Why God Allows Suffering

Today my son and I were discussing whether or not God blesses people who don't believe in Him. He made the observation that there are people with lots of money and other material wealth that are not practicing their faith or have any faith at all, yet they seem happy. That let to a discussion on why some people who love God so much, also suffer so much. Well, I found the following in my files. It was originally shared by Sue.

Source: Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament

John of God - Three Reasons why God allows SUFFERING

Copyright, Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament

Meditation on Psalm 119 SUFFERING


Suffering, like fire-tried gold, transforms us into the Heart of Christ. God never intended nor wanted man to suffer. Man fell through disobedience from the paradise God created. Christ's sufferings on the cross give our sufferings value, purpose, and meaning until the day when paradise is restored.


We unite our sufferings now, no matter how great or small, to Jesus truly present before us in the Blessed Sacrament. He takes them and offers them to His Heavenly Father in union with those He suffered for us on Calvary. He purifies them with His Blood and gives them unspeakable beauty by offering them with the love with which He endured His Passion.


God uses sufferings for three purposes. One is to purify us from self-love, ego, and pride so that our disposition may always be that of the psalmist: "I bind myself to do Your Will." The freedom of heart is given when we "run the way" of God's Holy Will. Otherwise we are enslaved by our own selfishness.


Just before he died, Bishop Sheen was asked by a television reporter what the difference was between the young Father Fulton Sheen, just ordained, and the eighty-year-old Bishop with whom he was talking. The answer was "wisdom acquired through suffering."


The second purpose of suffering is that it creates a compassionate heart. Through suffering, one becomes sensitive to the cries and needs of others.


The third purpose is that it has a redemptive value when we accept it and offer it to God in union with the Passion of our Lord. The Will of God is that all His children be saved. For this end, He allows human suffering in order that one man may merit necessary graces for another who otherwise would be lost. Like St. Paul, through our suffering we make up for what is wanting in the Mystical Body of Christ.


The word that revives us is the Person of Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, continuing His saving mysteries in the Blessed Sacrament.


The threefold purpose of suffering therefore is: purification of self, creates a compassionate heart and is redemptive in that it causes propitiation for sins in union with Christ's passion and thereby enables another soul to gain the graces necessary for salvation - purification, compassion, salvation.


Psalm 119:25-32


Keep me from the way of error and teach me Your law.


I have chosen the way of truth with Your decrees before me.


I bind myself to do Your Will; Lord, do not disappoint me.


I will run the way of Your commands; You give freedom to my heart.


My soul lies in the dust; by Your word revive me.


I declared my ways and You answered me; teach me Your statues.


Make me grasp the way of Your precepts and I will muse on Your wonders.


My soul pines away with grief; by Your word raise me up.