Suffering: A Sign of Living a Christ-like Life

Let us give thanks to our heavenly Father, even if we are persecuted… Indeed this is one of the Father’s most precious gifts, in that, with the persecutions, he deigns to make us similar to his beloved Son, in whom rest our consolations. (OOCC, III, p. 54)

For St. Vincent Pallotti, the suffering a person experiences in his life is an external sign of the fact that his life is similar to that of Jesus. Hence, in order to be like Christ, he must be ready to accept all forms of sufferings in his life. St. Vincent often thanked God for the persecutions and sufferings he encountered in his life. He considered sufferings as the Father’s most precious gifts. For him, a person’s ability to crucify himself perfectly is an extra favor God bestows on him. St. Vincent desired to suffer meritoriously and in a heroic manner. By way of meditation, he identified himself with all the mental and physical sufferings Jesus and Mary experienced in their life here on earth. He wished to participate in their sufferings by accepting the sufferings that came in his life in the same manner Jesus and Mary accepted their sufferings in their lives. Suffering, for St. Vincent, is not an end in itself, but rather it is a beneficial tool. It is a means through which he could prove his love for God. He often prayed that he may be allowed to suffer only to love God and that his suffering would be a sign of living a Christ-like life. St. Vincent also believed that suffering would help him to become a great saint in a few moments, even though he was unworthy of so great a grace.

Do I acknowledge that sufferings I encounter make my life similar to that of Jesus? Do I accept the sufferings that come in my life with gratitude to God? Does the example of Jesus and Mary in accepting sufferings in their life inspire me to accept my crosses? Do I accept that sufferings of daily life are tools to holiness of life?

[We are] always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. (II Cor. 4: 10)