that is suffering right although you will not feel my presence on some occasions I will always be with you do not fear do you know that's written 365 times in the Bible one for every day do not fear what were John Paul to his first words after becoming Pope do not fear be not afraid all right my grace will be with you we just have to trust we just have to trust all right let's go on one of my next favorite slides st. Sebastian quote when it is all over you will not regret having suffered rather you will regret having suffered so little and suffered that little so badly Wow this is very difficult and you know what I apologize I skipped a slide let's go back I probably messed up brother mark let's summarize here why does God allow suffering let's look at that screen I think this is a beautiful summary everything I've said here today to diminish the appeal of this physical temporal life this isn't what as important heaven is next to make us like His Son Jesus suffered on the cross we can be like him to purify our faith in Him it's purified because what is tried like gold is in the fire when God purifies us in the fire like fire tried gold we become pure to teach us contentment and thankfulness in other words be happy with what God gives us the good and the bad that's the message of job to teach us prayerfulness and dependence when do most people turn back to God when they get deathly sick or a loved one gets definitely sick they then realize I can only depend on God to get better now there's nobody else that can help me no doctor no nobody no neighbor I have to depend on God in His mercy to perfect our inner man that's the virtue and to help us develop compassion as I just said that is one of the reasons that we got allows us to suffer is so that we can help others alright the last slide is a book that I put together with brother Jason Lewis and it's called as you can see on your screen after suicide there's hope for them and you now I'm not talking about suicide today that's actually gonna be one of the things I mentioned next week so please next week I invite all of you especially those who have lost a loved one to any type of loss not just suicide but especially suicide because next week's topic is going to be how we get through tragedy this week I explained why God allows it next week I'm going to explain how to get through it so if you've suffered the death of a loved one through suicide or any other means please join us next Saturday at 11 o'clock that's gonna be my topic but back to the book this book does the same thing the book talks about after suicide there's hope for that meaning the salvation of those who have died people still think that Church teaches you go to hell automatically well there's more to the story there I'll talk to you about it next week and we'll show you and then there's hope for you left behind we give the three spiritual principles of divine mercy to get you through any suffering and loss suicide is a good example but not just suicide any kind of loss and so we ask help us Lord get through these times so this book you can get a couple of places now on the screen it says suicide and hope calm that is one of the places that you can get this book and also on that website you can enter or memorialize your loved ones there's no cost you don't have to put your name your email nothing like that you could put the name of your loved ones either a first name last name nickname initials whatever you want and I personally pray for each and every one of those people and I say a Mass every month for them and so so many people have gone there you can get the book on that website or if you want to make it easy just go as we've been saying to shop Mercy comm or shop Mercy org and you can get the book as well alright let's finish now with officially the final slide this is my upcoming Saturday talks that we hope you'll join us every Saturday that at 11 o'clock a.m. right here on the Facebook channel Divine Mercy official or on our web page the Divine Mercy that Arden let's go through these really quick next week next Saturday I'll be talking about as I said divine mercy after suicide and any kind of tragedy today we talked about why God allows it next week we'll talk to you about how to get through it how to understand it then the following Saturday June 27th what is divine mercy now we're getting into the core you don't want to miss this we're gonna show you how to get the graces that jesus promised on Divine Mercy Sunday if you're not preparing for those graces you want to do them now you want to start preparing you want to understand it we're gonna explain it then the following Saturday yes July 4th I know it's gonna be a busy day but it's in the morning fireworks aren't going out yet we're gonna show you the clip of what is excuse me give you the talk of what is divine mercy and in it I will have some video clips to show you I can't wait the next couple of weeks are gonna see some video clips too but we're going to talk about the image of divine mercy the novena of divine mercy the chaplet of divine mercy and the hour of divine mercy and the following week July 11th will talk about the Shroud of Turin and it's connection to the image of the vine mercy fascinating and we're going to talk to you more you'll know what you need to know about the shroud and it's connection to the image of divine mercy then we're going to talk about oh boy July 18th a touchy touchy subject it's very hard and difficult but please bear with us we're gonna talk about the church scandal and then following week July 25th we're gonna talk about Fatima and the end times very applicable to what we are going through today then the following Saturday