Jesus personally immersed Himself in the suffering of all people,
so He then “validates”, purifies, and sanctifies our suffering,
while ultimately, His suffering is our redemption, but NOT our
salvation. We must be baptized into and cooperate with God daily
to enjoy eternal life with Him. When we then suffer as
individuals (or even as various groups) AND offer our suffering
to Jesus, we immerse our suffering in His redemptive suffering
and join His work of salvation. And we join this work even as
we try to end any form of suffering.
Our suffering is then NOT wasted ,
because it becomes an unavoidable penance that can help
strengthen us. In the process, we permit God to “chip away” at
our imperfections, and this purification process is essential,
because each of us must be purified and perfected before we can
live with God for all eternity (cf Mt 5:48
).
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