An Apologetical Explanation of

Redemptive Suffering

What is the value of taking up our cross, or suffering?

For [Christ Jesus’] sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him… that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  (Phil 3:8-12)

I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church.  (Col 1:24)

Rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.  (1 Pt 4:13)

By enduring our own personal trials and hardships virtuously, we can unite our sufferings to the Passion of Christ.  In doing so, we allow our suffering to share in Christ’s act of redemption.

Christ became man in order to suffer and die for us and thereby save us from our sins (cf. Jn 1:29; cf. Is 53:4-6).  “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Mt 8:17; cf. Is 53:4).  In calling us to take up our daily cross, he asks us to “offer up” all our pain and suffering virtuously in imitation of him.  By configuring ourselves to Christ and his redemptive act, we can give our suffering a redemptive character.  Thus, through our suffering, trials, hardships, and labors, we can grow in holiness and closer to Christian perfection.  (Cf. CCC 1505, 1521, 2460)

During his earthly ministry Christ took a special interest in the sick and suffering, visiting them and often healing them; he identified closely with those who suffer.  By inviting us to take up our own personal crosses, he beckons us to identify ourselves ever more closely with his sufferings and share in his act of redemption.  (Cf. CCC 618, 1502-1503)

There are two popular misconceptions of Christ’s Redemption and our proper response to it.  One understands that his Passion was a mere endurance of physical pain—the scourged, beaten, and crucified Christ as a victim because he did not have the power to stop his torturers; this view leaves us as mere observers who have no role in his suffering.  The other views the Redemption as nothing more than an appeal to the subjective influence of the Passion on our lives.  While it is true that we receive the benefit of Christ’s Redemption, we are also called to share in his redemption by taking up our own crosses and uniting them with his.

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraph 1505.

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