August the 1st we'll talk about angels and spiritual warfare also going on right now then on October excuse me August the 8th will be purgatory explaining the biblical foundations of purgatory and then finally this will probably change I apologize it says August excuse me August 15th but we have vows that day which will live stream you can join us but we'll have to move that talk probably to the following Saturday we'll let you know a summary of the Bible and how to read it so great topics coming up so we are so grateful that you're with us and I want to finish now by pointing out if brother Mark and put up there if you enjoy these talks and you want to get them all in one place at least the ones I've been doing up till now now I'm gonna be doing several new ones as we continue our Saturday series that are not on this DVD but all the ones I've done including today's and next weeks up through that time period are on my DVD called explaining the faith please I invite you share this DVD with your family friends and loved ones because it really can help we can't love what we do not know we cannot love what we don't know so the better we know God and the church teaching the better we can love God and the church and so you can get this 3 DVD set sent right to you if you have an actual DVD player you can visit shop mercy dot org or if you say father I don't even have a DVD player anymore that's ancient you can livestream it at the website on the screen the divine mercy dot org slash explaining the faith so thank you everybody I hope that you'll get that DVD share it with your friends and family but I'm creating new content then we'll keep going on these Saturdays so we hope you'll join us again why would a good and loving God allow suffering the short answer is he doesn't want it he does not create evil he gave us free will sometimes we choose the bad we face the consequences when we sin we inject a poison into the universe that a poison well and I sin affects you when you sin it affects me and that has to be undone through prayer and virtue if it isn't God will try to bring our greater good out of it so God doesn't want it but he allows it because he'll try to bring a greater good and that greater good ultimately is our salvation and when we offer up our suffering with the cross of Christ as Paul says to complete what's lacking in the sufferings of Christ we can find salvation all right so god bless all of you thank you once again for joining us live here at the National Shrine of the divine mercy please spread the word we'll be back next Saturday same time same channel divine mercy official on face book and the Divine Mercy org slash excuse me just the Divine Mercy dot org web page so may Almighty God bless shoo in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen and may God be with you hello everyone if you're like us in the state of Massachusetts where our governor has extended the non-essential business closure you're going to be at home looking for things to do there is probably no better time ever before or after than right now than to get closer to God you see you cannot love what you do not know so we want to help you to love God a little bit more by knowing him instead of sitting at home on your couch watching reruns of Miami Vice like my cameraman Giuseppe no idea I think that we have an opportunity now more than ever to learn our faith that is why I have produced a new video DVD series that can be used as small groups and parishes or right at home in your own couch then it's called explaining the faith these are my thirteen favorite talks I've ever done that are regarding what we need to know about Jesus Mary confession communion why would a good and loving God allow suffering and especially a walkthrough of the entire mass from the start to the finish and everything that you need to know about it tell you what here's a quick clip in the church it's just not come to stand sit kneel it's to engage in this most incredible mystery this is what it is the church what makes the Catholic Church the Church of Christ is the sacraments the sacraments are just symbols they do something they're actual grace sacraments if you remember your definition from catechism our efficacious signs meaning efficacious they do something they're not just symbols they're efficacious signs of God's grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church by which divine life is given to us we have it so that Christ can enter into us and live in us now if we don't receive him worthily what happens we lose that grace so please can see now is the time to get closer to God and we're gonna show you how as I said this DVD series has 13 talks that you'll be able to learn more and share your faith with everyone that you love to help get yourself and them to heaven so please visit shop mercy dot org or call one eight hundred four six two seven four two six to understand our faith better than ever before and to hear it explained in a way like never before thank you and god bless you you

Channel: Divine Mercy

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Keywords: suffering, tragedy, explaining the faith, alar, chris alar, father alar, fr. alar, divine mercy, explaning the faith, image of divine mercy, shrine of divine mercy, chaplet of divine mercy, Catholicism, divine mercy sunday, jesus christ, mary, catholic, catholic church, catechism, faustina, saints, marians, marian fathers, MIC, Marians of Immaculate Conception, calloway, gaitley, pray, prayer, religious, faith, God, Mass, Liturgy, feast of mercy, sacrament, suicide, tragedies, trajedy, priest

Id: NQcG2GJy16k

Length: 77min 43sec (4663 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 13 2020